Comparison

Deco Deck vs Backlash

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

Head to head
About

Deco Deck

This logic puzzle challenges you to connect cards into groups of five, forming valid hands. Every card must be part of a hand to solve the puzzle, with each puzzle having a single unique solution. Daily free puzzles are available, with more accessible via subscription or a one-time purchase.

Highlights
  • Link cards into groups of five
  • Form valid card hands
  • Solve unique puzzles
  • Daily free puzzles
  • Subscription for more puzzles
  • Lifetime access option
Features
Read full description

Deco Deck is an original logic puzzle from the creator of Semantle.. Your goal is to link the cards on the board in connected groups of five, such that each group makes a valid "hand". To win, every card on the board must be part of a hand. Each puzzle has only one solution. There are two free puzzles every day. More puzzles are available by subscription. You can purchase an auto-renewing subscription through an In-App Purchase. The subscription is $4.99 per year. Or you can buy lifetime access for $9.99. • Your subscription will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase and will automatically renew (at the duration selected) unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. • The subscription may not be cancelled during the active subscription period, but you turn off auto-renewal by visiting your iTunes Account Settings after purchase. • EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Backlash

Build a complex automaton, gear by gear, to repair a dying city's steam engine. Solve intricate mechanical puzzles by understanding gear geometry and mechanics. Experience a story-driven campaign with endless replayability and challenging new modes.

Highlights
  • Build one continuous machine across chapters
  • Assemble four distinct automaton systems
  • Solve puzzles by reading machine mechanics
  • Utilize shafts, belts, and couplers
  • Unlock New Game+ and Endless modes
  • Earn dozens of in-app achievements
Features
Read full description

Ironhaven, 1887. The Sovereign — the great steam engine at the heart of the city — is dying. A catastrophic backlash has spread through its gear train: microscopic gaps between teeth, compounding with every revolution. The city grows cold. Human hands are too crude to reach the fault. So you build CASPAR — a Computational Automaton for Steam-Powered Analysis and Repair — assembled gear by gear and sent into the Sovereign to correct what no one else can reach. BUILD ONE CONTINUOUS MACHINE Backlash isn't a stack of disconnected puzzles — it's one machine you assemble across four chapters. Every gear you place stays placed, becoming the foundation the next section meshes onto. Finish a chapter and the organ you built docks into CASPAR's growing body, spinning and driving the next. FOUR SYSTEMS, ONE AUTOMATON - The Drive Heart — CASPAR's power core, a radial gear-train heart - The Timing Mind — a precision calculating mechanism of gears, belts, and chains - The Iron Frame — a skeleton of shafts and gears, CASPAR's body and limbs - First Light — the ocular core; the eyes open as every system turns as one READ THE MACHINE, NOT THE HINTS Sockets don't tell you what fits. Gears mesh by size and geometry — small meets medium edge-on, medium meets large on the diagonal — and you work out which piece belongs where by reading how the machine wants to turn. Get it wrong and the mechanism jams; get it right and it locks in, running for good. MORE THAN GEARS As CASPAR grows more intricate, so do the tools: rigid shafts couple gears that can't mesh directly, chains and belts carry motion — and drive — across open gaps, and couplers correct a gear spinning the wrong way. Every mechanic you learn keeps returning, woven deeper into later machines. NEW GAME+ AND ENDLESS Finish the story and rebuild CASPAR from scratch on a harder New Game+ pass, with the training wheels off. Clear that and Endless mode opens: procedurally generated machines that grow larger and more elaborate the deeper you climb, layering in shafts, belts, and couplers as you go. Your best depth and lifetime solves are tracked, with dozens of in-app achievements to chase. A QUIET, MECHANICAL PUZZLE GAME No timers, no combat, no fail states you can't undo — just gears, logic, and the satisfaction of watching a machine you built actually run. Free to play, with the occasional ad between chapters and Endless machines. Can you fix the backlash before Ironhaven runs out of steam?

Screenshots

Deco Deck4 screens
Backlash4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Backlash at none against Deco Deck's 1. Backlash also leads on update cadence (every 4 weeks vs every 5 months). Deco Deck's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price, rating, ratings volume 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Deco Deck sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Backlash 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 Deco Deck against 5.0 for Backlash. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Deco Deck ships an update every 5 months, Backlash every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 5 level
Deco Deck versus Backlash: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDeco DeckBacklash
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Number of ratings2 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumAd-supported — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size70 MB125 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDavid TurnerIllmanajed Games LLC

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Deco Deck

One-time1
  • Eternal$9.99
None

Backlash

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Deco Deck free?
Deco Deck is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Backlash free?
Backlash is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Deco Deck or Backlash?
Deco Deck and Backlash are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 2 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Deco Deck or Backlash have ads?
Backlash shows ads; Deco Deck does not.
Which is updated more often, Deco Deck or Backlash?
Deco Deck ships an update every 5 months, and Backlash every 4 weeks. Most recently, Deco Deck was updated on November 3, 2026 and Backlash on October 31, 2026.

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