# Devil Shard — user reviews > 203 indexed App Store user reviews of Devil Shard by GUAN LING WU, rated 4.40/5 from 45 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/devil-shard/id869735685/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/devil-shard/id869735685.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 27 · 4★ 13 · 3★ 3 · 2★ 0 · 1★ 2 ## What do users think of Devil Shard? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 🎮 Addictive and engaging gameplay mechanics - 🎨 Beautiful retro pixel art style - 🎵 Great music and audio design - ⚡ Simple yet challenging match-3 combat system - 📱 Perfect for quick gaming sessions - 🏆 Well-balanced difficulty curve (when not grinding) - 🎯 Creative blend of RPG and puzzle mechanics - 👍 Excellent developer reputation (Game Stew) - 🎪 Rogue-like progression keeps gameplay fresh - 💎 High replay value and long-term engagement **Cons** - ⚙️ Excessive grinding required for progression - 💀 Harsh death penalty resets all character progress - 💰 Pay-to-win mechanics and aggressive monetization - 🎲 Heavy reliance on RNG and luck - 😤 Unfair difficulty spikes in later dungeons - 🔄 Repetitive gameplay loop - 📊 Unbalanced enemy scaling vs player growth - 💸 Expensive in-app purchases with minimal impact - 🎯 Lack of player agency in progression - 🎪 Limited customization options **Commonly reported bugs** - Item selection scroll problem on iPhone 6s Plus (items display in middle of screen) - Unable to equip, melt, or forge items on certain devices - In-app purchase functionality broken - Character equipment not persisting correctly - No undo option for melted items - Difficulty balancing issues causing unfair difficulty spikes **Most requested features** - Swipeable match-3 controls (standard for genre) - More customization options for character progression - Persistent progress or checkpoints upon death - Better equipment distribution and tile spawning - Reduced grinding requirements - More narrative depth and story elements - Undo function for accidental item melting - Improved menu systems and UI clarity - Additional game modes or difficulty settings ## Newest reviews (19 of 203) ### 4/5 — Really Good *2024-01-21* Well made loads of fun ### 4/5 — Pretty fun and addictive *2023-04-12* An easy play idea, but very fun and not too expensive. Fun retro graphics! ### 4/5 — Fun Match 3 Game with Punishing Curve *2020-04-13, version 1.1.0* The game is fun and a worthwhile investment but its easy to lose it all in this game. Literally. Story I felt was a bit better in the slots game but this gameplay format appeals to me more as its less chance based. Its fun but whether or not you’re willing to start from scratch upon defeat is the real test. ### 5/5 — Not for the faint of heart. *2020-01-04, version 1.1.0* Another fantasiticly difficult and challenging game. If you fail the first 3 times. You haven’t tried a 4th time. The pace of each game differs based on luck. ### 5/5 — Прекрасно *2019-11-12* Полюбил вашу серию игр Tower of Fortune. Данная игра такая же ламповая, затягивающая и приятная глазу. Спасибо за отличную игру👍 ### 5/5 — Super match 3 variant *2019-10-04, version 1.1.0* Interesting progressions and cool retro style. Great game, great studio ### 4/5 — Cute enough *2019-09-10, version 1.1.0* Fun game, sometimes I feel like there could be better distribution of tiles... where is a sword when you need one!!! ### 3/5 — Ok but Grindy *2019-09-09, version 1.1.0* Decent so far... ### 5/5 — Excellent game! *2019-08-30, version 1.0.9* Well worth the price. ### 4/5 — Decent *2019-08-06, version 1.0.9* Quality ### 5/5 — Great game *2019-06-11, version 1.0.9* Like the threeinarow matching game ### 3/5 — Pay to win *2019-05-27, version 1.0.9* Great game, mechanics are good. But the inherent difficulty seems pushed to a level where it’s almost impossible unless you pay to win. ### 5/5 — Great match-3 RPG *2019-04-06, version 1.0.9* This is another brilliant game from Game Stew, so if you enjoyed Tower of Fortune and Hell Raider, this is similar but with match-3 battle mechanics rather than slots/wheel. So a bit easier for slower fingers! ### 4/5 — Nice retro feel *2019-02-19, version 1.0.9* Takes a few minutes to figure out, but helps to pass the time. ### 4/5 — Ok *2018-11-20* It's ok ### 5/5 — Toll *2018-10-07* Sehr tolles Spiel ### 5/5 — Another jewel from Game Stew *2017-11-08, version 1.0.8* Rogue-like RPG using fast-paced match three battling... you know you’ll be hooked! ### 4/5 — Addictive *2017-09-06, version 1.0.7* Lots of grinding but GameStew have good RPG instincts. ### 4/5 — Different match-3 in a great package *2017-08-13, version 1.0.7* Game Stew does elegant, pixelated games with addictive elements. This one is a change from the more "slot machine" mechanic they use in other places. My only complaint is the lack of direction, but with a little foolin' around, you can figure it out. