Verbena vs Connect Them
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Verbena
A cozy word game that blends gardening with roguelike deckbuilding. Spell words to achieve seasonal goals, collect enchanted charms to create powerful combos, and nurture your garden through the changing seasons. Enjoy a relaxed, turn-based experience with no timers or ads.
- Word spelling and garden growing
- Roguelike deckbuilding mechanics
- Collect and combine enchanted charms
- Seasonal progression with unique challenges
- Daily challenges and leaderboards
- Relaxed, turn-based gameplay
- Cozy visuals and soothing soundtrack
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Verbena — a cozy word roguelike. Spell words. Grow your garden. Chase the bloom. Verbena blends the calm of a cozy garden with the moreish "just one more run" of a roguelike deckbuilder. Draw a rack of letters, spell words to reach each season's goal, then visit the Garden Shop to collect enchanted charms — a Sunflower that adds to every word, a Dewdrop that rewards vowels, a Lucky Ladybug that multiplies your score. Stack charms into run-defining combos and see how many seasons your garden can survive. No timers. No pressure. No ads, ever. A fresh fusion — word game meets roguelike deckbuilder Collect from 17 charms (with a Charm Codex to complete) and build wild combos Special seasons add twists — gentler goals, bonus leaves, lusher words Daily Challenge — everyone gets the same letters; build your streak A garden that blooms through Spring, Summer, Autumn & Winter as you climb Cozy visuals, a soothing synth soundtrack, and a relaxed turn-based pace Light & dark "night garden" themes — and it autosaves, so pick up anytime Universal — plays on iPhone and iPad Accessibility-minded: no timers, Relaxed difficulty, VoiceOver, readable-letters, reduce-motion, a Hint helper Game Center leaderboards & achievements, plus personal Records A 200,000-word dictionary Try 7 days free, then S$2.99/month — no ads, no tracking, cancel anytime Whether you have two minutes or twenty, plant a new garden and watch it bloom. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Connect Them
A cozy word puzzle game where you find the single word that links two given words. Enjoy three distinct play modes and over 1,500 unique puzzles. Hints are earned by playing well, and the game is designed for accessibility.
- Find linking words
- Daily puzzle mode
- Timed Blitz mode
- Endless Cozy mode
- Over 1500 puzzles
- Earnable hints
- VoiceOver support
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SUN … FLOWER … POT One word sits in the middle and finishes them both. That's the whole game. Connect Them is a cosy word puzzle about the links hiding between everyday words. , no adverts. Just you, a warm cup of a puzzle, and a small owl called Otto who wears reading glasses and means well. THREE WAYS TO PLAY Daily — five links, once a day. Build a streak, then share the result without spoiling a single answer. Blitz — two minutes on the clock. How many can you link before it runs out? Cozy Endless — no clock at all. Keep going until three slip past you. OVER 1,500 PUZZLES Every link is a real compound word or a phrase people actually say, checked against real-world usage rather than pulled from a dusty dictionary. The Daily walks a fixed order, so nothing repeats until you've seen everything — more than a year of puzzles. EARN YOUR HINTS Hints cost corn, and corn is earned by playing well. Solve without help and you're paid more. String answers together and the bonuses grow. Come back tomorrow and there's more waiting. Stuck is always temporary. BUILT TO BE HEARD Connect Them was designed with VoiceOver in mind from the start, not bolted on afterwards. • Every puzzle, button and score reads clearly with VoiceOver • Results, hints and corn are announced as they happen • Focus moves to each new puzzle automatically • The answer submits itself on the last letter — no hunting for a button • Extra time in Blitz when a screen reader is running, so the clock is fair • Prefer to play with your eyes closed? Turn on Read Puzzles Aloud and the game narrates every clue in its own voice, at a speed you choose NO ADVERTS. NO IN-APP PURCHASES. NO ACCOUNT.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Verbena at Free against Connect Them's $0.99. Connect Them's advantage is ratings volume (13 vs 1) and chart position (#140 vs unranked). On rating, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
Verbena is free to download; Connect Them costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Verbena against 4.9 for Connect Them. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Connect Them has 13 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Verbena | Connect Them |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $0.99 |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.9 (13 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 13 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days | Every 2 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Subscription | Paid — better |
| Best chart rank | — | #140 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Naizhong Xu | adam rogan |
Customer experience
Verbena
Connect Them
In-app purchases
Verbena
No in-app purchases
Connect Them
No in-app purchases








