Phantom Words vs Match Attack
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Phantom Words
Unscramble letters by sliding rows and columns to form words. Discover hidden letters as you play, with increasing complexity and new mechanics introduced. Offers multiple game modes for varied challenges.
- Sliding row and column puzzles
- Hidden letter discovery
- Progressive difficulty
- Multiple game modes (Classic, Endless, Daily, Lightning)
- iCloud sync across devices
- Game Center leaderboards
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We made Phantom Words for anyone who loves that small, satisfying moment when a jumble of letters suddenly turns into a word. Each board begins scrambled, with most of the letters hidden behind ghost tiles. Slide rows and columns like a 2D Rubik’s Cube, then look for words running across or down the board. Whenever you make one using a tile for the first time, another letter appears. Once every tile is used, the puzzle is complete. Longer words are worth more, while tiles lose value each time you use them. Yellow means a tile is nearly spent; red means you’ve leaned on it too often. Later boards introduce gaps that split rows and columns, multi-letter tiles that keep their letters together, wildcards that can stand in for any letter, and locked tiles that stay fixed until you use them in a word. And if a solution feels messy, you can always come back and find a more elegant one. There are four ways to play: • Classic has 99 handmade levels with increasing difficulty and evolving mechanics. • Endless starts small and procedurally grows while you play. • Daily Challenge gives everyone a new board each day, plus a streak to keep going. • Lightning Mode is the same word hunting, but against the clock. Classic, Endless, and Daily Challenge aren’t timed, so there’s no rush. You get a full score breakdown after each level and can replay it whenever you want. Your progress and settings sync across your devices with iCloud. There are also Game Center leaderboards if you care about high scores. We hope you enjoy discovering the words we’ve hidden for you.
Match Attack
Engage in roguelike match-3 combat where tile swaps trigger attacks, defense, and healing. Collect powerful relics and build game-breaking synergies across multiple chapters. Enjoy single-player, offline gameplay with no timers or energy systems.
- Match tiles to attack, defend, and heal
- Create powerful tile cascades
- Collect over 280 synergistic relics
- Progress through three distinct chapters
- Unlock permanent relics through runs
- Ascension tiers for increased difficulty
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Match Attack is a match-3 roguelike game where the board is your weapon! Swap tiles to make matches and watch satisfying cascades. Set up the perfect board, collect upgrades and create gamebreaking builds! - Match tiles to attack, defend, recharge and heal - Get rewarded for bigger matches with clears, empowered tiles, wildcards, and bombs - 280+ relics with synergizing mechanics - Three chapters, each with fights, elites, events, shops, rest sites, and a boss finale - Earn experience from every run to permanently unlock new relics - Ascension tiers add difficulty for uncapped replayability Single-player, fully offline. No timers, no energy. One optional in-app purchase to removes ads and support the solo developer!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Match Attack at Free against Phantom Words's $2.99. Match Attack also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 5 days). Phantom Words's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and chart position (#46 vs unranked). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume 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
Match Attack is free to download; Phantom Words costs $2.99 up front. Phantom Words sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Match Attack sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Phantom Words against 4.7 for Match Attack. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 22 and 12 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 93% of Phantom Words's written reviews are positive against 100% of Match Attack's.
Phantom Words ships an update every 5 days, Match Attack every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Phantom Words | Match Attack |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (22 ratings) — better | 4.7 (12 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 93.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 22 — better | 12 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #46 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 130 MB | 111 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Fleon Labs | Michael Ip |
Customer experience
Phantom Words
Match Attack
In-app purchases
Phantom Words
- Kind Supporter$2.49
- Generous Supporter$4.99
- Huge Supporter$9.99
Match Attack
- Match Attack Remove Ads$1.99
Questions
Is Phantom Words free?
Is Match Attack free?
Which has better reviews, Phantom Words or Match Attack?
Do Phantom Words or Match Attack have ads?
Which is updated more often, Phantom Words or Match Attack?
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