Sudoku Extreme: Classic Number Reviews

by Maddicat17

With a name like Sudoku Extreme, I paid for the harder levels expecting actual harder and extremely difficult levels. Well, it’s false advertising. The extreme levels are easier than the beginner free levels. You can understand my frustration and disappointment.

I would prefer my payment of $4.99 returned to me.

What you’re really paying for is additional and unnecessary settings. Even weirder that the price jumped from $3.99 to $4.99 after a week of playing the beginning and easy levels.

by Insulinize

I was looking for a Sudoku app that wouldn’t bombard me with 30-second unskippable ads like the others do. This one looks promising and offers many cool features but I think it is odd that I have to pay for the premium version just to play traditional Sudoku on what appears to be the ultimate Sudoku app. Specifically, the ‘auto-fill notes’ and ‘hide incorrect answers’ features are very cool but they are turned on by default and require a $4 app upgrade to toggle off. This is not a real Sudoku app to me. I ended up deleting SudokuExtreme without finishing the game I started because the auto-filled notes ruined the actual game for me. I would love to use SudokuExtreme as my main Sudoku app but I think I will stick to my plain paper Sudoku.

by McQ14

I think the gameplay is really good. I like all the options available. This is very polished. My only gripe is that the puzzles (especially the “easy” ones) are way too difficult. I know the developer will say they’re not, because I’ve seen the responses to other reviews that have had the same issue, but there’s no way these are in line with standard Sudoku difficulty levels. Not a chance.

If you’re a casual Sudoku player, skip this one because you’ll just be frustrated. For true Sudoku fans, you’ll probably enjoy it more.

I’d give it five stars if the easy levels were actually easier than the more difficult levels.

by Shrikey

The UI is wonderful and clean, as well as instantly intuitive for Sudoku fans. SudokuExtreme has many novel features not seen elsewhere, such as pre-filled notes. It's clean and offers easy change of themes, which is nice- It's nice to see a developer recognize not everyone would like their first choice of colors.


Edit:
Apparently there has been an option added to toggle swiping notes off. That's a great addition, but it still doesn't totally alleviate the ease with which you can accidentally enter an incorrect number. Aside from toggling into note mode until ready to make an entry, that is still an issue. At least now my problem is incorrect notes, not accidental incorrect entries. To the Dev: I still love this game, but I consider issue where you can accidentally enter a wrong answer to still be fairly large.

by Eli Lovelace

When filling cells quickly: it won’t let me update them as fast as my fingers can move, and it doesn’t properly update the possible values when animations are turned on. Also, some puzzles are poorly classified. For example, I’ve encountered to extreme puzzles (they required alternate inference chains, grouped X-cycles, digit forcing chains, etc) in the beginner difficulty. I don’t know if they are randomized, but beginner puzzle 110 is missclassified in my app.

by Tincanmanios

Love the color schemes and overall interface design. The haptic feedback is wonderful. Definitely my favorite Sudoku app. There are two downsides:
1. The UX is not fast. When I click on a cell, it doesn't immediately select the cell and I can't immediately place a number. This slows down my fill speed.
2. When a number is fully used, SudokuExtreme should not allow it to be placed again. I've had multiple times when I accidentally hit a grayed out number which then counts as a mistake (usually when I'm trying to fill cells quickly toward the end of a game). This can definitely help reduce accidental mistakes.
Keep up the good work

by Whatsthatsmell

Overall SudokuExtreme was worth the money. It’s beautiful and I love seeing my score on the chart for each level of difficulty. That being said, I don’t see enough difference between the level of difficulties. I cannot complete an easy puzzle in less than 12-15 minutes which to me, is not “easy”. I’d like to see better distinction between the difficulty levels. I also agree with another reviewer who mentioned a delay for mistakes. I also often accidentally hit a number that’s already been used up and it gives me a mistake.

by Musymo

It is a superb app but I would have preferred if there was the option of deciding when to populate the game with the “auto notes” in the course of the game when it gets too hard to continue without having to restart the game then apply the “auto notes”.

by Ninjamike808

Probably the best UI out there. Being able to quickly notate and switch is faster than any app I’ve ever used. In addition, extreme is truly difficult and you may find yourself stumped quite often. However I would like coloring and advanced coloring options. A way to manually notate various advanced techniques would be amazing.

by MontagFTB

This is a great implementation of the game. The UI is fluid and intuitive, the score keeping is fun, and the hints help with deduction techniques.

