Blackbar vs Topics
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Blackbar
Experience a sci-fi narrative of a dystopian future through engaging word puzzles. This text-based game uses a unique censorship mechanic to challenge players, offering a blend of frustration and intellectual satisfaction.
- Text-based sci-fi story
- Word puzzle gameplay
- Unique censorship mechanic
- Dystopian future narrative
- Challenging and thought-provoking
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"Blackbar is a brilliant game." —Ron Gilbert "Its allegories are smart, and its approach to story-telling on touch-devices is just as well. 4.5/5" —TouchArcade "Taut and intelligent. 8/10" —Eurogamer "A political statement—a super fun one. I _______ love this _______ game." —Loren Brichter "Awesome and totally unexpected." —Shaun Inman Blackbar is a text game: a sci-fi story of a dystopian future told through the medium of word puzzles. Reminiscent of text adventures and interactive fiction, it has a unique mechanic centered around the concept of censorship. Censorship is frustrating, but the human spirit can beat that frustration by turning it into a game. You'll pick up Blackbar instantly; however, its challenges will keep you searching, thinking, and trying for days. "An ingenious puzzle game that critiques censorship" —Fast Company "The humor is black, the puzzles go from simple to truly challenging, and the story is top-notch." —Gamemoir "Playing Blackbar is Like High School English Class, And I Love It." —Kotaku "Wonderfully written and does a fantastic job of pulling you into a not entirely unrealistic tale." —Gizmodo "Well-written and entertaining, with just a touch of a deeper message to hit a few concepts home. Just plain awesome." —JayIsGames
Topics
Engage in a unique word search experience where you fill a board with words related to a specific topic. Tap or drag letters to form words, ensuring all words and the topic fill the board without overlapping.
- Topic-based word finding
- Tap or drag letter selection
- Fill the board with words
- Non-overlapping word placement
- Chaos-free word search
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Fill the board with words related to the topic. Tap or drag letters to create words. All words and topic fill the board without overlapping.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Topics at Free against Blackbar's $2.99. Topics also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.6) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 7 months). Blackbar's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and review sentiment (66% vs 36%). On 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
Topics is free to download; Blackbar costs $2.99 up front. Topics sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Blackbar asks for nothing beyond the download.
Topics holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Topics has 5.3K ratings behind it against 97, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 66% of Blackbar's written reviews are positive against 36% of Topics's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Blackbar ships an update every 7 months, Topics every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Blackbar | Topics |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.6 (97 ratings) | 4.7 (5.3K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 65.6% of reviews — better | 35.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 97 | 5.3K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | #32 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 14.7 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mrgan LLC | Neil McGrogan |
Customer experience
Blackbar
Topics
User reviews
Blackbar
From 97 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💡 Clever and unique gameplay
- 👍 Engaging and thought-provoking story
- 🤔 Challenging puzzles and word games
Room to improve
- ⏱️ Too short for the price
- 🤯 Some puzzles too obscure or difficult
- 🐛 Bugs and compatibility issues
Topics
From 5.3K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Fast and addictive gameplay
- 👍 Challenging and engaging puzzles
- 🚀 Unlimited puzzles to play
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent glitches and bugs
- 🔍 Misleading or unclear puzzle themes
- 🤔 Overlapping words causing confusion
- 🔍 Unsolvable puzzles due to errors
Bugs and requests
Blackbar
Reported bugs
2 issues- App crashes or freezes on certain devices
- Inability to progress past initial screen
Requested features
3 requests- Longer gameplay and expanded story
- More levels or chapters
- Hints or clues for difficult puzzles
Topics
Reported bugs
4 issues- Hint button not working as expected
- Letters not registering properly
- Puzzle errors preventing completion
- Progress reset after exiting the game
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to skip or restart puzzles
- More reliable and consistent hint system
- Improved letter registration and responsiveness
- Option to view past puzzle solutions
In-app purchases
Blackbar
No in-app purchases
Topics
- Remove Ads$6.99
