Puzzles & Survival Reviews

by Litfuse293

Literally an entire hour of it telling you where to tap.
An hour of it telling you to spend resources and speed ups you probably don’t even want to use literally non stop. Honestly i completely lost any interest in the story because i just want to PLAY, i actually want to experience the game, and an hour of tutorial didn’t even cover other stuff- you literally need to cover a whole CHAPTER to learn anything else. What is this resource? What are these boosts? How do i get them? What does this mean? How do i do this thing? I don’t know, but it’s telling me to use them. It’s so frustrating, i literally said out load “oh my god, just let me play the game”.
I hate apps which tutorials FORCES you to spend materials i would love to save for later, and if you think the same way then PuzzlesSurvival isn’t for you.
If you love sitting through an hour+ of the game constantly telling you what to do literally non stop, and spending resources you could save up for better choices. if you love them waving five star characters in your face by letting you use their abilities that insta kill bosses and then tell you “you need to pay for this”. If you love gathering resources without even knowing what they do because the tutorial literally covers everything except what you want to know, then you bet PuzzlesSurvival is for you.
It’s been frustrating, confusing, irritating and all around a terrible experience right out the gate.

by Mike Wilke

This game can be very fun. The ads are very misleading but you’ll notice that right away. These style of games can be fun and the people in them tend to be very nice. Joining an alliance is usually best. The reason for my review is a lot of the wording in the game is misleading. I spent a small amount of money in the game and after a few weeks began running into major issues. Too many to list. Sometimes you would get rewards from the game for them. Most the time they are nothing. The support is not helpful at all. They will apologize but tell you there’s nothing they can do. I finally asked for my account to be closed. They asked if I wanted a refund and really wanted my account to be closed. When I said yes they told me they couldn’t do that because it would be unfair to other players. What does my account and the money I spent on the game have to do with other players? Idk but it was unfair to offer something that can’t be delivered on. I hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else.

by Cruiseguru

I finally decided to quit PuzzlesSurvival and delete it even though I had a level 28 HQ and was just under 100 million might. I am a gig worker and PuzzlesSurvival took up too much of my time and attention. It actually affected when I ate and when I slept too. Even though the Covid threat level has risen again, I need to return to work, mainly driving for Lyft. I got fed up with events like Break Loose, an obvious sales tactic to get players to spend money to earn all rewards during each eight hour event.

Update: Every single day I come across a video advertisement for this game on my other game apps and they are all misleading. For example, several end with, “Can you escape from the prison?” That has nothing to do with the game. Overall, the game is really a sales tactic to get you to spend your money and it is operated poorly. If their video advertisements were true and accurate, they wouldn’t make as much money. That is how the people behind the advertising feel. Also, there is so much to this game that isn’t explained anywhere and it took months to find someone who could answer my questions. I really feel that the people running this game, never played it. Once I realized that, I decided to quit cold turkey. Now I get to sleep whenever I want and my meals are not delayed.

by SleepyFairy

I’ve played this game for awhile now. A year maybe. I enjoyed it at first. Match 3 puzzle is fun but there were lots of other fun things to partake in to earn resources and other rewards. Hero duels were fun too. At first. It’s clear that money has to be spent to be mildly successful in this game. I know. I’ve made plenty of purchases to help me out. But what is the point? My headquarters is level 18 my commander level 30, my top heroes 226 down to 210. So why am I always matched against players with heroes 100+ above mine? And why do all their heroes get to attack one after another after every move while mine have to wait for jewel build up? Today was the final straw. A level 50 commander attacked my headquarters 21 times in a row. I put shields up as often as I can but you can’t earn those so easily and I don’t turn on notifications because I don’t want notified of stupid things like my troop is done training. If there were some way I could retaliate even though they’re higher level or if there was a limit to the number of attacks! 19 million food resources gone! 5 days for my troops to heal! It’s B. S. really. All the stupid researching, gear, chips, modules mean nothing. I just wish it were a more fair matchup system.

by Nopenopetoo

There’s always issues with the games. It’s always glitching in someway, valiant weekend I put on a three day shield, a few HOURS after putting on the THEEE DAY shield the game had glitched and my shield was gone so I was attacked and everything was gone. I had over 100 million in food and wood, 5 million in steel and 1 million in gas that I had been saving all week to upgrade my troops to t9. Obviously upset because it’s 5,000 diamonds for a 3 day shield I contacted customer service where they continued to try to gaslight me about the situation. At first they said there was never a shield purchased and then when I kept pressing the issue, they changed their story and said that one was purchased two days before and that it expired right before the attacks which was also a lie, because I put one on that day. The CS person helping me also tricked me into closing out our chat as problem solved so they didn’t have to deal with the issue anymore. HORRIBLE customer service and buggy game. I don’t recommend to anyone.

