# Hex of Steel — user reviews > 165 indexed App Store user reviews of Hex of Steel by Valentin Lievre, rated 4.40/5 from 132 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hex-of-steel/id1532682161/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hex-of-steel/id1532682161.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 97 · 4★ 16 · 3★ 7 · 2★ 4 · 1★ 8 ## What do users think of Hex of Steel? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 👍 Outstanding game - 👍 Fantastic detail and depth - 👍 Impressive single-developer effort - 👍 Great gameplay and strategy - 👍 Historically accurate - 👍 Highly replayable - 👍 Offline and online play - 👍 Excellent mobile port of PC game **Cons** - 🐛 Crashes and bugs - 🐛 Issues with mod editor and saving changes - 🐛 Difficulty with UI and controls on mobile - 🐛 Performance issues on some devices - 🐛 Lack of language support beyond English **Commonly reported bugs** - Aircraft unable to conduct ground/sea attacks after updates - Game crashing when loading mods - Inability to purchase or upgrade units after updates - UI elements being obscured by device notches - Inability to see detailed unit and terrain information **Most requested features** - Improved random scenario generator - Addition of railroads, rivers, and other map features - Ability to assign custom images for units and countries in mod editor - Undo function in map editor - Ability to capture cities with infantry only - More challenging AI that can outproduce the player - Addition of helicopter units - Inclusion of Battle of Britain and other historical scenarios - Expansion to cover Cold War and WW3 settings - More balanced resource/supply system between players - In-game tutorial and help system - Support for multiple languages ## Newest reviews (18 of 165) ### 2/5 — Bad mobile interface *2026-08-07* While this game seems fun and would probably be great on PC.. the mobile UI is nearly impossible to play with. On my iphone 15 some buttons are literally the size of a few pixles.. other buttons are obscured by the Dynamic Island on the screen… unselecting a unit is difficult and often leads to mistaken movement.. some of the tutorial instructions include telling you to “right click” After a couple of hours running the tutorial I could not figure out how to use the engineer, figured it must be one of the extremely small pixle buttons or perhaps an obstructed one and I gave up. ### 3/5 — Mixed bag *2026-07-31* There is a lot to enjoy in the depth of the game, however i have run into similar issues with the ai forces becoming overpowered/play balance. It is almost like the allies did not really win in western europe based on some of the scenarios. I know you mentioned points generated based on tiles held in another response, but that negates the actual industrial capacity of the allies, which is not based on how much territory is gained in the short term of an invasion. In Overlord, the germans keep rolling new, powerful units into the battle even as cities are gained by the allies. Every time i think i have turned the corner, 6-8 new armor units appear and there are not enough points to heal allied units. It needs adjustments. **Developer response:** Hello, I am constantly tweaking scenarios’ balance based on user feedback such as yours. Thank you for that. As for now, you may have not noticed, but when setting up a scenario, you have income modifier sliders at your disposal for each nation in the scenario. You can and should use these to tweak the balance to your liking if you feel the balance is off (until an update comes out to address it if need be). As for the AI, its income is going to be the same as you (if you ever switched roles), it only gets buffed if you play in hard difficulty or above. Just checked Overlord and the Allies have 3x the German’s income. You can check that for yourself as well by opening the scenario in the editor and pressing the « i » (information » button near the player entry in the scenario’s settings. But again, feel free to set Germany’s income to 50% if that’s something you want. Cheers ### 4/5 — Part of the menu is covered by the camera *2026-06-28* Hi, the game looks really good. But I did not even start, because part of the menu is covered by the camera. The scale option is not able to fix this. It would be nice if you would not use the full display size with round corners and camera, but render instead into the good visible sub area. **Developer response:** Hello, It is unfortunately not something I can fix in any easy way, otherwise, it would have been done years ago. The only solution to this issue requires to remake the entire UI from scratch, which is sadly not going to happen. Turn your phone to the other side, works fine on my iPhone 15. Game is best played on a tablet regardless, UI is designed for PC which requires a big screen in the first place (this is not a mobile game, this is a PC game ported to mobile/tablet). Feel free to request a refund if you’d like, that’s fine as well. ### 3/5 — Strategic boomers became useless after 8.4.6 *2026-06-24, version 8.4.8* this balance adjustment is an overcorrection… ### 4/5 — Amazing game! *2026-06-07, version 8.4.6* Amazing game and faithful to the PC version! However, PLEASE fix the Dynamic Island covering the menu on the left side on newer phones! 