Luminosus vs HackEm
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Luminosus
A unique puzzle game blending Tetris-style gameplay with color-matching mechanics. Plan your moves ahead to create white blocks for higher scores. Offers classic and marathon modes, leaderboards, and achievements for endless fun.
- Color-matching puzzle mechanics
- Strategic planning ahead
- Classic and Marathon modes
- Global leaderboards
- Achievements
- Controller support
- Color blind and night modes
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**Editors pick for “New games we love” in 135+ countries** **Editors pick for “New and noteworthy games” in 150+ countries** **Editors pick for “What we are playing this week”** **Editors choice "Indie corner"** Luminosus is a unique and challenging puzzle game that combines the fun of matching colors on a Tetris-esque board. Puzzle pieces can be changed back and forth as many times as you want, so a red block will change a yellow piece orange but another red piece will change it back to red. If a piece is influenced by all three colors it is turned white and scores significantly more when cleared. In this way the game requires planning more steps ahead than your standard piece-dropping puzzle game. With its simple but addictive gameplay, Luminosus offers hours of entertainment and a twist on the classic Tetris and Puyo experience. Features: • Classic mode for a relaxing experience • Marathon game mode for the ultimate challenge • Compete against the world on the leaderboard • Achievements • Controller support • Color blind and night modes • Unique and challenging gameplay that combines Tetris with color matching
HackEm
Engage in a unique blend of real-time strategy and tower defense as a hacker seeking revenge. Build a base to extract data and defend against security drones and autobots on randomly generated maps. Upgrade weapons and equipment with earned credits.
- Real-time strategy and tower defense mix
- Diverse enemies with unique mechanics
- Randomly generated maps
- Extensive weapon and equipment upgrades
- Intuitive controls
- No ads or in-app purchases
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HackEn is a mix of a real-time strategy and a tower defense game. The player is a hacker who has been set up by a mysterious enemy and now is trying to get his revenge. The game is a mix of a real-time strategy and a tower defender. Data sources are located on the randomly generated map and the player will need to build a base to extract information from all of them and at the same time protect himself from waves of security drones with turrets and autobots. Completing missions will reward the player with credits that can be used to unlock new weapons and equipment upgrades. Features: • Original mix of RTS and TD • Various enemies with different mechanics • Randomly generated maps • Many upgrades and improvements for weapons and equipment • Simple and intuitive controls • No Ads or In-App Purchases Good luck and have fun!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Luminosus at 71% against HackEm's 25%. Luminosus also leads on rating (4.9 vs 3.6) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 21 months). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support 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
Luminosus costs $0.29 and HackEm $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Luminosus holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 17 and 5 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of Luminosus's written reviews are positive against 25% of HackEm's.
Luminosus ships an update fortnightly, HackEm every 21 months. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Luminosus | HackEm |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.29 — better | $1.99 |
| Rating | 4.9 (17 ratings) — better | 3.6 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 71.4% of reviews — better | 25.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 17 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 21 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 114 MB | 78 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Short Circuit Studio | Game Dev Team |
Customer experience
Luminosus
HackEm
In-app purchases
Luminosus
No in-app purchases
HackEm
No in-app purchases