by 1stSgtElvis

There are some simple puzzles to solve but this game is more like a far more cancerous clash of clans. Mine/find resources, attack random zombies to get other resources. Build your base, keep up the same boring, crap. But why this gets 1 star is the other players toxicity. You start as a weak sanctuary. Immediately after you reach level 5 ish more powerful players begin to attack you, destroy your base, and steal your stuff. It costs huge resources to repair yourself forcing you to spend real money if you want to repair yourself in a reasonable amount of time. Then after you join an alliance to help you grow the attacks intensify. The strongest alliances in your state randomly attack the weaker alliances at will. If you don’t have a defense shield up 24/7 you will be attacked and ravaged by stronger players. Each state’s governor is supposed to discourage the attack of weaker players but those doing the attacking belong to the governors alliance; so he does nothing. This game is just an infuriating, cancerous money grab. Avoid it at all costs.

by MNdad2

This is fundamentally a good social game, but those with the most might can dominate this game and the only way to build that kind of might is to spend obscene amounts of money.

Customer support for this game is simply the worst of any game I have ever played. There is significant lag in the game and you will tap actions you did not intend too because of the lag. Asking customer support to undo that is like sending a message into a black hole.

The first response almost always shows no understanding of the issue you raised. I almost think they do it on purpose to get you off their backs.

When you persist and clarify, they will send you a canned response that doesn’t address your issue. I have never dealt with customer support for a game that is this poor. I think part of the issue is that many of the support agents do not have a strong grasp of the English language.

Lastly, there is a player in our state who is acting like a terrorist and burning random headquarters if his demands are not met - this is making the game completely unenjoyable for everyone and the game makers refuse to step in and stop him even though he is in clear violation of their terms of service because he is a whale and his terrorism is forcing people to spend more money rebuilding everything he destroys.

Not a fan of app developer and don’t think anyone should support them or this game.

by Jjmmss

Need to defend yourself? Spend money. Need to get stronger? Spend money. Want to earn it for free? You’re “matched” to fight against someone ten times more powerful than you. Free rewards? Here are free things that you can use when you reach level 20; but you’re on level eight, and it will take months and hundreds of $$$ to be able to access those rewards. But hey, they’re free! And we’ll even give you the option of converting them to something ten thousand percent less valuable. The ads are nothing like the game. There’s no walking through a maze. Just a match three puzzle that never seems to work in your favor. Events are so disproportionate; randomly get chests and keys to open them, but I got 43 chests before I got my first key. If you want the rewards inside the chests, chests that you’ve wasted your daily allotted energy to collect, you have to buy them. And if you don’t spend money keeping yourself shielded 24/7, you will constantly be attacked and stripped of your troops and resources.

by Pdot

I love the tile/jewel match and zombie concept but the game needs to use a true random walk for the gameplay. For most matchups, I can guess after a few moves whether the games wants to be fair, unfair to me, or unfair to the opponent. It’s quite annoying but there are enough fair matches that I keep playing. It’s most obvious when you are defending yourself in the Heroes rankings. The story was fun at first, but is non-existent after about 15 chapters of the campaign.

Update: Dropping this to 2 stars. The algorithms cheat way too much on Hero’s Duel-Survival when you’re down to 1 ticket. I know it’s to get you to spend the diamonds and, I guess eventually, money. It really takes away from the enjoyment when you’re trying to squeeze in a game between the 4PM resets. Campaign and Ultimate challenge also gets occasionally super difficult at certain levels and you can’t progress for a long time. It was okay at first when it took several days to upgrade your heroes high enough but those time periods seem to be increasing.

by Kingmasterdom

The game doesn’t do what a lot of games of this type does while also promoting fake ads. It’s a terrible combination that’s plaguing mobile games. This game isn’t worth your time nor your money. I have absolutely no idea how the rating is so high for a game that demands a lot of time for barely anything in return. I like it when games make you feel like you’re making progress with your heroes/characters but this game’s RNG isn’t RNG in the beginning, it’s all scripted and that makes it worse. Why ask players to pay for heroes if you’re being stingy with the low level heroes? On top of that, their abilities usually stink or is barely useful as you progress. I also don’t appreciate that this game has a paywall while also being stingy with LOW level heroes. If you’re looking for a game to build a strong team, stay away from this garbage. It promotes fake ads, it sells s3x in order to attract players, its stingy with lowest tier heroes. Not even the base building aspect of it can redeem it. It’s all bad.

by Etrueheart

Maybe like me you were attracted to this game by an ad showing a prison escape game where you solved small puzzles to open doors and gain allies as you fled a pack of zombies.

