Comparison

Refract Puzzle Game vs Stack and Slash

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

Head to head
About

Refract Puzzle Game

Features
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Bend the light. Find the path. Refract is a neon logic game about placing mirrors and watching a beam come alive. Route light through compact boards, illuminate every target, and find the cleanest possible solution. BEND EVERY BEAM • Drag mirrors from your tray onto the grid • Tap a placed mirror to rotate its reflection • Watch the full route update as you experiment • Undo a move, reset the board, or use a hint when you need a nudge • Light every target to complete the puzzle MASTER THE SPECTRUM • Solve 100 levels across 10 distinct worlds • Begin with simple reflections, then face blockers and checkpoint routes • Split one beam into multiple paths • Tint light at a prism, then prove its color at a gate that absorbs any beam that does not match • Carry beams through linked portals • Combine every mechanic in the final mastery worlds CHASE THE PERFECT ROUTE Every board awards up to three stars. Finishing earns the first. Solving within a comfortable move budget earns the second. The third asks for a clean run: inside par plus two, with no hints and without clearing the board. Taking a mirror back off the grid is always free, so exploring an idea and changing your mind never costs you a star. Only the moves you keep count. EVERY BOARD STAYS REACHABLE A level opens once either of the two before it is done, so a single puzzle you cannot crack never blocks the rest of the campaign. Worlds open on stars you have already earned. RETURN DAILY A featured challenge changes every day. Solve it to earn bonus coins and gems, then come back tomorrow for a new route. MAKE THE GRID YOURS Earn coins and gems by playing. Spend them on hints or unlock atmospheric board themes including Solar Flare, Arctic Prism, and Ember Void. Optional App Store purchases offer another way to unlock the same kinds of items. DESIGNED TO FEEL GOOD • High-contrast neon visuals, with light that visibly travels along the beam • Clean chimes for lit targets and solves, mixed so your own music keeps playing • Responsive haptics for moves, invalid drops, and successful solves • Colorblind assist gives every beam color its own distinct shape • VoiceOver labels and board actions • Dynamic Type and Reduce Motion support • Sound, haptics, motion, and colorblind assist all toggle in Settings • Portrait play designed for iPhone and iPad The full 100-level campaign is free to complete. Refract has no ads, subscriptions, accounts, analytics, or tracking. Progress and preferences stay on your device. Requires iOS 17 or later.

About

Stack and Slash

Features
Read full description

Stack & Slash is a pixel-art puzzle game where the puzzles are real code. Pick one of five developer heroes — and every puzzle appears in their language. Lukasz reads JavaScript, Jacek reads C, Paula reads Python, Radek reads SQL, and Mateusz keeps it to clean pseudocode. Same puzzles, equal difficulty, five different skins. READ THE CODE, SLASH THE BUG • Predict what a snippet prints • Spot the bug hiding in plain sight • Reorder shuffled lines until the logic flows • Flip boolean switches to open the gate • Fill in the missing operator CLIMB SIX CODEBASE REGIONS From beginner-friendly Hello Hollow through Loop Lagoon, Branch Bay, Recursion Caverns and State Summit, all the way to the senior-level Null Void. Each region drills different families: arithmetic, arrays, conditionals, loops, recursion, scope and mutation. EARN YOUR STARS Three stars per region: clear it, clear it flawlessly, clear it fast. Replays rotate fresh puzzles from the same difficulty bank, so no two runs are identical. SPRINT WHEN YOU'RE READY A timed arcade mode for rapid-fire solving. Chain correct answers into combos, collect bytes, and chase your personal best. NO STRINGS ATTACHED No accounts, no ads, no in-app purchases, no tracking. Fully offline. Just you versus the code. Whether you're learning to code, teaching someone who is, or you've shipped software for twenty years and still enjoy a good "wait, what does this print?" — Stack & Slash has a hero for you.

Screenshots

Refract Puzzle Game4 screens
Stack and Slash4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Stack and Slash at none against Refract Puzzle Game's 6. On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Refract Puzzle Game sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Stack and Slash asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard1 real difference Ā· 5 level
Refract Puzzle Game versus Stack and Slash: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRefract Puzzle GameStack and Slash
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDavid MargotLukasz Pomianek

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Refract Puzzle Game

One-time6
  • Hint Cache$0.99
  • Arctic Prism Theme$1.99
  • Solar Flare Theme$1.99
Show 3 more
  • Ember Void Theme$1.99
  • Navigator Pack$2.99
  • Starter Bundle$3.99
None

Stack and Slash

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Refract Puzzle Game free?
Refract Puzzle Game is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Stack and Slash free?
Stack and Slash is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Refract Puzzle Game or Stack and Slash have ads?
Neither Refract Puzzle Game nor Stack and Slash shows ads.

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