Five Elements Chess vs Hexbrew
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Five Elements Chess
Engage in strategic spell-duels with this match-three game inspired by Five Elements theory. Enjoy a calm, Zen-like visual style with a blend of strategy and luck. Compete locally or online against other players.
- Five Elements theory integration
- Match-three gameplay
- Deep strategy
- Zen-inspired visuals
- Local and online PvP
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Five Elements Chess is a spell-duel game that combines the Five Elements theory and match-three gameplay. Features • Simple rules, deep strategy • Calm, Zen-inspired visual style • A balance of strategy and luck that anyone can enjoy • Local and online PvP
Hexbrew
Deduce the secret potion recipe by placing ingredients in the correct order. Use logic and feedback from the cauldron to solve the daily puzzle within six attempts. Enjoy unlimited practice with random recipes offline.
- Daily deduction puzzle
- Ingredient placement logic
- Cauldron feedback system
- Offline play
- Unlimited practice mode
- Spoiler-free sharing
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Every night the cauldron wants a different potion: four ingredients, four slots, one correct order — the same secret recipe for every player in the world. You get six brews. The cauldron never speaks. It answers in smoke: a green puff for every ingredient in its right slot, an amber puff for every ingredient that belongs in the brew but sits in the wrong place. Which puff belongs to which ingredient? That's your problem. And when tonight's cauldron settles, the floor opens: the Hex Trials, a descending gauntlet of ever-crueler cauldrons — silent omens, fewer brews, no mercy. One spoiled brew ends the run. How deep can you go? • A new deduction puzzle at midnight, every night, same for everyone • The omen: each night reveals how many Living, Celestial and Elemental ingredients the recipe wants • Aggregate smoke feedback — pure logic, no letter knowledge needed • After three failed brews the cauldron spits out one wrong ingredient • THE HEX TRIALS: an endless gauntlet below the daily — each tier a fresh recipe on harsher terms, one loss ends the descent, deepest trial is your mastery mark • ESSENCE: every potion bottled pays essence — fewer brews pay more, deeper trials pay richer; earned only by play, never sold • Spend or survive: essence buys a mid-trial Whisper (one true ingredient) or exclusive sigils — you can't hoard both • COVEN CONTRACTS: three fresh bounties every night — bottle it swiftly, read three greens, descend the Trials, hold a streak — each paying essence, a new reason to open the app tomorrow • THE AUGURIES: twenty lifetime marks of mastery to unseal, from your first potion to Trial X and a hundred tiers cleared — a collection to chase for months • THE GRIMOIRE: every daily win bottles a named potion — Flawless, True, or Scraped by your brew count — with collection milestones that pay essence • Climb the Coven Ladder: nine ranks from Kitchen Hedge to Coven Matriarch, each earned by potions bottled • Coven Sigils that tint your brew — five earned by rank, three more bought with essence • A quiet, original cauldron score with soft reactive sound (music and SFX toggles), plus a calm drifting ambient • Streaks, win distribution, and a spoiler-free emoji share card • Practice cauldron with unlimited random recipes once the daily is done • A hands-on first brew that teaches itself — no wall of rules • Entirely offline and private — nothing collected, ever Six brews. Choose them well. Then see how deep the Trials go.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Hexbrew at none against Five Elements Chess's 3. Hexbrew also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8). Five Elements Chess's advantage is update cadence (daily vs every 5 weeks) and ratings volume (74 vs 1). On price and ads 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. Five Elements Chess sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Hexbrew asks for nothing beyond the download.
Hexbrew holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Five Elements Chess has 74 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Five Elements Chess ships an update daily, Hexbrew every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Five Elements Chess | Hexbrew |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (74 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 74 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Daily — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 280 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ming Gao | Jordan Wegner |
Customer experience
Five Elements Chess
Hexbrew
In-app purchases
Five Elements Chess
- Time Skin Pack$1.99
- Five Elements Chess full game$3.99
- Seasons Skin Pack$3.99
Hexbrew
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Five Elements Chess free?
Is Hexbrew free?
Which has better reviews, Five Elements Chess or Hexbrew?
Do Five Elements Chess or Hexbrew have ads?
Which is updated more often, Five Elements Chess or Hexbrew?
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