I'm a week into this game, and that hasn't shown up once.

Or maybe you were looking for that "candy crush with zombies" clip you may have seen. Yeah, that's in there. For about 15% of it.

But the vast majority of this game is base building. LOTS of base building. Lots of click here to upgrade, wait for two hours unless you want to spend these diamonds you can earn... Oh, out of diamonds? Would you like to pay cash for some?

Lots of collecting resources. Lots of upgrading structures. And of course, you can't upgrade one structure before you've upgraded two more that are barely related to it.

And so, so, so many different kinds of currency. Some to upgrade your heroes, others to "enhance" your heroes, some to speed up build times, others to speed up training times, some to raise your gear, others you can trade for things at the "Alliance Store." I still can't keep track of all of them.

So if you like base building games, I suppose this one does it pretty well. And while I can't say I'm "enjoying" it, I'm finding it to be an occasionally fun distraction to chill out my brain. But if you were lured in expecting ANYTHING else, turn around now and walk away.

by Silvereagle2664

Started alone based on an advertisement in another game. Pretty complicated at start with lots of things going on - build your base, build your heroes, heroes attack zombies and other players, build your army, attack zombies with your army, attack other players with your army, get allies, participate in challenges, etc. You only get one builder, so have to constantly be online to keep it busy upgrading the myriad of buildings in your base. I followed the suggested course of action diligently and once I felt I was getting the hang of it, two other well-advanced players attacked me and wiped my army out. I wasn’t too interested in starting again, so will uninstall it. I think this is a game meant to be all-consuming and allies are important. Pay to play gets you a second builder, plus other perks like better heroes. Bottom line, if you have a lot of time and only want to play one game, this might be it. For a casual player, I wouldn’t recommend it.

by Martin09101957

This is an ok game but the ratings just don’t reflect the game very well. It can appear initially to have a steep learning curve, but once mastered it gets a little boring. You can end up spending more time building your account than actually fighting…isn’t this a war game?! It’s options are very limited when compared to Final Fantasy for example. You cannot send any gifts to your friends other than resources, and even then, only within the same alliance. There is also no option in the settings menu to log in and out of multiple accounts like in most other games! Should you want farm accounts supporting your main account with resources to grow you may find achieving this a little challenging as they really need to be in the same alliance. The main options only allow for one account in each State, there are ways around this, but it’s a pain to do! One last thing, you are encouraged to bind your accounts to google, twitter, or facebook, but be warned, if you do that there is no obvious way to unbind them later!

by Keagan Turner

I’ve been playing for a few weeks, currently level 7, and I have a decent amount of resources... or so I thought until a level 30 decided to attack my town 10 times within 30 minutes and take everything from me. Literally, I have no resources left and I had about 10 million food and close to the same in wood. This is completely unfair as I don’t have a lot of money to buy shields and I’m being attacked non stop by someone who is more than 20 levels above me. The puzzle games are fun, but seriously. If it was a one time thing, fine. So be it. But it’s multiple times the exact same person. It’s like playing clash of clans, being a town hall 4, and being attacked by a town hall 12 multiple times over and over until you have nothing left. My advice, if you don’t want your phone to blow up because you are being attacked over and over again or you don’t have a lot of money to rank up fast, stay away from the game. If this continues, I will be deleting the game tonight. Game creator, fix your game. Nobody wants this bs.

