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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Travel Town vs Merge Studio

Travel Town 4.8★ · Free + IAP 65
Winner Travel Town
Merge Studio 4.7★ · Free + IAP 55

Travel Town offers a more engaging and varied gameplay experience despite its aggressive monetization and technical issues, while Merge Studio suffers from a lack of content updates and an even more intrusive ad experience.

Full reviews: Travel Town · Merge Studio

Travel Town and Merge Studio are both free-to-play merge games with in-app purchases, but Travel Town provides more depth and variety in its core gameplay. However, both apps are heavily criticized for excessive ads, frequent crashes, and aggressive monetization strategies, making the user experience frustrating for many players.

Head to head

Features and Gameplay edge: Travel TownR2R3R8R14
Travel Town Travel Town is praised for its fun and addicting merge gameplay, with users enjoying the core mechanics and the variety of mini-games, although some find the forced mini-games annoying R2R8R14. However, many players report stagnation around level 25, with boards full of unneeded items and a rapid depletion of energy R3.
Merge Studio Merge Studio offers a relaxing fashion makeover theme that some users find fun and engaging . A significant drawback is the lack of new content, with many long-term players reporting they have 'beaten the game' and are waiting months for new characters or levels, rendering accumulated coins useless R61R62R80R82.
Monetization and Ads tieR3R6R7R12
Travel Town Travel Town is heavily criticized for its aggressive monetization, with users feeling forced to spend money to progress, especially in timed events R17R28R30R33. Players frequently run out of energy quickly, limiting gameplay to a few minutes unless they purchase more R3. The game also features an overwhelming number of pop-up ads and screens before gameplay and for mini-games R6R7R12R15.
Merge Studio Merge Studio is plagued by an excessive number of intrusive ads that pop up frequently, often in the middle of gameplay, making it difficult to enjoy . Users also report issues with watching ads for rewards, as they often don't work or freeze the game .
Reliability and Performance tieR4R5R9R10
Travel Town Travel Town users frequently report issues with the app crashing, freezing, or failing to load, especially after updates or when transitioning between game sections R9R10R19R22. Some users also experience problems with in-app purchases not being delivered or ad rewards not paying out R4R5.
Merge Studio Merge Studio also has significant reliability problems, with many users experiencing frequent crashes, freezing, and glitches . Some report slow response times within the app .
Customer Support tieR1R4R10R13
Travel Town Travel Town's customer support is criticized for being unresponsive or unhelpful, with users reporting issues like not receiving purchased items or being told their device is the problem despite compatibility R1R4R10. The Facebook trade group is also noted for poor support and slow post approvals R13.
Merge Studio Merge Studio users report that customer support is non-existent or unresponsive, with messages often going unanswered .
Pick Travel Town if

You enjoy a merge game with varied mini-games and don't mind navigating numerous pop-ups or potentially spending money to progress faster R8R14.

Pick Merge Studio if

You prefer a fashion makeover theme and are willing to tolerate a very high frequency of ads, or if you are looking for a game that you can 'beat' and then move on from due to lack of new content R61R62.

Evidence note: Both apps are free-to-play with in-app purchases, and much of the negativity for both stems from the free-tier experience, particularly regarding ads and energy limitations. The paid app's reviewers self-select as satisfied, but both apps have significant complaints about monetization and technical issues.

