Comparison

Hexarch vs Shadowbox Tactics

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

Head to head
About

Hexarch

Build your empire from a single city in a hidden world. Explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate your rivals through various winning strategies. Play at your own pace, from quick matches to extended campaigns, with or without friends.

Highlights
  • Hex-based 4X strategy
  • Four distinct victory conditions
  • Multiple map sizes and types
  • Real in-game economy simulation
  • AI rivals with unique personalities
  • Online and local multiplayer
  • Offline play with autosave
Features
Read full description

Hexarch is a complete 4X strategy game for iPhone and iPad, built one hex at a time. Free, with no ads. One optional purchase unlocks everything at once, and every bit of it can also be earned by playing. Your people start with a single city in a world hidden beneath the clouds. Send out warriors and workers, uncover forests, mountains and coastlines, and turn them into farms, mines, lumber camps and harbors. Then decide how you want to win. FOUR WAYS TO WIN • Domination: be the last empire standing • Tech: lead the race through the tech tree • Economy: amass gold and raise great Wonders • Score: lead the world when the turn limit arrives PLAY IN TEN MINUTES OR TEN HOURS • Quick Match: a tiny map, two rivals, about ten minutes • Seven map sizes from Tiny to Colossal • Six map types: Classic, Continents, Pangaea, Archipelago, Highlands and Lakes • Daily Challenge and five hand-made scenarios A REAL ECONOMY • Cities grow, level up and let you choose a reward • Workers build farms, mines, markets, banks and universities • A living market: sell a flood of iron and watch the price crash • Trade routes, districts, wonders and golden ages reward careful planning RIVALS WITH PERSONALITY • Warlords, Merchants and Scholars who expand, trade, declare war and sue for peace • Rulers write to you; on devices with Apple Intelligence their words are written on the device • Four difficulty levels, from relaxed to Brutal • Barbarian camps with bounties, natural wonders to discover, units that become Veterans and Elites PLAY WITH FRIENDS • Online matches with friends through Game Center, turn by turn • Pass-and-play on one device, or nearby over Wi-Fi • Leaderboards and achievements MADE TO BE PLAYED • Simple controls: one tap to select, one tap to act • A guided tutorial and a full illustrated manual • VoiceOver, larger buttons and a color-blind friendly market • Plays fully offline on your own; autosave after every turn • Now in 20 languages No ads and no tracking. The optional Unlock Everything purchase adds two bonus civilizations, the Machina boss rival and a gilded look; tips are welcome but never needed.

About

Shadowbox Tactics

Read full description

Turn the lamp. Shape the battlefield. Shadowbox Tactics is a turn-based strategy game where every figurine projects a different attack. Move your company between brass stage marks, slide the footlight, and watch the board transform before you commit. Every cast fires all your shadows at once. Cross two attacks on one shade to trigger an Eclipse combo. Break protective Wards, push threats away from the frame, and preserve your Integrity as the shades advance. TWO WAYS TO PLAY • Opening Night: a handcrafted five-act campaign that builds toward the Crowned Shade • Daily Shadow: a date-seeded five-act challenge that changes each day and works entirely offline BUILD YOUR COMPANY Choose one upgrade after each cleared act. Widen every shadow, strengthen Eclipse combos, reinforce and repair the frame, improve a specialist, or recruit the three-rayed Prism Fox. PLAN BEFORE YOU CAST • Live attack areas show exactly which enemies each figurine will hit • Combat forecasts reveal incoming HP damage, broken Wards, and Push distance • Four figurines create distinct beams, forks, cones, and prisms • Autosave lets you leave a performance and continue later • High scores and victories stay on your device • VoiceOver labels and adjustable controls support nonvisual play No account. No ads. No analytics or tracking. No internet connection required.

Screenshots

Hexarch4 screens
Shadowbox Tactics4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Shadowbox Tactics at none against Hexarch's 4. On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Hexarch sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Shadowbox Tactics asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Hexarch versus Shadowbox Tactics: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHexarchShadowbox Tactics
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB3 MB
Age rating9+12+
DeveloperYves FlueckigerDayton Thorpe

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Hexarch

One-time4
  • Complete Pack$0.99
  • Small Tip$1.99
  • Generous Tip$4.99
Show 1 more
  • Grand Tip$9.99
None

Shadowbox Tactics

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Hexarch free?
Hexarch is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Shadowbox Tactics free?
Shadowbox Tactics is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Hexarch or Shadowbox Tactics have ads?
Neither Hexarch nor Shadowbox Tactics shows ads.

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