by TheBeastMode28

My Alliance that I join is the only reason I’ve stay this long which probably has been about 4-5 months and has spent over a thousand because everything’s seem like a setup to just spend money, I’m always in situations of training troops and building might the game isn’t much like it’s advertised with the puzzles only in the beginning maybe first couple wks depending on how much your active on it. But like I say my alliance and our relationships keeps me active on here, no matter how much money you spend you gifts and rewards don’t get any better nor anything else in the game. For example if you pick 10 gifts and place on a wheel chart that’s spins and randomly select it’s going to pick in order of the least valuable and your going to run out of chips to spend of course and force u to buy more if you care to get what’s on the wheel that much

by Jwizmo

This game is combining elements from different types of games with the puzzle matching and the base building components. It does provide a unique feel to the game play unlike others I've played. But it is essentially a joining of those genres. As far as the interface, the coloring scheme is muted and that sometimes makes shades difficult to distinguish. Such as the coins used to exchange for Heroes. That could be improved a little too make it clearer. In general, I feel like I don't have any idea how much of various resources I have when I'm making purchases. At the lower level I am, it hasn't mattered yet. Being able to join a Guild almost immediately was refreshing, that doesn't typically happen in other games into you've figured out the mechanics. As soon as the Tutorial is done here, you can essentially join a Guild, which makes speeding up the building etc a bonus.

by Parenting Young Adults

This game doesn’t appear to be one you can solo play. I wish that had been in the description BEFORE I downloaded it.
They want you to join alliances and you will be subject to people from all over the world & different time zones raiding your site. So, if you put a lot of effort in the beginning...know that it’s easy for strong unscrupulous players to take advantage of new players lack of experience and raid you site for everything. Unless you pay for “shields” that protect you when you’re not on; kiss your supplies good bye.
If you don’t have so much free time on your hands to constantly be on playing and fighting off raiders it is discouraging.
Ask questions of what the alliances expect from you as a player before joining. If they demand more time and ability than you can give choose another alliance.

by Evanbaker1134

I really enjoy this game.
there are powerful and complex characters you gain throughout the world, and it also has a interesting way of keeping you entertained, you can match shapes and colors while in battle to get powerful attacks, and they also include raiding or aiding other online players with their camps, and you can build multiple camps after you’ve reached level 8 Or higher on your HQ.

you can also add friends and form alliances, which is a good way to keep your camps protected from being raided or attacked by other players or stray zombies.

I’m also impressed that they included some of the main characters to have voice acted commentary,
Most RPG Mobil games don’t provide that, and I’d like to see more of that in the future.

I really can’t think of any negative things to say about this game, the only thing I could suggest would be adding more storylines, and to add more areas to explore, some new characters from familiar franchises would look nice in the game as well, and would be a good way to bring in more players.

I would definitely recommend this to friends who enjoy puzzles and strategy, or Just RPG zombie mobile games in general, because if they like games like that, I guarantee they will enjoy this one too.

by KrzyBookworm

You have to be patient with the tutorial beginning levels. There are so many different aspects to this game, I literally can play for hours at this point. No ads, because at some point a person wants to spend $ to grow faster. There is an entire section that is a match three puzzle with heroes you develop killing zombies as you play. However, you also build your city, can kill zombies for prizes, join a group and help it grow.. or not. Nothing is required. I have played consecutively for over 100 days straight (it keeps track and rewards you for that too). You constantly get rewards that help you in the game. They are working on a comprehensive guide. That is the only thing missing.

by Redwolfarine

I’ve been playing for months now. I would say just about 2 months after it came out. I don’t understand why these people are complaining about getting attacked, losing resources etc. the game is generous with giving out diamonds to buy shields and you can gain a shield everyday. Yes the tutorial in the beginning maybe long and annoying but you get over it. You can do what ya want in the game and protect yourself if you actually pay attention. I’ve only spent $10 and up to level 28 hq almost level 29. They have events to win heroes as well as other stuff. Yes you can spend lots of money if ya want but don’t have too. I also have a farm at level 23 and spent no money which helps build my main account. So try it out.

by Stritzdiesel

The game “forces” you to learn it how it wants you to. The first day I played the game I was barely able to play how I wanted. I couldn’t take my time to enjoy how I wanted or even really play because it “makes” you proceed exactly how it wants you too. Literally can’t choose any other option while the only option to choose is the one it tells you too (flashing highlight any time you touch anywhere else on the screen) The game CONSTANTLY pops up with buy this, buy that. Spend your money on this game that you can’t even enjoy the way you want. Maybe it’s enjoyable later, but it’s not for me. I also personally hate when puzzle games highlight a move, I’ll choose a worse option simply because I want to play how I want. Maybe I’m picky, but this game just is obnoxious when it comes to having a fun time learning it and shoving in game transactions in your face. Greedy games no fun!!! Not saying you shouldn’t try it, you might like it... I don’t.

by Charleston Cheetah

The ads are nothing like gameplay. Then you get start the game and are bombarded with 100 different things the game is telling you to click on, that you HAVE to click on, with no explanation of why you are doing it, or how anything you’re doing corresponds to or affects anything else. And when all that’s done, there are a couple dozen different buttons and screens to go to, all of them offering upgrades to your base with 36 building, or access your team of 23 people that all do something different but you’re not sure what, or selling currencies for cash, and you just wanted to play the simple swiping-icons matching game that’s advertised so that a character can escape from zombies.