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Added micro transactions *2019-10-06, version 1.1.0* When I bought this game when it first came out it there were no micro transactions. But even sense adding them they messed with the mechanics of the game to promote buying in game currency to the point you can’t really progress without it, just like all their other titles. Just horrible. ### 1/5 — Blows. *2017-02-10, version 1.0.7* Game blows. No depth. You die and start back at zero. Blows ### 1/5 — One trick pony *2016-07-30, version 1.0.4* All of this companies games are the same boring mix. ### 1/5 — 音楽は嫌いじゃない *2015-07-06* テトリス運ゲー。 ### 1/5 — Viel zu schwer *2015-03-03* Also wirklich... Wenn man den ersten Level nicht ohne Heiltrank überlebt und das komplette verdiente Geld für den nächsten Heiltrank im Shop draufgeht, wie soll man dann bitte vorankommen? Ein Tod und alles ist weg. Dazu monotone Grafik und mehr wie ein paar Soundeffekte gibt es nicht. Wer sich gerne aufregt, kann hier zugreifen. ### 1/5 — Kein Spielspass *2014-08-30* Wenn man stirbt muss man bei 0 beginnen und durch den Zufall kommt dies gelegentlich vor... Ohne in-app-Käufe reines dauerfarmen ### 1/5 — Horrid Reset & Unbalanced Gameplay *2014-07-19, version 1.0.1* Player stat growth compared to enemy growth is extremely abysmal, incarnation activated on full soul essence instead of command, making luck overly important. If it activates on mobs and deactivates at start of boss, your history... Buying equipment slots is also costly. Whats worst is that it resets when you die. You can say this game is "difficult". But with how the current difficulty and mechanics is, high level of skill won't get you far in this game, its persistent grinding and luck which does, unless you want to take the IAP shortcut. And even with persistent grinding, you won't have much sense of progress in this game compared to others. ### 1/5 — Very IAP oriented. *2014-07-19, version 1.0.1* You can struggle your way through the game without paying, but the game really wants your money and it shows with every single time you try to play. Your character is wiped upon death, yet dungeons don't reset to base level, so you'll have to try to fight high level monsters with crappy stats and no equip, yeah, that's going to work. ### 1/5 — Pay to win :( *2014-07-13, version 1.0.1* I normally love games by this developer, but this has been balanced to make you buy power ups with real money. Like other reviews say, It would be 5* if it were tweaked to actually be playable without IAP ### 1/5 — Pay to win *2014-07-11, version 1.0.1* Accidentally melted an item, there is no way to undo ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Loved it years ago, spent 30 minutes looking for it to redownload *2024-03-14, version 1.1.6* Extremely fun, challenging, and engaging. It’s my favorite iOS game, at least until I check out what else the developers made. Bought the rpg bundle becausei love this game so much and I’m excited to check out what else they can make. ### 5/5 — やり込めばやりこむほど *2023-01-21* 楽しいのがわかる 最初はつまらんかったけどね ### 5/5 — Fun and challenging grind-athon *2022-08-06, version 1.1.3* Tip: buy the insurance. Even when the price increases, you can still purchase it if you have at least 1000. ### 5/5 — 매치3 방식의 게임 *2022-06-08* 간단하고 재밌습니다 2편 나왔으면 좋겠네요 ### 5/5 — Огонь *2022-05-11* Огонь ### 5/5 — gg *2022-01-05* gg ### 5/5 — Adhesive *2021-10-13, version 1.1.2* This game is the game of games. It is adhesive to the fullest extent of the law. Ever a masterpiece, it’s honor is honored. ### 5/5 — Very Awesome Game *2021-08-15, version 1.1.2* I got this game 3 or 5 years ago when it first appeared and I played it many times since then. I cannot explain how, but the game is very esthetically appealing. It has great music and art. The gambling chance element is probably what is most fun about it. It is difficult to explain what about this is fun exactly since it is many elements together. But I think the music plays a very important part in this. Besides that the rogue like part makes you want to continue playing even after you lose. ### 5/5 — Fun game when offline *2021-01-27, version 1.1.1* They give you 500 gold to write a review, but even if they didn’t this is a frustratingly fun game. ### 5/5 — Yup *2020-05-09, version 1.1.1* It gud --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-21.*