Report updated May 20, 2026
Attack of the Clockwork Army
For fans of interactive fiction and text-based role-playing games who enjoy steampunk themes and branching narrative choices.
Attack of the Clockwork Army is a challenged games app that is free with in-app purchases. With a 2.7/5 rating from 168 reviews, it faces significant user friction.
What is Attack of the Clockwork Army?
Attack of the Clockwork Army is a text-based, choice-driven interactive fiction game set in a steampunk version of Australia.
Users hire this app for branching narrative agency, but the technical instability and lack of visual polish prevent it from satisfying the job-to-be-done of a frictionless reading experience.
Current Momentum
v1.0 · 4mo ago
Maintenance- Ships stability updates for Android.
- Maintains legacy ChoiceScript engine support.
Active Nemesis
The Eagle's Heir
By Choice of Games
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
GamesNo ranking data
Rating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User Mood
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
Loading...
What Are The Key Features?
Multiple-choice text-based adventure system allowing branching story paths based on user decisions.
Font selection menu including OpenDyslexic and Helvetica options for improved readability.
Tracking of courage, happiness, and mechanical skills that influence story outcomes.
How much does it cost?
- Free-to-play base game
- In-app purchases for additional content
Freemium model utilizing ad-supported play and in-app purchases to monetize a narrative-heavy, text-based game.
Who Built It?
Hosted Games
Empowering authors to create and publish interactive text-based gamebooks using a proprietary scripting language. Providing a platform for narrative-driven roleplaying experiences.
Portfolio
13
Apps
What other apps does Hosted Games make?
Way Walkers: University
Life of a Space Force Captain
Don't Wake Me Up
Super Star Soccer Striker
Scales of Justice
Sordwin: The Evertree Saga
Explore the full Hosted Games report
Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by Hosted Games.
What do users think recently?
Medium confidence · 34 reviews analyzed
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a frustrated sentiment.
Limited review volume (34 reviews). Sentiment analysis will deepen as more data lands.
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for Attack of the Clockwork Army?
Where is it available?
Localized markets (1)
How's The Games Market?
Market outlook for this category
Available very soon
Which niche is Attack of the Clockwork Army in?
to experience an interactive branching narrative
Explore the full Steampunk Readers niche
Every app in this space — 3 tracked, the niche's live rankings, and Marlvel's editorial take on the job-to-be-done.
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
Both apps utilize the ChoiceScript engine to deliver text-based, interactive fiction experiences that prioritize player agency and branching narrative paths. They compete directly for the attention of readers who prefer deep, choice-driven historical or speculative settings.
Differentiators
- Offers robust accessibility settings including font customization and screen reader support for inclusive gameplay.
- Maintains a significantly higher review volume and rating, signaling stronger community trust and brand loyalty.
- Provides cross-platform save state functionality, allowing users to transition seamlessly between mobile and desktop devices.
Head to head
The target app must leverage its unique steampunk aesthetic to carve out a specific sub-genre niche while improving technical stability to close the significant rating gap.
Same space(1)
This app competes for the same audience of interactive fiction readers by focusing on choice-based storytelling and character-driven romantic subplots.
Differentiators
- Integrates supernatural romance elements that cater to a distinct demographic interested in paranormal fiction tropes.
- Utilizes a visual-novel style presentation that contrasts with the text-heavy, engine-driven approach of the target app.
Compare Attack of the Clockwork Army against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for Attack of the Clockwork Army
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Steampunk-inspired narrative arc provides a distinct sub-genre niche
- ChoiceScript engine enables high-impact, branching narrative sessions
Critical Frictions
- 2.6★ Android rating indicates significant technical instability
- Lack of cross-platform save states limits session continuity
Growth Levers
- Integration of visual-novel elements could capture the casual-romance demographic
- Expansion of accessibility features could improve retention for dyslexic users
Market Threats
- The Eagle's Heir library network effects create a higher barrier to entry
- Visual-novel competitors siphon users seeking higher visual engagement
What are the next best moves?
Ship cross-platform save states because the nemesis uses this to retain users across devices → increase session continuity
The nemesis, The Eagle's Heir, uses cross-platform saves to maintain higher user satisfaction.
Trade-off: Pause the development of new narrative chapters — stability and retention are higher priorities.
Audit Android technical stability because the 2.6★ rating is a primary churn driver → improve rating baseline
The Android rating is significantly lower than the iOS rating, indicating platform-specific technical failure.
Trade-off: Deprioritize minor UI font additions — stability is the primary retention risk.
A counter-intuitive read
The app's niche steampunk setting is a liability rather than an asset because it attracts a high-expectation audience that the current low-budget, text-heavy engine cannot satisfy.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Cross-platform save state functionality (available in The Eagle's Heir but missing here)
Key Takeaways
The app fails to retain users due to technical instability and a lack of cross-platform parity, so the PM must prioritize stability and save-state functionality to prevent further churn to more polished interactive fiction rivals.
Where Is It Heading?
Declining
The interactive fiction market is consolidating around titles that offer seamless cross-platform play and high technical stability. Attack of the Clockwork Army remains exposed due to its reliance on a legacy engine and lack of feature parity with category leaders, so the app will continue to lose market share unless it addresses its technical debt.
Persistent technical instability on Android drives a 2.6★ rating, which signals that the current maintenance-only update cadence is insufficient to retain users.
The lack of cross-platform save states creates a friction-heavy experience, which causes users to migrate to more polished competitors like The Eagle's Heir.