Blackbox vs Assemble with Care
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Blackbox
This puzzle game challenges you to solve intricate problems without touching the screen. It utilizes minimalistic visual cues, sonic interfaces, and haptic feedback to guide you through unique challenges that require thinking outside the box. Discover a new way to interact with your device and prove your cleverness.
- Touchless gameplay
- Minimalistic visual clues
- Sonic interfaces
- Haptic feedback
- External puzzle solving
- Easter eggs
Read full descriptionHide full description
So you think you understand this thing you’re holding? Think again. Stop tapping. Stop swiping. In fact, stop touching the screen at all. To crack Blackbox’s puzzles you’ll need to find solitude and stillness, climb mountains, call on friends, get in tune with the cosmos, and think outside the box. Minimalistic visual clues make for incredibly satisfying “Aha!” moments, while sonic interfaces provide an extra level of guidance and nuance that makes Blackbox accessible with or without vision. Thoughtful haptic feedback, Easter eggs on Easter eggs, and solutions that can’t be found beneath the glass of your screen redefine what a puzzle can be. You’ll never see your device the same way again. Think you’re clever? Prove it. (Blackbox is a living game under active development by Ryan McLeod. When not eating burritos or drinking coffee, he’s busy designing and developing new Blackbox challenges.) ■
Assemble with Care
Restore cherished objects and help a town heal in this narrative puzzle game. Explore meaningful puzzles, meet quirky townsfolk, and enjoy a nostalgic soundtrack and handcrafted visuals.
- Meaningful object restoration puzzles
- Evocative story about townsfolk
- Nostalgic 80s-inspired soundtrack
- Handcrafted, impressionist visuals
- Free-to-start gameplay
Read full descriptionHide full description
Assemble With Care is free-to-start with no ads. Play the opening chapters for free, and unlock the rest of the story with a single in-app purchase. From the studio that brought you Monument Valley, comes a story about taking things apart and putting ourselves back together. When Maria, a globe-trotting antique restorer, arrives in the sun-soaked town of Bellariva, she has no idea just how broken it will turn out to be. She wants nothing more than to help the town’s inhabitants save their most beloved possessions, but when it’s their personal lives that are starting to fracture, she’ll need to find a way to hold them together, one spare screw at a time. MEANINGFUL PUZZLES: Explore the objects through Maria’s eyes and find a way to restore them. EVOCATIVE STORY: Meet the townsfolk of Bellariva. Come to love their quirks and help them reconnect. NOSTALGIC CHARM: Rediscover the defining objects of decades past to the tune of the original soundtrack, inspired by the sounds of the 80s. HANDCRAFTED VISUALS: Enjoy gameplay rendered in a beautiful, impressionist style, alongside a completely hand-illustrated story
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Blackbox at 4.8 against Assemble with Care's 3.6. Blackbox also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (109K vs 1.4K). Assemble with Care's advantage is device support (5 vs 2) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.6). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Blackbox sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Assemble with Care sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Blackbox holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Blackbox has 109K ratings behind it against 1.4K, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Blackbox ships an update every 9 days, Assemble with Care every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Blackbox | Assemble with Care |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (109K ratings) — better | 3.6 (1.4K ratings) |
| Number of ratings | 109K — better | 1.4K |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #32 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple TV — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 209 MB | 619 MB |
| Age rating | +4 | 4+ |
| Developer | Shapes and Stories LLC | ustwo games |
Customer experience
Blackbox
Assemble with Care
User reviews
Blackbox
From 109K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Unique and creative gameplay
- 🤔 Challenges users to think outside the box
- 😄 Humorous and witty comments
- 🔑 Utilizes phone features in innovative ways
Room to improve
- 🤯 Extremely challenging puzzles
- 💰 Expensive for additional content
- 🤖 Concerns about app accessing device permissions
- 🚗 Puzzles requiring travel/location are inaccessible for some
Assemble with Care
From 1.4K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Relaxing and therapeutic gameplay
- 🎨 Beautiful art style and visuals
- 🔊 Excellent voice acting and soundtrack
- 📚 Engaging and heartwarming story
- 🧠 Satisfying puzzle-solving mechanics
Room to improve
- 💰 Game is too short for the price
- 🔒 Paywall after initial free levels
- 🕰️ Slow pacing and dialogue
- 🔍 Lack of difficulty and challenge
Bugs and requests
Blackbox
Reported bugs
2 issues- Hints not working as expected
- Progress reset after app update
Requested features
4 requests- Add ability to earn hint credits through watching ads
- Include more free puzzles
- Improve accessibility for users with limited mobility
- Provide better guidance and instructions for puzzles
Assemble with Care
Reported bugs
2 issues- Progress deletion issue
- Sound not working for some users
Requested features
4 requests- More levels and chapters
- Ability to skip dialogue
- Landscape mode support
- Additional gameplay modes or stories
In-app purchases
Blackbox
- Tiny Hint Pack$1.19
- Small Hint Pack$2.39
- Erudite Pack$2.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Push Pack$2.99
- Coffee for Ryan$4.49
- Basic Pack$4.99
- Medium Hint Pack$5.00
- All Knowing Pack$7.99
- Large Hint Pack$10.00
- Extra Large Hint Pack$20.00
Assemble with Care
- Unlock Full Game$5.99
