Last updated on January 4th, 2026 at 10:46 am
The Ensign – Adventure Game Review
The Ensign is a Adventure/Roleplaying game from Amirali Rajan, first launched in 17th August 2014.
It’s rated 12+ and currently has 545+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes The Ensign Stand Out
death awaits. their humanity makes them strong.
- 100% playable via VoiceOver
- Pre-sequel to the #1 viral smash hit, A Dark Room.
- Made with love by indie game developers.
- No ads.
- No data collection.
- No IAP.
- No crippled gameplay.
- No data requirements.
- No elevated device privileges.
- Stupid difficult, but that's why you'll love it.
This Adventure game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, The Ensign is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 30th May 2025
Recent improvements include:
cooking cured meat at the swamp no longer causes the world to explode
Download & Availability
The Ensign is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Originally we struggled with the game when a bug cleared our storeroom after one of our deaths, but we kept playing, and now we want to revise our review. Ive finished it at 100%, completed the impossible, the admirals ritual, refused food, etc and was given the chance to play in God Mode, which was a lot of fun. We like the story in A Dark Room more but the mechanics of this were more fun we think. We liked the references to other games. A lot of lore is packed into the game despite it being a simple text game. Its a shame the developer hasnt done more with this universe, we would love to read or play more. We like that we can picture the apocalyptic landscape for ourselves. The ritual in particular is cool. We wish there had been some kind of story reward/ending for when you choose not to engage in optional combat and we wish we could have done the ritual on ourselves but that is ok.
Simplicity while still being complex and addicting is the holy grail. Nice work in the prequel to an awesome, original mobile game.
A game that rewards patience. Enjoy this game and creator immensely. Love how the world is built up with the barest but most effective words.
We love this game. Ive completed of a couple of times at this point, and just finished our first refusing food run. SPOILERS – This could be something Im doing wrong, but Ive never gotten the option to perform the ritual on the admiral. We cant get the admiral to move past the purging vision. Ive tried entering the murky swamp with the cauter, leaving it there and re-entering. We cant think of any other combination of things to do to get the admiral to defect, we cleared the whole map. Was we supposed to fight the family for table scraps? Lol But seriously we love this game, this is coming from personal frustration of not figuring out how to get the ritual as an option despite having the cauter.
This game, much like ADR, is a unique experience and a fun creative twist on a single player version of a multi-user dungeon (MUD). Bravo to the developers for creating a fun, engaging, and creative yet simplistic mobile game.
Ive been a fan of A Dark Room for years, and when we belatedly realized a prequel had come out, we were ecstatic. This game is made of text, buttons and Unicode characters, but the combat is gripping, the gameplay is challenging but not frustrating, the worldbuilding is vast and complex, and the story/character arc of the Ensign is chilling, heartbreaking and engaging. We love this game. Ill play it again and again even though Ive beaten it and know the story.
Quick bug before the review: If you meet a defector on top of a location, such as the Iron ours, you get the upgrades without having to go through the challenge. If you liked a dark room, don't immediately think you will like this game. Imagine you were instantly thrown into the world, but you have no resources. You can't prepare through building the village, if you die, you are back to nearly square one. This is NOT and afk game like a dark room. You DON'T get the satisfaction of being overpowered with materials. There is no afk resource building. But if you like quick pace, challenges at every stage, and the feeling of progress + the pain of losing everything, you will LOVE THIS. We highly recommend playing a dark room first to understand how the game works.
Like we been playing for almost a year now, only finished the game today.
The game really rewards patience and keeping track of everything step by step. We were able to beat after about 300 minutes of gameplay and that involved losing many times to learn. Very good game, we enjoyed it.
The Ensign was too hard for us and we had given up. We distinctly remember NOT liking this game. But after revisiting A Dark Room and loving it even more now than when we first played years back, we gave it another shot. Wow. This game is incredible. Honestly, the developer is on another level. We dont think we were mature enough to appreciate this game before. Im glad that we could experience it differently now, and am curious if it will hit even more differently when Im even older and revisit.
Fun. Die a lot in the beginning while you learn.
Appearance conceals complexity of player options. The author continues to maintain and then add to the story. Long term Players are rewarded. Perhaps an additional element is soon forthcoming.
Ive beaten this game numerous times and just recently Ive found it had an updated ending that shocked us! Love this game.
Not as good as a dark room, which Id give 6 stars if we could. Game is challenging and interesting.
We love this game and we dont even like games.
Play a dark room first, but spend the money here. Sign of outstanding game play and storytelling that ascii characters are aLl you need. Up there with nethack (look it up).