4 stars for that reason. ### 5/5 — The best game ww2!!! *2026-06-06, version 8.4.6* I love that you always update the game and you are in touch with everything that’s going on and I know that takes a lot, thank you for creating such game and such accuracy of history and you keep improving it ### 5/5 — PanzerCorps on Steroids *2026-06-02, version 8.4.6* If you liked Panzer General on PC or PanzerCorps on IOS this is it for you ! Just for little iPhones the screen is too small, on IPad or Mac love love love. Still even Panzer General Pros have quite a learning curve ahead of you ! ### 5/5 — As deep as it is fun *2026-05-07* There’s a handful of games that come out that I am quick to the trigger to purchase on multiple devices: this is one of them. If it ever releases on console I’ll purchase it there, too. I once noticed an issue while playing the game on Steam, and posted a question in the forum. The dev replied and fixed the issue within 2 hours. This feels more like a H&C board game than most other games in this genre. Strategy and positioning is of the utmost importance while balancing manpower and money. You’ll definitely get your money’s worth as there are tons of missions, each of which are very lengthy (then again that may be because i’m just not the best strategist 😅). A must buy for any WWII enthusiast! **Developer response:** Thanks for your review! Enjoy! ### 5/5 — Great game *2026-04-25* Not sure why my review is gone. Anyways, this is a fantastic game. Its deep and complex but it’s presented well and has good QoL features One quick note for the dev is that the last version seems to have disabled the save on lose focus option. This is a useful shortcut of swords for a quick save when you’re not using a keyboard. **Developer response:** Hi Thanks for your review! Yes, that feature has been removed because it was not working properly, at least not reliable across all devices. Most of the time, the save files were corrupted, that lead to many support tickets which I could not solve. ### 5/5 — 6-⭐️ *2026-03-30, version 8.3.4* It’s only a 5-star game because we can’t give it 6! Bravo 👏 ### 4/5 — HOLY THIS NEEDS TO BE FIXED *2026-03-17, version 8.3.1* 1 I try to spawn a unit in editer and it keeps saying “there’s already a something there or whatever” 2 when I place a unit it where I want it.it puts it on the opposite spot ### 5/5 — Outstanding game *2026-03-15* I’ve been looking for a good hex war game on iPad. Panzer Corps was good, but this is better. It has fantastic detail and depth. This has quickly become one of my favorite iPad games. And it’s even more impressive in that one guy developed the game and his brother did the artwork. Amazing work guys! Thank you for a fantastic game. ——- Follow up: I’m a busy guy, so don’t get to play this too often, but when I do, it’s always so fun. There are many little QoL features throughout that make it easy to play how you want to play. Still very pleased. I’d happily support DLC on top of this. Huge kudos to you and your brother **Developer response:** Thank you so much! Have fun! ### 4/5 — Sehr gutes Spiel *2026-02-18* Very good Game. But during the Axis Campaign at „Moscow42-Axis“ the Game crashes, same in the Single scenario when i select the Moscow42-Axis. **Developer response:** Hello, I am aware of the issue, it has been reported several times, a fix is ready for the next update Cheers ### 5/5 — Outstanding game *2026-02-16* I’ve been looking for a good hex war game on iPad. Panzer Corps was good, but this is better. It has fantastic detail and depth. This has quickly become one of my favorite iPad games. And it’s even more impressive in that one guy developed the game and his brother did the artwork. Amazing work guys! Thank you for a fantastic game. **Developer response:** Thank you so much! Have fun! ### 5/5 — Can’t put images for mod editor for unit or countries *2026-02-02* Great game but needed more work on mod editor 10/10 gameplay **Developer response:** Hello, Thanks for the review Please take a look at the modding tutorial I have recorded: https://youtu.be/sGADvjll8pU?si=m_GUnrOvNU_nH6j5 For iOS the process is the same except that you use the Files app to locate the game install location (Hex of Steel folder) Modding works perfectly fine I can assure you :D We got several passionate people sharing the work they’re doing on their handheld device and I’m genuinely impressed (some Roman era or WW3 stuff) Check out the Discord if you’re interested or if you want tips Cheers ### 5/5 — Awesome Game *2026-01-29, version 8.1.2* Fantastic game, bought it a while ago and didn’t play it till recently. It’s so good I’m going to get the PC version as well. So much depth , great game play lots to think about. Buy it you won’t regret it. ### 5/5 — The best wargame I have ever played – and I've been playing them for 50 years! *2026-01-17, version 8.1.2* This is a truly magnificent game. It's in traditional Hex format, of the type that was used, 50 years ago ago, and earlier, by Avalon Hill and other board wargame game manufacturers. That makes it sound old-fashioned. It's not. It's better than any of the games produced by those people! The game is multifaceted. You have to ensure that your armies are using the right type of weaponry, that they have plans in place to adapt in modernise which fit the tactics that are being utilised, and that you use them in concert, to achieve maximum potential. It's no good having a vast air