It’s like you go to work one day, but you’ve gone to a business that you’ve never heard of in a field you have no knowledge of and sit down at a desk and suddenly you’re expected to know how to do the job.

by State150

Let me start by saying I liked the game when I started. It has a lot to do and the alliance feature is nice when you find the right one. Now, here is the issue, unless you are willing to pay (in large amounts) you could be on a server (state) that has someone who will. The one I am in has a player who has obviously spent tens of thousands of dollars. He is at least 4 times bigger than the next player and is unstoppable. The problem is, the game has no checks and balances. He can attack any player over and over and over again until everything they have and built up is gone.

He will teleport his sanctuary into your alliance, attack anyone who does not have a shield on for days. He typically brings a couple others from his alliance. They will attack generally lower players relentlessly and if a higher player tries to help. He attacks them and with the money he spent, there is no stopping him or defending. Other games I have played had limits on size of player you could attack or a cool down period so if you have to work like most people, you are not designated when you get home.

For normal people who need to sleep and work and don’t have thousands to spend, this is disheartening and no longer enjoyable.

If you are looking for a game to relax and play, spend some money to help you grow and develop, THIS IS NOT IT.

by Rozzy78

The game is fun. Don’t get me wrong. But PuzzlesSurvival developers and customer service is severely lacking. I’ve had 3 issues in 3 weeks of playing regularly and all customer service does is tell me “oh it was a glitch. Can’t help you, sorry!” This is exactly what they wrote when I lost diamonds (which you obtain by paying real life cash) “ Hi. We are very sorry that happened to you :( We consulted with the techs about your request, and unfortunately, this action is irreversible. Thank you for your understanding and support :) ” Again, this was due to my loss of diamonds which is cash out of my pocket that I paid! Other games at least give in game compensation like a boost or other resources. Also, it’s very telling that this is the only game that doesn’t regularly update their app. The last app update was 2 months ago! I get it, you want money from us and fast. But at least make an effort to treat regular players with respect.

by MaybeDog

This looks like it might be a complex and unique game, however, the tutorial goes on forever. You can’t skip the inane character commentary either. I played like 10-15 minutes and I still have no choice of what to do. Over and over it tells me to “click here” even when doing the exact same thing several boards in a row like simply matching more gems or whatever gets you ahead. Most games let you play a couple of levels before showing you the next power up or whatever. It tries to show you everything before letting you play. You don’t get to try anything. This is primarily a match three game, I don’t need to be told over and over and over how to make a match. I like the idea of your goals being to kill zombies not accumulate gems but when do I get to play? Does that ever even happen? Or is it just a long “interactive” video a toddler could play?

by Memnarc

This is another one of those games that advertises one thing and then the actual game is completely different. I’ll give the game designers that the graphics are great and there is at least a match 3 mechanic, but that’s about as far as I can go with the compliments. As is typical these days, the bulk of the game content requires you to join an alliance. No alliance, no progress. Also, the character leveling starts slowing down substantially fairly shortly into the game. This means that once again, no alliance, no content. There are opportunities at every corner for transactions from small to large, but like most others in this vein, you can be a whale or dawdle at the back of the bus. The game even had the audacity to ask what the best way to advertise to get people is was. Well designer peeps, try not advertising something different than what the game actually has.

by CPCVMN

The highest praise I can give this game is that in the 48 hours or so I have had this game I have wasted 7 - 8 hours. Which for me is about 90% of my phone usage. I don’t normally get pulled into a phone game like that.

Nice combination of puzzle, fighting strategy, PVE, PVP and building strategy. Just when you start running out of energy or build queues or whatever you move on to another segment of the game and keep going.

It is most definitely worth the download.

The ability to play without spending any money and no advertising makes this the perfect game for someone like me. Makes me more likely to spend money in the future if I get to a point that I see a character or item I just can’t live without.

If you like zombie - download this game
If you like gem puzzles - download this game
If you like PvP tournaments - download this game
If you like cooperative play - download this game
If you like building and expansion - download this game
Etc.

Get the picture.

Ps. Some developer has a crush on Amanda Seyfried methinks. Just take a look at Amber and tell me I am crazy.