Candy Crush Saga vs The Past Within

How do Candy Crush Saga and The Past Within compare on difficulty, ad pressure, in-app-purchase pressure and what real reviewers say? A side-by-side look, grounded in App Store data.

	Candy Crush Saga	The Past Within
Genre	Puzzle	Puzzle
Price	Free	Paid
Difficulty	hard	medium
Ad intensity	high	none
In-app-purchase pressure	high	none
Typical session	variable	medium
Rating	4.7 / 5	4.9 / 5
Ratings count	3,988,014	7,215
Reviews say	What players like Addictive core match-3 gameplay with escalating difficulty Free to play with offline support Daily rewards and time-limited events for engagement Common complaints Aggressive ad placement and hard-to-close ad windows causing accidental clicks Pay-to-win mechanics with removed ad-based rewards after updates Technical bugs including crashes, freezing, and broken iPad UI	What players like Exceptional atmospheric design and artwork Clever co-op puzzle mechanics requiring communication Excellent sound design and spooky ambiance Common complaints Game is too short for the price Co-op only requirement frustrating for solo players Limited replay value without additional chapters

Candy Crush Saga — Match-3 puzzle game where you blast candies through thousands of levels while navigating aggressive monetization and intrusive ads. (rated hard difficulty, high ad pressure) The Past Within — A gorgeously atmospheric co-op-only point-and-click puzzle adventure where two players explore interconnected past and future worlds from different visual perspectives. (rated medium difficulty, none ad pressure)

Still deciding? Ask the finder — grounded in real reviews:

Which is easier? →Find me something like both →Which should I play? →

Data: Apple App Store, as of 2026-08-24. Last updated 2026-08-24.