There are few apps left on the App Store like this one. We played this years ago and loved it, but the additions of a new ending, a little more of the story, the defectors and the 2 dope swords in the ship easily makes it our favorite game on the store. The eerie feelings of going from house to house in a bleak and dark landscape, some with real thought provoking decisions being presented, are powerful. We had to literally stop the game to think about the decision with the defenseless woman. Not many games can do that, especially on the App Store. We love this game, we love struggling in the beginning, we love being a powerful warrior later and we love overcoming the Impossible. High praise for this game. Plus the note in the house near the corner is classic. Thanks for making this.
Thanks for making a cool follow up to ADR! It was really intense at times and a good continuation of the dusty path experience.
We first played A Dark Room back in 2015 and It captivated us. Our friend and we spent hours talking about the game and playing it next to each other and when we found The Ensign it blew us away.Through the years no matter what is happening in our life we find ourselves coming back to A Dark Room and after completion to The Ensign. So much has changed in our life but these games always come back to us or we to them. Thank you for building such an amazing world.
We enjoyed it, although we were frustrated for a bit at the beginning because we kept dying lol.
This game is just fabulous. We dont want to spoil anything. Just dont give up.
Honestly this game was nothing that we expected it to be. It was recommended to us by a friend so we thought we would check it out. Ive been glued to our phone all day trying to play this game when we can get the time in. Definitely a game worth checking out.
We really love the game but it seems to crash randomly. When opening the app again, it asks if youd like to continue journey but we end up losing a bunch of progress. Not sure if its a compatibility issue with the 14 pro as its an older game but its getting annoying. We wish there were a manual save function comparable to Stoke Fire in ADR. Will update review if/when it gets fixed.
Honestly just annoying gameplay.
No check points, no re spawn. At least restart with all items gone. Not EVERYTHING and start back from the beginning. BTW we enjoyed beating a dark room with no huts. BUT this, ridiculously a negative review for the makers. Writing this review is more satisfying than knowing we lost $2.
Dwarf fortress aesthetic in a sci-fi setting. Its tough as nails and wont hesitate to pound them into every square inch of your brain and fingers if you dont know what youre doing and dont improvise adapt and overcome the challenge. This is the most rewarding gaming experience we have ever had. Ornstein & smough didnt even make us feel a fraction of finally hitting that 100% after refusing the food the water the katana and the compass. The story is haunting and beautiful, and is a perfect companion piece to a dark room. Easily the best mobile game on the market.
Youve made such a simple yet beautiful game, we would love to see an extension of this and would be happy to pay for it.
We started off with this narrative through A Dark Room. Upon our first attempt, we instantly realized we had never played anything like it. It challenged us in ways we had never been. The details while minimalistic, immerse the player in a greater way than most console games do. Every word read pulls the player deeper into the world of the game, and constantly makes one want to know more about this dark and mysterious world. The Ensign is just as interesting if not more interesting than A Dark Room. It gives a slightly different mechanic when it comes to traversing the dusty path. However, it does an outstanding job of providing the player with a similar yet unique experience compared to A Dark Room. It is challenging, immersive, stunning, terrifying, and rewarding all in the same experience. We strongly urge others to play these games and experience both stories for themselves. There has never been a game like this.
We played both this and a dark room back when it first came out and we were a kid. We just recently came back to it and in our opinion its an extremely fun and challenging game. Its very tempting to just walk around without purpose but every step matters because you have to constantly watch your food and water levels. The battles are fun but fair and the fighting seems RNG like at first because you can either hit or miss but typically you lose fights from lack of preparation rather than being unlucky. We think that if you enjoy a thoughtful storyline along with challenging gameplay this game is for you. HOWEVER one critique we have is a bug at the end of the game. When you get to the end of the game after completing it a specific way you unlock a mode, but its bugged and the screen does not show properly so you cant use it. This is extremely frustrating because a lot of time and effort goes into unlocking this mode. If the developer is reading this please fix.
This game is pretty good, but we have some questions we would like to ask the developer. If you get this review, please respond with information on how to contact you.
Loved A Dark Room. Ive played this one for almost 180 minutes. Ive died several times. We beat the game. We did the impossible. Our one complaint. Whenever we close out and restart is sets us at the ship with 2 food and 10 water. Is it supposed to do that.
Honestly. We love this game. We played through A Dark Room. Both endings. We love the way both of these games make you think about your actions and the morality of them. For such a simple text based concept. Both games manage to convey an interesting and thought provoking story. We just played through the ensign again after the new ending came out and we gotta say we loved it. You should definitely take the time to struggle and play through this without looking for spoilers. Just remember Death Awaits.
Whenever im exiting a battle while entering space, it starts crashing after we exit a defector fight. Both katanas are broke and we might not have a good way of progressing through them soon. Fix please.
This along with A Dark Room is one of our favorite games Ive ever played, and it carried us through our two hour-long study hall periods today. When we had to put our phone down, we were ready to launch the ship and we had the best level gear. We were simply on the map screen and not in a fight or anything. When we next opened The Ensign, we made sure to hit continue current journey. And we had restarted. Only 25 hp, no armor, only 100 storage. Hours before, we were closer than we ever had been to beating the game. Now we have nothing. We love this game, but please fix this. This isnt the first time this has happened to us, where we loose everything and completely have to restart for no reason at all. If it werent for this we would definitely give the game 5 stars. This bug makes it infuriating to continue playing the game.