I have two small requests: 1) can there be a preference to turn off the animation? Towards the end game of a puzzle the animation slows down a rapid-fire solving of cells as their possibilities whittle down to one. 2) for Hard (and beyond) levels, can we have an ‘auto-fill’ button for cells with only one possibility? My fat fingers have occasionally hit the wrong number filling in those cells and they’re counted as a mistake against me.

Keep up the great work! This variant of the game is my favorite on iOS.

by TheDeejay01

Very extensive features, options, difficulty, and is just a lot of fun to play. I’ve played plenty of Sudoku apps over the years and I am glad I came across this one, easily one of the best. Nice work!

by Shimmer The Lioness

For this to be timed (an option got those who like challenges) the mail # keys should be spaced out more and blocked in because those with iPhones have to use their fingers 🥴

by Icebaby1114

I've tried out a lot of Sudoku apps. I have two Sudoku apps on my phone still, but I honestly never use the other one.

The developer's motivation for creating SudokuExtreme (posted on Reddit) it a wholesome one, and his response to users' feedback is fantastic.

The long press to continuous add the same number with each tap is awesome. Plus you can toggle to add it as a "note" with just a click and then click it off when you're done.

The intricacies that have been put into SudokuExtreme have paid off and make the "gaming" experience truly enjoyable.

by RplusDC

Every attention to detail is on showcase in SudokuExtreme, from the theme selections, to the way you can customize it to have a distraction free gaming session, to how it displays every puzzle in a delightful manner.

Couldn’t imagine my days without it, it’s the perfect sudoku experience.

by Shawnster_P

I thought I knew all the tricks, but this one has a difficulty that is harder than the other sudokus I have seen. I had to learn a new trick, and that is cool. Prior to that, I really didn’t think hard ones were hard. You just need to know what to do.

by Gormand0

The thing that most other Sudoku apps are missing is detailed stats, SudokuExtreme gives you information about each game that’s helpful. Also the levels difficulties are actually correct, most other apps barely get harder, then ramp up for extreme. Solid Sudoku app

by Atriptolalaland

I’ve put in about three hours of game time on SudokuExtreme. The interface is attractive and allows you to use different themes. The puzzle difficulties are easy to super challenging and it’s a lot of fun. SudokuExtreme keeps track of your time spent, best scores, mistakes, etc. There’s a bar graph which displays your overall scores as well. It’s nice to have a personal challenge to beat your own scores. I definitely recommend purchasing this one! It’s worth it!

by Melomawm

I’ve played several versions of sudoku and this one was worth the $5 upgrade for all the features it has. I love the themes to make it easier to see notes and like the graphs showing my score/time history by level as I’m always working to increase my score. Prefilled notes are great for faster play but you also have the option to turn them off for more challenge. Great game!

by Lostczech

If you play (too much) Sudoku like me, you will absolutely love SudokuExtreme. Tons of customization and the auto fill notes is a different take on the game.

One note to anyone who plays rapidly: immediately turn off animations. If you don’t, you will get quickly irritated by the fact that the notes don’t remove themselves in time (otherwise you have to wait for the animations to play out before notes on the selected number are removed). It will cause you to make a lot of unnecessary mistakes. Once they are off, this game is perfect!

by Mauirixxx

Since picking this version up back in July of this year I’ve logged almost 200 games in it. There’s a ton of options, and my favorite by far (well 2 now as of yesterday’s update) is that I can have all of the possible notes pre-filled!! And as of yesterday I can export my game stats so I can check them out in a spreadsheet and make my own graphs. Perfect if you’re a DataIsBeautiful redditor 🤘 If your old favorite sudoku app is boring you or if you’re new to the market and looking for a solid sudoku app, give Sudoku Extreme a shot 🤙 —mauirixxx

by Doug114

This is the best version of Sudoku I’ve played on my iPhone. The developer has lots of options, and the difficulty scales well. Great app. Thanks for sharing it with us!

by Dasmart

Nice themes, good gameplay. I’d really like to see GameCenter syncing of my scores between devices. Also, still having occasional issues with tapping numbers on the iPhone X.

by FunBoxer

The team worked extremely hard to make it a great game. Especially love the long touch auto enter the number!

by Radioactive-235

This is a masterpiece. I’ve long since waited for a sudoku app that pushes all the right buttons and here it is. Beautiful UI, customizations, playability... it’s really fun and engaging.

Thank you so much!

Stay cool. Stay Busy.

by Thatguywiththeiphone

Sudoku apps are a dime a dozen but the design of SudokuExtreme, and the options, and the themes set SudokuExtreme apart. I’m glad to have a sudoku app that is visually pleasing without being over complicated. Cheers!