Comparison

Tactical Merge vs The Workshop

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

Head to head
About

Tactical Merge

Strategically merge units to build a powerful army and conquer opponents. Manage your energy efficiently to deploy troops and achieve victory in this engaging battle simulation.

Highlights
  • Strategic unit merging
  • Army building
  • Battle simulation
  • Energy management
  • Tactical gameplay
Features
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Use your energy smartly and merge your builds to build your army and win the battle!

About

The Workshop

Features
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A brass ball falls. A hoop waits below. Between them, you build the machine that connects the two. The Workshop is a physics puzzle game about building small, satisfying contraptions. Each level hands you a few machines — a fan, a seesaw, a cannon, a conveyor — and an empty board. Where you place them, and which way they face, is the whole puzzle. Press GO and watch your machine run: if the ball lands home, it's on to the next one. If it doesn't, the fun is in seeing exactly why. BUILD WITH 20+ MACHINES Fans push, cannons launch, balloons lift, pipes teleport, magnets pull, and tar slows everything down. Machines are introduced one at a time across 100 hand-built levels, so there's always a new tool arriving just as you've mastered the last one. EVERY LEVEL IS SOLVABLE — PROVABLY Each level's solution is machine-verified before it ships: it works at any frame rate, survives imprecise placement, and needs every machine it gives you. If you're stuck, it's not the level. STUCK ANYWAY? YOU DECIDE HOW MUCH HELP Reveal the solution one machine at a time with a Nudge, buy a little more clock when the timer runs hot, or skip a level that's beaten you and come back later. Help is always optional and never forced on you. MAKE THE BALL YOURS Earn coins by solving levels and spend them on ball finishes — brass, jade, obsidian, prismatic — and trails that ribbon behind the ball as it flies. RESPECTS YOUR TIME AND YOUR PRIVACY No account. No sign-in. Works offline. The free version shows non-personalised ads — the game never tracks you across apps or websites — and a single one-time purchase removes ads forever, unlocks every level, and makes hints free. One ball. One hoop. One hundred machines between them. Welcome to the workshop.

Screenshots

Tactical Merge3 screens
The Workshop4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Tactical Merge at none against The Workshop's 4. Tactical Merge also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). The Workshop's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 3 months). On price, ads 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. The Workshop sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Tactical Merge asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tactical Merge ships an update every 3 months, The Workshop every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Tactical Merge versus The Workshop: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTactical MergeThe Workshop
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (19 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews25.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings19 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 2 days — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size183 MB7 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperYso CorpEran Amrani

In-app purchases

None

Tactical Merge

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

The Workshop

One-time4
  • 600 Coins$1.99
  • The Workshop Premium$4.99
  • 2,000 Coins$4.99
Show 1 more
  • 5,000 Coins$9.99

Questions

Is Tactical Merge free?
Tactical Merge is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is The Workshop free?
The Workshop is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Tactical Merge or The Workshop have ads?
Both Tactical Merge and The Workshop show ads.
Which is updated more often, Tactical Merge or The Workshop?
Tactical Merge ships an update every 3 months, and The Workshop every 2 days. Most recently, Tactical Merge was updated on October 24, 2026 and The Workshop on October 25, 2026.

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