fleet on its own. The cost of running it will be disproportionately expensive. It needs to be operated in conjunction with arm is appropriate to both terrain and economic power. Good management enables the smaller nations to have disproportionately powerful armies – but they will never be able to compete with the biggest powers such as Germany, the USSR, the USA and Britain. It could be played at a simple level, but the complexities are such that to master it takes a long time. I haven't done so yet and I know that I will lose to better players than myself. Totally brilliant and, even better, the developer responds personally to queries within an insanely short time scale. I can't quite believe that he's single-handedly produced this game and that he has the time to give detailed responses so speedily. ### 5/5 — Great game *2026-01-01, version 8.1.1* The mobile version of the PC game HoS is incredible. It feels like a PC game, but it isn’t. The developer seems to be very active and working hard on this game, the strategy is very good, the AI can be historically accurate or act fictional. An example is the Soviets, which when they have this setting on, their policy is scorched earth. This detail makes the game more challenging since you need important points for cash to get more units. The AI doesn’t make dumb moves frequently, and you have to watch out for supplies. Though, I really like effects and the game doesn’t have much effects except for bombings on victory points, smoke, and the destruction of units. I would like to see when a unit dies, corpses or vehicle remains stay visible. This may be a little too much work but I’d like to see this detail. The game is extremely replayable, and is online/offline. Anyways, this is a good game. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Unplayable on notched phone *2026-08-02* The game looks fine - but the game is unplayable on a phone with a notch. Ideally the UI would use iOS safe frame rules. However - if this was fixed, it’s probably fine. **Developer response:** Hello, The only solution to the notch problem requires a full revamp of the UI which is unfortunately not going to happen any time soon. For now, you can rotate your phone one way or the other. I personally play with the notch on the right side on my iPhone and it’s fine. « Unplayable »  is a real overstatement, however. ### 1/5 — Grosse déception, dommage *2026-06-20* Sympa mais quelques gros bugs sur IPad Pro et tuto très très léger. Dommage car le jeu a beaucoup d’allure. **Developer response:** Bonjour, Vous est-il possible de me donner plus de détails concernant les « gros bugs » ? ### 1/5 — Impossible to play on iPhone 12 *2025-10-01, version 8.0.1.2* Update: nothing changed. Still impossible to read the tiny squiggles that’s supposed to be wirds and sentences. - As the subject says. Can’t be read. ### 1/5 — What’s wrong with the aircraft? *2025-09-30* Paid a lot of money for this game. Since the update, the aircraft doesn’t work and you can’t save and load! Fix it now! **Developer response:** Hello sir, First of all, I am aware of the issue and I fixed within the hour, the update has already been pushed 24h after you wrote this review Apple is just VERY slow to review and accept the updates for apps (almost 48h after I uploaded the fix) Second of all, try being polite next time, that will get you further in life All the best ### 1/5 — Can’t play *2025-09-28, version 8.0.1* I can’t play on tablet now with this update due to the fact I cannot use aircraft in any form other than as observers. I can’t attack at all. ### 1/5 — Impossible to play on iPhone 12 *2025-09-27, version 8.0.0* As the subject says. Can’t be read. ### 1/5 — Une blague ? *2025-09-22* Très, déçus. Mission tutoriel sans aucune explication. L’interface ne tient pas sur un iPhone. La traduction n’inclut pas le manuel de 60 pages. De plus le traducteur nous dit clairement qu’il a eu la flemme de traduire les mises en contexte des campagnes et missions… bref à fuir ! D’autant plus pour les non anglophones **Developer response:** Bonjour, Un tutoriel complet arrive d’ici la fin de semaine avec la sortie de la version 8.0.0. Concernant l’interface, il s’agit du port complet d’un jeu PC. J’ai réorganisé cette dernière du mieux que je pouvais, maintenant, il est vrai que jouer sur un iPhone 10 ou format similaire peut se montrer très limitant en terme d’ergonomie due à la taille physique de l’écran, et là, moi je suis programmeur, pas magicien. Je ne vais pas commencer à enlever des fonctionnalités simplement parce-qu’il n’y a pas la place de les afficher sur tous les téléphones. Et non, il ne s’agit pas d’une blague, ou alors d’une blague extrêmement bien noté d’après ses utilisateurs. ### 1/5 — Poor display *2025-05-01* Dynamic Island covers several important components of game. No setting to fix **Developer response:** Hello, I am playing the game on my iPhone 15 and have you tried turning the phone around? I have specifically designed the UI so that all elements are on one side, if you turn your phone around then the island will magically be on the other side where nothing vital is hidden I am not adding a setting that would make you lose 10% of your screen space, I have no space to lose for the UI and I’m not redesigning the Ui from scratch at this point to take into account dynamic island that simply didn’t exist 5 years ago when