“Screen full of ads to buy stuff. Pop ups every time you click anything. Extremely ridiculously low rate to pull 5 stars! They had to have lowered the pull rate. I used to be able to get 5* but not any more! Don't waste your money. If you…”
Independent automated assessment · 6 signal sources · 1,038 reviews scanned · analyzed 2026-10-06.
4.5 ★2,493,559 ratings
50M+Downloads
12+Age rating
326 MBApp size
FreeIn-app purchases
About this app
Empires & Puzzles is an innovative match-3 puzzle game where puzzle-solving meets deep fantasy RPG, combining RPG elements, PvE quests, and base-building — topped off with epic head to head duels that range from riveting 1v1 Raids to large-scale 100v100 Wars.
• Match-3 battles with real strategy Match Shields to deal damage and power up each Hero's Special Skill, then unleash combos at the perfect moment. Learn the five-element color wheel and turn the board into your weapon. Achieve huge combos to take down even the most powerful enemies!…
Preview
Real screenshots from the store listing.
Independent evidence report
The evidence behind this assessment
This is where the page changes from an app-store listing into an evidence report: findings, important reviews, pricing and a dated history.
Which version this describes
When we ran this analysis, and what the store lists now.
App Store
This analysis describes version 89.0.1 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-04 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 89.0.1, updated 2026-10-01.
Google Play
This analysis describes version 89.0.1 of the app (the version number recorded inside the package we inspected), analyzed 2026-10-06 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 89.0.1, updated 2026-10-01.
What we measured
Each line is a measurement published as a measurement, never a verdict.
Each line is a measurement, published as a measurement. Where we have not looked, the line says so rather than reading as a zero.
Developer replies to reviews
Replies to fewer than 1 review in 20
Price in the store description
States no price and billing period
Cancelling, in the store description
Does not say how to cancel
Themes reported by reviewers
3 or more themes reported
Counted from the reviews we have read for this app. "No theme reported" means no theme reached our reporting threshold — it is not a finding that nothing is wrong with this app, and we do not say it is.
Five-star share of ratings
65–79% five-star
Arithmetic on the stores' own published rating counts. It says nothing about why the ratings fall where they do.
In the package we scanned
From the package we downloaded and read — version 89.0.1, scanned 2026-10-04.
Permissions Android classifies as dangerous
None requested
Counted against the eighteen permissions listed in collect-package.ts. A dangerous permission is one Android asks the user to grant; requesting one is not itself a finding.
Analytics or tracking SDKs in the scanned package
1–2 found
Advertising SDKs in the scanned package
10 or more found
Counted as distinct SDKs in the package we scanned. One mediation bundle can contribute several, so this is not a count of advertisers.
Graded bands · predicate set 1.4 · how these are measured
What the analysis found
App-specific findings, grouped by what each one rests on. How they are graded lives on its own page.
The catch list 1
Charges we publish at a strength we stand behind: measured from an artefact, agreed by independent sources, or reported by enough users to clear that charge's own published bar.
Multiple ad networks bundled
The package embeds several distinct advertising or mediation SDKs — a stack built for ad volume, not for a single house ad.
What we saw: Bundles 16 distinct ad networks / mediation SDKs: Amazon Publisher Services, AppLovin MAX, BidMachine, Chartboost and 12 more
Positive evidence 1
Things this app does right, published at the same strengths as the catch list.
Developer says data deletion can be requested
The developer's data-safety disclosure on the store states that users can request deletion of their data, or the app's own text offers a way to delete the account. This restates what the developer declares; it is not a test of whether deletion works. Apple publishes no equivalent disclosure, so on an Apple-only listing only the app's own text can support it.
What we saw: The developer's store data-safety disclosure states that data deletion can be requested; we have not seen a deletion control in the app's own text
One source only — shown, not confirmed 3
A single kind of evidence. We publish these because withholding them would be the bigger distortion, and we do not treat any of them as a finding we stand behind.
Reported by users: Aggressive ad load
Advertising volume or placement that interrupts normal use: ads between every action, unskippable or forced full-screen ads.
What we saw: Aggressive ad load: raised by 10 distinct reviewers (2.0% of 510 reviews scanned)
Reported by users: Reports that the ads misrepresent the app
Reviewers repeatedly report that the app is not what its advertising showed. We never see the ad creative itself, so nothing we collect can corroborate or refute this — it is published as an attributed user report: what reviewers say, and how many of them said it.
What we saw: Misleading advertising: raised by 5 distinct reviewers (0.9% of 528 reviews scanned)
Reported by users: Pay to progress
Advancement or competition is gated behind spending money rather than playing.
What we saw: Pay to progress: raised by 18 distinct reviewers (3.5% of 510 reviews scanned)
Highlighted reviews
Representative public review excerpts shown as user reports, not Appworthy audit evidence.
“Twice, I've made purchases of $9.99 by mistake. And neither time was I refunded or given a credit to purchase something else. Mind you your constantly bombarded with pop ups to purchase and ads as you're trying to navigate to gameplay…”
“It's an ad fest constant pop up ads on a timer in the course of 20 minutes of playing there's close to 5-10 pop up ads you have to click out of an absolute trash game”
Assessment & version history
App changes and Appworthy events in one timeline.
Store listing updated to version 89.0.1.
What this app sells
Useful store-disclosed pricing, kept below the app listing.
Items shown0
Lowest—
Highest—
Google Play does not publish per-purchase prices.