Break the cable vs POOLS™
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Break the cable
Engage in a satisfying puzzle experience by tapping and dragging objects to strategically break cables. Progress through increasingly challenging levels, unlocking new mechanics and ranks. Test your puzzle-solving skills to conquer every stage.
- Tap and drag object manipulation
- Cable breaking puzzles
- Increasing difficulty levels
- Unlockable mechanics and ranks
- Addictive gameplay
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Tap and drag to move the objects around. Try to figure out how to break the cables on each level. Increasing level of difficulty as you progress throughout the game. Unlock new mechanics and ranks. Can you beat all levels? Satisfying & addictive!
POOLS™
Explore, admire, and listen in this slow, reflective experience. It's an intentionally uneventful journey through uncanny and eerie environments, rewarding patience and quiet attention. Discover a world that subtly changes as you advance, inspired by internet phenomena like liminal spaces and The Backrooms.
- Exploration-focused gameplay
- Relaxing and reflective atmosphere
- Eerie and uncanny environments
- Slow-paced, uneventful experience
- World changes as you advance
- Six chapters, 10-30 minutes each
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Explore, admire and listen. That’s it. Uncanny. Relaxing. Unnerving. Eerie. Immersive. POOLS isn’t a traditional game. it’s slow, reflective, and intentionally uneventful, perhaps a bit like virtual museum. So take your time. Breathe. POOLS unfolds slowly, rewarding patience and quiet attention. No monsters chasing you or jumping at your screen. Yet it can feel oppressive at times by invoking quiet fears of getting lost, the dark, tight spaces and the strange beauty of liminal space architecture. There's no typical story. But as you explore and advance further, you start to notice that the game's world changes around you, deeper you go… Rooms look and feel… different. Base game features six chapters, each lasting 10-30 minutes. Inspired by the internet phenomena Liminal spaces, Found footage and The Backrooms, especially the Poolrooms concept. One of the original artists behind the Poolrooms concept is Jared Pike.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: POOLS™ at 80% against Break the cable's 15%. POOLS™ also leads on rating (4.5 vs 4.3) and ratings volume (1.8K vs 109). Break the cable's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 4 weeks) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.6). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Break the cable sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and POOLS™ sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
POOLS™ holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: POOLS™ has 1.8K ratings behind it against 109, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 15% of Break the cable's written reviews are positive against 80% of POOLS™'s.
Break the cable ships an update every 2 days, POOLS™ every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 13, 2026 and November 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Break the cable | POOLS™ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (109 ratings) | 4.5 (1.8K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 15.0% of reviews | 80.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 109 | 1.8K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days — better | Every 4 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 173 MB | 1.9 GB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 9+ |
| Developer | CASUAL NINE SOCIEDAD LIMITADA | Tensori |
Customer experience
Break the cable
POOLS™
Bugs and requests
Break the cable
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
POOLS™
Reported bugs
2 issues- Unable to move on iPad Pro
- Glitches reported
Requested features
3 requests- Expand to different Backrooms-inspired themes
- Add a multiplayer mode
- Introduce more interactive elements (e.g., monsters, items to discover)
In-app purchases
Break the cable
- Remove ads$2.99
POOLS™
- POOLS: Full Game$9.99