the game was made ### 1/5 — Also ich bin enttäuscht… *2024-10-14* …. Ich liebe Strategiespiele. Dieses scheint gut und komplex zu sein, bietet aber kein wirkliches Tutorial, erklärt nichts. Das ist frustrierend. Ich finde es gerade bei diesem Genere toll, Schritt für Schritt die Spielmechanik mit steigendem Schwierigkeitsgrad kennenzulernen. Hier gibt es kein Tutorial, keine Erklärungen. Es ist mMn offensichtlich zu komplex (was ja eigentlich positiv wäre), um auf eine in-game Erklärung verzichten zu können. Es mag sein, dass mit umfangreicher Recherche, Handbuch, Internetforen und Videos die Lage anders aussieht… für mich ist das nix. Hier könnte man sich bei zB Wesnoth eine Scheibe abschneiden. ### 1/5 — How do I get my money back *2023-11-06, version 7.2.1.2* It appears you have one tutorial. It is not a tutorial. It did not tutor me in the slightest. I have no idea what I was supposed to be doing, how to do it or what I was accomplishing. I read the entire manual, and still did not know what I was supposed to be doing. Is there a tutorial that will actually teach me how to play the game? If not, how do I get my money back? ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Good *2026-08-10* Good ### 5/5 — Excellent *2026-08-06* Can’t stop playing it’s addictive love it are there any updates **Developer response:** Thanks! Updates are dropping when they are dropping :) Please check the update history, it’s quite extensive and available on the appstore ### 5/5 — Looking forward to more WWII units *2026-07-27, version 8.4.11* Will you add Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star and PB4Y-2 Privateer to the game please? Really looking forward to this… ### 5/5 — some suggestion *2026-07-22* During my playthrough, I found that at the strategic level, encirclement is basically unnecessary. As long as you can directly destroy the enemy’s forces through head-on combat, there is little reason to attempt a pincer movement or surround them. I think the fundamental issue is that the importance of supply is not emphasized enough. If supply only affects recovery, there is no real incentive to encircle enemy units — because when movement is already restricted by ZOC, they cannot escape anyway, so you can simply eliminate them through direct attacks. I would suggest adding an optional rule: when a unit’s supply falls below 50%, its attack strength should decrease proportionally. The threshold could be adjusted based on unit size — larger formations would suffer from supply shortages earlier. For example, a division-level unit might only lose combat effectiveness below 50% supply, while an army-level unit might start suffering penalties below 70% supply. This would encourage players to use encirclement and cutting off supply lines more often, rather than relying on constant frontal assaults. Another possible reason is that retreating damaged units may simply be too difficult. A damaged unit often has a hard time leaving the frontline, so unless it is an elite unit, there is usually little incentive to withdraw it, move it deep into the rear, replenish its strength, and then return it to combat. As a result, players may prefer to keep damaged units fighting until the end rather than preserving them for future battles. Of course, it is also possible that my understanding of the game is not deep enough. This is only based on my own experience playing Europe 1939. At least in my games, I rarely found it necessary to deliberately encircle and destroy enemy forces at the strategic level. Most of the time, direct confrontations seemed to be enough to achieve the same result. ### 5/5 — Extremely clever AI *2026-07-07* You will need all of your wits to not get steamrolled - that”s demanding, sometimes frustrating but also highly satisfying. ### 5/5 — It is fun for me *2026-06-19, version 8.4.6* I enjoy this game a lot. I enjoy this game much better than chess. I like that I can play against the computer. So many options to explore. It is just enjoyable to me. It’s also a good way for me to let go of the day’s stresses. ### 5/5 — 大きなマップ *2026-06-14* I want a large world map so I can conquer the world as an Axis power ### 5/5 — FANTASTIC *2026-06-12* As a hoi4 fan having this game on mobile is great. Hope too continue to see updates (which have been happening and have been good) hope to see some similar games set in different eras of time from this developer. Same layout but modern? Nam? Yes pls. ALSO if possible a scenario that gives us the whole world. Would like to be able to invade the US. Or maybe when defeating a country we could have the option to “steal” tank, ship, plane blueprints. I LOVE THIS GAME ### 5/5 — Panzer General, World in Flames, Hex of Steel *2026-06-10* Fantastisch. Nachdem ich mittlerweile über 25 Jahre lang immer wieder einmal Panzergeneral spiele (inzwischen nur noch über dosbox) entdeckte ich Hex of Steel und bin total begeistert. So ein wahnsinnig detailliertes Spiel mit soviel Tiefgang ist fast schon zu viel für mich. Grossartiger Job!!!! Habe die Version für iPad und Mac gekauft und es läuft und läuft. Endlich wieder rundenbasiert spielen und das auch noch ohne Windows und dosbox Danke dafür ### 5/5 — Great game *2026-06-07* It's a slightly difficult game, but that difficulty is what makes it so realistic and wonderful. --- *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 2026-09-02.*