Frequently asked

Are Travel Town and Merge Studio free to play?
Yes, both Travel Town and Merge Studio are free to download and play, but they both offer in-app purchases and are heavily criticized for aggressive monetization strategies that make progression difficult without spending money R17R28R30R33.
Do these games have a lot of ads?
Yes, both games are heavily criticized for an excessive number of ads and pop-ups; Travel Town has numerous screens to click through before gameplay and for mini-games R6R7R12R15, while Merge Studio frequently displays ads in the middle of gameplay .
Are there frequent crashes or bugs in these games?
Yes, both Travel Town and Merge Studio users report frequent issues with the apps crashing, freezing, or failing to load, particularly after updates or during transitions within the game R9R10R19R22.
Does Merge Studio get regular content updates?
No, many Merge Studio players report a significant lack of new content, stating they have 'beaten the game' and have been waiting for months for new characters or levels, rendering their accumulated in-game currency useless R61R62R80R82.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R2] Travel Town 4/5 · US Fun but frustrating at times: I’ve been playing this game for a long time now and I love it. However, it really pisses me off sometimes. First, the vault blasters minigame is near impossible. Today I spent over 64 gems to get more energy so I could keep playing and only got to the 300’s out of 1000. 3 hrs is not enough time, especially for people who have lives. PLEASE extend the time limit for th
  2. [R3] Travel Town 3/5 · US Fun BUT: The game is fun, but once you hit around level 25 everything stagnates. Your board gets full of items you don’t need, your storage is full of items you can’t get rid of and will never use, and you start running out of energy in less than 5 minutes of play because of the multipliers. There are no real paths to improvement, except these useless mini games and competitions that you’ll keep l
  3. [R8] Travel Town 4/5 · US Great game: I don’t know how they did it but this game makes you want to spend your money on the energy. I’ve never experienced fomo before this game but now I always have to know what’s next. My only complaint is being forced to play mini games, like the boat race one when I really do not want to. It’s pretty annoying if I do say so. Other than that this game is worth the try.
  4. [R14] Travel Town 5/5 · US My opinion: I think the game is really good for relieving anxiety and stress but I think it’s really good.
  5. [R6] Travel Town 3/5 · US Look: I love this game but I can’t even play without all the ad blocking my view, and when I think I’m finally done more pop which take forever to actually to start playing like it’s irritating . Like I get its letting me know what I miss but gawddd damn!!🥲
  6. [R7] Travel Town 1/5 · US Sucks: Open the app and get a million pop ups/money grabs. Don’t play this unless you’re bored
  7. [R12] Travel Town 3/5 · US Please stop: I just want to play the game, not sit through screen after screen that pops up before gameplay. It’s unnecessary since there’s a whole menu where you can see these things anyway. Why must we sit through the tedious animation, especially when it comes to those stupid collector cards. It wasn’t like that when I first started playing this game and now I’m thinking about deleting the g
  8. [R4] Travel Town 1/5 · US App purchases.: I made an in app purchase and when I went back into the game I didn’t get my 80 gems. I am very upset.
  9. [R5] Travel Town 5/5 · US Nice game but,!!!!: The ads we watch will not pay out because their close game x is under the three color dots fix this please
  10. [R9] Travel Town 3/5 · US 😞😞: I love the game, but keep closing and freezing and also I hate to delete the game.
  11. [R10] Travel Town 2/5 · US Love the game, but recent versions cause crashing: I’ve been playing this game for several years with no challenges and recently it crashes or freezes since the addition of the dream quest feature. Contacted customer service and they said it was my device, however, my device is shown as being compatible with this game.
  12. [R1] Travel Town 1/5 · US 8x and 16x Boost: The game will announce unlocking of a power boost which I cannot use. Apparently 16x and 8x power boosts are available but my game only goes up to 4x. The support tab says I need a valid email, which I entered into the system but alas, still an error. I can’t get what I need and this is too frustrating so I’m going to stop playing.
  13. [R13] Travel Town 2/5 · US Poor trade support: Facebook trade group is poorly supported. Posts don’t get approved for hours so when it is approved the person that posted isn’t always available. Finding trades is rough. Use AI to screen posts for quick approval. The amount of energy given and ability to complete tasks is ridiculous. You can never finish weekly tasks without spending money. Even when you spend money it
  14. [R17] Travel Town 4/5 · US Game is great, but Freecash and buying tricks are a turn off: Love the game itself, but hate that I have to buy into it to level up faster. Also don’t love that it’s on Freecash and entices you to spend more money than it’s worth. Again. Love the game truly, but not trying to keep spending money for a game like this
  15. [R28] Travel Town 2/5 · US Helps My OCD, but…: This game can be addictive, but my main issue with it is that it’s more of a pay to play game. It’s free to play to an extent. It feels free at first, but when it comes to events, it’ll throw in $$$ in between free handouts, making it hard to move forward in the game. If there were less pay to play obstacles, the game would be more fun, especially with how much energy we have t
  16. [R30] Travel Town 3/5 · US Spend money and too many ads: You have to spend money to actually enjoy the game and level up. Also too many ads about spending money just ao you can start playing
  17. [R33] Travel Town 3/5 · US You won’t progress if you don’t spend money: I don’t really understand the happy reviews. If you want to progress at any rate you pretty much have to spend money. If you want to complete any timed special event you DEFINITELY have to spend money. One unit of energy every 2 minutes and it maxes out at 100? And bonus energy is sporadic. You often need to buy energy to play long enough to gain bonus
  18. [R15] Travel Town 3/5 · US Love just playing the game hate all the popups!: I wish these in game popups, for games within the game, wouldn’t constantly pop up over and over~ like this “Song Battle” against other players! I just want to play the main game. It is becoming way too much
  19. [R19] Travel Town 1/5 · US Game not working: I loved this game but for the past few days it won’t load at all. Bugs are bad right now!
  20. [R22] Travel Town 2/5 · US Crashes A lot!!!: Keeps crashing and I’m losing my coins, jewels and I even lost a joker card because of the bugs.
  21. [R61] Merge Studio 2/5 · US Beat the Game: I loved this game, so I wish I could give it more stars. But, I have beaten the game!! There are no longer any characters to makeover, and it has been this way for a few months. I now have 300,000+ coins with nowhere to use them, because I have been hoping for more characters so I have kept playing. Please update this and add characters ASAP!!!!
  22. [R62] Merge Studio 5/5 · US New clients: Waiting on new clients? It’s been saying update coming soon for several months now
  23. [R80] Merge Studio 4/5 · US New characters?: Love the game and the updates that make it easier to get more energy. But where are the new characters? Been waiting for a new one for months. It just keeps saying “coming soon” otherwise I have no complaints!
  24. [R82] Merge Studio 2/5 · US No more updates: There’s no more updates and no new levels. You can keep playing and collect coins but you can’t use the coins for anything. Just a droll merge game now

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store