Merge Cooking® vs Royal Match

How do Merge Cooking® and Royal Match compare on difficulty, ad pressure, in-app-purchase pressure and what real reviewers say? A side-by-side look, grounded in App Store data.

	Merge Cooking®	Royal Match
Genre	Puzzle	Puzzle
Price	Free	Free
Difficulty	easy	hard
Ad intensity	low	high
In-app-purchase pressure	high	high
Typical session	short	medium
Rating	4.7 / 5	4.7 / 5
Ratings count	47,763	3,787,192
Reviews say	What players like Addictive merging mechanics World tour with diverse cuisines and themes Relaxing, mindless gameplay Common complaints Energy system caps at 100 with 2min regeneration per point, blocking play after 15-20 mins Heavy monetization and pay-to-win progression after early game Generous initial rewards/energy diminish significantly at higher levels	What players like Entertaining and addictive gameplay loop Progression system unlocks new castle areas Powerful boosters and collectible rewards Common complaints Levels become impossible without in-app purchases Difficulty spike designed to pressure spending Pay-to-win mechanics targeting spenders with easier levels

Merge Cooking® — Merge ingredients and cook global cuisines while renovating themed restaurants across world destinations. (rated easy difficulty, low ad pressure) Royal Match — Match-3 puzzle game where you restore a royal castle by breaking obstacles and combining power-ups to beat challenging levels. (rated hard difficulty, high ad pressure)

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