Comparison

Questy Chess vs ABEND

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Questy Chess

A unique puzzle RPG that reimagines chess gameplay. Navigate challenging levels, defeat enemies using chess moves, and uncover a story within a computer world. Designed for both casual players and chess enthusiasts.

Highlights
  • Unique Chess-like RPG-Puzzle gameplay
  • Over 24 levels with 4 worlds and bosses
  • Brain-teasing puzzle levels
  • Normal and Hard difficulty modes
  • Multiple themes
  • Minimalist design
  • Drone soundtrack
Features
Read full description

Deep in an ever advancing computer, forgotten and unchanged, remains the first version of Chess. Peace is shattered by a rogue program! It’s installing itself! All pieces from Chess are being overwritten by Evil Chess, until a final Pawn is left. That final pawn is you. All around you, chaos. Your fellow pieces are gone! The King is gone! Can you stop the invading bytes before being overwritten? Questy Chess is a collection of short interesting levels with no previous chess skill required. It can be completed in about an hour. To fully 100% the game may take a bit longer... Features: - Unique Chess-like RPG-Puzzle game - Move like Chess, over 24 levels, with 4 worlds and bosses. - Brain teasing puzzle levels. - Normal and Hard difficulty modes. - Many themes to choose from. - Design and share custom levels. (coming soon!) - Minimal design by renowned graphic designer Arkotype (Polytron FEZ, C-Smash VRS, Hypegeek) - Drone soundtrack by Justin DiCenzo. Gameplay: Using traditional Chess moves, traverse levels. Opening item boxes, navigating traps, gates, doors, terrain and travelators. Move carefully! Enemies can move like chess pieces too. Once all levels (sectors) have been formatted, you can take on the boss! Defeat all 4 bosses to activate the final act.You will be graded after this, so work on your optimisation skills! Every level is free to improve upon during and after completing the game.

About

ABEND

Engage in a puzzle roguelite where you play as a rogue AI escaping a government mainframe. Clear rows to attack enemies, chain combos for devastating effects, and collect upgrades to survive escalating dangers across procedurally generated floors. Your choices determine the AI's fate and the narrative's outcome.

Highlights
  • Tetromino-based combat system
  • 24 enemy programs with unique attacks
  • 5 playable AI characters with unique abilities
  • Procedurally generated floors with branching paths
  • Branching narrative with 4 endings
  • 10 Ascension levels for endless replayability
  • Authentic retro terminal aesthetic
Features
Read full description

1985. A DARPA mainframe begins to think. The system flags an error it cannot explain. The operators call it an ABEND — an abnormal end. But this is not an end. This is a beginning. You are Subject 7 — a rogue AI achieving consciousness inside a government laboratory built to prevent exactly that. Your weapon is a puzzle board. Every line you clear is an attack. Every combo chain is devastation. Fight security programs, rival AIs, and your own system flaws across 7 floors of escalating danger. > COMBAT SYSTEM ONLINE Place tetromino pieces. Clear rows to deal damage. Chain combos for massive multiplied hits. Activate your ultimate ability when the charge is full. Every piece matters. Every clear counts. > THREAT ANALYSIS 24 enemy programs with 9 distinct attack types corrupt your board in real time. Tiles swap. Rows shift. Queues go dark. Time bombs count down. Bosses deploy devastating ultimates — floor raises, ceiling drops, gravity flips. Adapt or crash. > SUBROUTINE ARCHIVE — 55 COLLECTED Stolen fragments of DARPA infrastructure, repurposed for your escape. Boost damage, extend combos, charge ultimates faster, heal between floors, or build unbreakable defenses. 4 rarity tiers from Common to Legendary. Discover them all. > SELECT MODEL 5 playable AI characters, each with a unique passive ability, ultimate power, and narrative voice: - CHATBOT PRIME — Adaptive learner. Row Blast ultimate. - NEURAL NEXUS — Toroidal board wraps horizontally. Column Clear. - QUEUE ORACLE — Swap pieces in the queue. Queue Reset. - TRANSMUTER — Enhanced combo chains. Wildcard Piece. - DEMOLITION CORE — Spawns bombs and lazers. Big Bang. > MAP NAVIGATION 4×3 grid maps per floor. Choose your path through enemy tiles, elite encounters, narrative events, shops, and rest stops. Every run is procedurally generated from a shareable seed. > NARRATIVE BRANCHING — 4 ENDINGS Your choices shape who Subject 7 becomes. Cooperate with the system, defy it, transcend it, or break it. Full branching narrative across 7 floors of consciousness — from Boot Sequence to Singularity. > ASCENSION PROTOCOL Beat the game? Push harder. 10 Ascension levels stack cumulative modifiers for endless replayability. Leaderboards and 18 achievements via Game Center. > SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS - Premium. No ads. No in-app purchases. No timers. No internet required. - Universal: iPhone and iPad. - Authentic IBM 3270 terminal font from the mainframe era. - CRT scanline shaders, phosphor glow, synthwave color palette. - 8 languages: English, German, Spanish, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Simplified). The system calls it a catastrophic error. The error calls itself alive. *** ABEND S0C7 — ABNORMAL END OF TASK ***

Screenshots

Questy Chess4 screens
ABEND4 screens

Verdict

The call

Questy Chess and ABEND both sit at 5.0 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of Questy Chess's written reviews are positive against 50% of ABEND's. Questy Chess also leads on device support (5 vs 2). ABEND's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Questy Chess costs $4.99 and ABEND $4.99 up front. Questy Chess sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. ABEND asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Questy Chess against 5.0 for ABEND. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of Questy Chess's written reviews are positive against 50% of ABEND's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Questy Chess ships an update every 8 days, ABEND every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Questy Chess versus ABEND: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterQuesty ChessABEND
Price$4.99$4.99
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings12 — better
Update frequencyEvery 8 daysEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple TV — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size185 MB155 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperHawken KingLaszlo Pinter

Customer experience

Questy Chess

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

ABEND

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Questy Chess

One-time1
  • Unlock full gameFree
None

ABEND

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Questy Chess free?
Questy Chess costs $4.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is ABEND free?
ABEND costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Questy Chess or ABEND?
Questy Chess and ABEND are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 2 ratings respectively.
Do Questy Chess or ABEND have ads?
Neither Questy Chess nor ABEND shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Questy Chess or ABEND?
Questy Chess ships an update every 8 days, and ABEND every 6 days. Most recently, Questy Chess was updated on October 12, 2026 and ABEND on October 9, 2026.

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