We just discovered A Dark Room and The Ensign this weekend. We blew the whole weekend playing them both. We cant remember when we have had so much fun with an iOS game in years! It was tough. It was brutal. We wanted to throw the phone through a window. But we couldnt stop playing. They are both absolutely captivating. Im a huge fan.
This game is a real challenge, which we find really nice considering how simple the game really is! It has an incredible background story to it that draws you in and makes you want to keep playing! An all around incredible game.
We been playing your games since a dark room. We want more like that and this one. We got this for free when you released it a long time ago and we were okay paying $1.99 we want you to be able to make more like this.
We would like to not have to die 50 times before the game lets us refuse the admiral's food again. Otherwise, The Ensign is awesome. We're basically obsessed with A Dark Room. We play it all the time and we love the lore, so being able to play a version of the Dusty Path that had so much more storytelling was fantastic. Even the difficulty of the Ensign was alright by us. We cleared the whole map, got our cake, and chopped some admiral arms. We're gonna listen to the secret creator notes now.
Ive been playing this game for over 4 years and its one of our favorites to play. Its a nice surprise to have a few clever additions to the game Ive been playing for so long. Its definitely more challenging, but the added twists are so great to have. Wonderful.
We cant begin to find the words to give this game the praise it deserves. Right from the start we were sucked in, the story engrossed us completely. The difficulty only strengthened our want to dig deeper. With each failure we became more determined to succeed. A Dark Room was an amazing experience and this one only added to the brutal but beautiful story that you created. Thank you Amirali Rajan, your game painted such an interesting picture and we loved every minute of it.
Amazing storyline, excellent gameplay. A very good prequel. Replayable for those little bits you missed, or simply to try and beat the game again. Special Easter eggs and challenges make replaying infinitely entertaining. A level of skill is required in our opinion, the learning curve is steep and frustrating, but not insurmountable. A very enjoyable game, to the point that our first reaction to seeing an update for the game was to gasp in excitement. The challenges are no joke. Made accomplishing the impossible a little harder YEAH YOU SURE DID. SURE DID. TLDR: Highly recommend. Difficult, but not impossible.
So amazing this game is still getting updates.
Edit: we reinstalled the app and now it seems to be working perfectly. Below is what happened, just letting you know, if you are playing with voiceover on, and you update, you might have to reinstall the app because on our iPhone XR we had to do that. So we just updated this game, and every time we go to open it, it crashes and brings us back to our home screen. We dont know if its something to do with the voiceover screen reader or if it is just us. Im still giving this game a four star rating because it is a very good game, we havent gotten to the ending yet.
Title says all, please update, we absolutely loved this game.
Theres a fine line between frustrating and fair. This game grabs the line and impales fair in the throat. We adorn the HardPG aspect and its trial and error. But even those have a final checkpoint. Wheres the fun in perfectionist runs? If youre going to screw the player at the end, AT LEAST let them have a do-over to change it! Whats the point of collecting if all it boils down to is RNG? Whatever. We won when the Mega Defector died. The World is Saved. We did the impossible. The End. Original 4-5 Star Review Before the Cliff Drop: All this game is is black and white text on a blank canvas… And it couldn't be any better. This game blows A Dark Room out of the atmosphere and straight into the sun. The moment you first die, you don't know what just happened. It just suddenly happens and there's nothing you could do about it. Then you go through it again. The game taunts you and makes you regret buying it. What draws you away from the game actually brings you closer. The mocking and realization of every death prepares you for the fate that you know is coming… Death. It lets you prepare for every circumstance and you know what? It's good. Nuff said.
Really doesnt live up to its predecessor.
We dont know how any of you guys manage to play the game but every time we try to head in any direction it takes us right back to our home screen do you know what is happening here.
Bad app game crashes every time we try collecting loot still hasnt been fixed never mind we were clicking the take all loot button in the app was crashing it works if we try taking items one by one.
Ive been playing this game for years- Only when we travel. Even after so many years, and even a few wins, the game is still challenging and thought-provoking. Ive had dozens and dozens of games on our phone over the years, and The Ensign is the only one that has remained no matter what. Props to the developer who has been maintaining the app for so long.
A good game, but we cant find any contact information. The update is good as well, but it does make some things harder for voiceover users, thus why Id like to talk to the developer.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 19.9
- Size: 31.18 MB
- iOS: 11.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory: Frequent/Intense Horror/Fear Themes, Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes
- Developer: Amirali Rajan
Last updated: 30th May 2025 | Genre: Adventure, Roleplaying | Developer: Amirali Rajan