Hex by Hex vs Sumward
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Hex by Hex
Engage in rapid territory conquest strategy games that last about five minutes. Grow your empire from a single hex, manage resources, and outmaneuver AI rivals before time runs out. Enjoy a fresh map and unique challenges with every playthrough.
- Fast-paced 5-minute strategy games
- Real-time AI rivals
- Resource management and expansion
- One-time full unlock for all content
- Daily shared maps and leaderboards
- Seed duels for shared map challenges
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Conquer a hex map in about five minutes. Hex by Hex is a fast territory conquest strategy game: grow from a single tile into an empire before rival AI factions box you in. Every run is a fresh map. Claim neighboring hexes, build farms, lumber mills, and iron mines, turn your harvest into coins, and push across the border before the Tide clock runs out. HOW A RUN PLAYS - Start with one tile and a five minute Tide clock. - Claim adjacent hexes to expand. Forests, plains, and mountains feed your wood, food, and iron. - Balance your resources to mint coins, then spend them on new tile slots and Edicts. - Raid contested border tiles, grab prize tiles, and hold the chokepoints. - Win by domination, or get swallowed when the Tide rises. FEATURES - Fast strategy: a complete war in about five minutes, with no waiting. - Real-time AI rivals, each with its own name, color, and sigil. - Three one-shot Edicts: Conscript, Blitz, and Sabotage. - Coin market: convert resources by hand or on auto. - Daily Tide: one shared map each day with a Game Center leaderboard. - Seed duels: send a friend a link to play the exact same map. - Pinch to zoom and pan across the whole battlefield. - No ads. No energy meters. No waiting timers. FREE TO PLAY, ONE-TIME FULL UNLOCK Play the Skirmish map on Easy and Medium with the Conscript edict for free. The Full Unlock is a single purchase that adds: - Every map size, from the 37-tile Skirmish up to the 127-tile Large map with up to six AI rivals. - Hard and Brutal difficulty. - Team Mode: 2v2 and 3v3 battles with AI allies. - All three Edicts. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Sumward
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MAKE A HAND. BUILD AN ENGINE. BREAK THE MATH. Step into the Night Parade: a number-card roguelite where simple hands become outrageous scoring machines. Draw 8 cards, play up to 5, and turn familiar sets and runs - plus Sum to Ten, Spectrum, and Pure Run - into chips x mult. Then draft relics, tune your deck, and survive eight escalating rounds. EASY TO READ. DEEP TO MASTER. • See your score before you commit a hand • Keep the complete hand table one tap away • Read every suit by color, symbol, and name • Spot overlapping hands and score the strongest pattern BUILD SOMETHING BROKEN • Discover 22 relics across common, uncommon, and rare tiers • Combine relic effects into powerful scoring engines • Add, enhance, or remove cards in The Exchange • Upgrade cards with foil, holo, and gild enhancements • Bank coins between rounds to earn interest - or spend them chasing the perfect build THE RULES CHANGE AS YOU CLIMB Every run climbs through eight named rounds. From the third, each round bends a rule: fewer swaps, a smaller hand, halved coins, or junk hands worth nothing. Beat The Auditor at Round 8 to win. Your run saves after every action, so you can leave and continue exactly where you stopped. ONE SHARED DAILY Everyone gets the same seeded run each day: the same deal, the same rule changes, and the same Exchange. You get one ranked attempt, then you can compare your result on the global leaderboard. The Daily is free for everyone. THE MARATHON (PRO) Pro adds a separate board on the same daily deck. Carry it past Round 8 in Infinite Mode as often as you like: every run counts and your best run ranks. The Daily itself stays one ranked attempt for everyone. KEEP MAKING PROGRESS • Complete 13 milestones • Discover every hand and relic • Track personal records and your strongest builds • Change the full table with unlockable themes • Share polished result cards with friends FREE TO PLAY Play the ranked Daily every day, start five introductory casual runs, then receive three casual starts each day. Free players get the complete eight-round game and the full core relic pool. There are no ads. GO PRO Unlock unlimited casual runs, continue winning builds into Infinite Mode, expand from five to eight relic slots after Round 8, play today's deck on the Marathon Pro board, where unlimited attempts count and your best run past Round 8 ranks, keep the Ledger of lifetime records and your last 30 runs, and equip every premium table theme. Choose the one-time Full Game Unlock or the StackForge Play Pass. No subscription is required to own the full game. Made by StackForge Studios. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Sumward at every 3 weeks against Hex by Hex's every 3 months. Sumward also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Hex by Hex sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Sumward sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Hex by Hex ships an update every 3 months, Sumward every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.
| Parameter | Hex by Hex | Sumward |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 137 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | IndieCraft LLC | StackForge Studios |
In-app purchases
Hex by Hex
- Unlock Full Game$4.99
Sumward
- StackForge Play Pass Monthly$2.991 Month
- StackForge Play Pass Annual$14.991 Year
- Sumward Full Game Unlock$4.99









