# Starlost - Space Shooter — user reviews

> 36 indexed App Store user reviews of Starlost by Wheatbelt Web Design Pty Ltd, rated 4.71/5 from 143 ratings.

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/starlost-space-shooter/id1475872542/reviews
- App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/starlost-space-shooter/id1475872542.md
- Rating breakdown: 5★ 117 · 4★ 17 · 3★ 6 · 2★ 0 · 1★ 3

## Newest reviews (12 of 36)

### 4/5 — Reminds me of Armada on Dreamcast

*2020-10-04, version 1.1.06*

Every once in a while I look on the App Store for a game that looks like armada for Dreamcast. This is really close. Only thing I don’t like is the pacing. Fun fun fun super hard bad guy. And the mining is cool but I wish there was also experience for blowing up bad guys so if you need to grind at least you playing and not endless asteroid mining. This is a great game.

### 5/5 — All most like a pc game

*2020-04-04, version 1.1.06*

This was a very great game in the first part. It is very tedious but the game play is great.

### 5/5 — Solid game

*2020-02-08, version 1.1.06*

I always liked space and wanted a good space shooter game and this showed up so I gave it a shot. 

In a word, solid. It gives you plenty of resources to work with between the campaign mode and the challenges so you progress at a decent rate and so do the enemies. There is also a large element of strategy to the levels as enemies can seem overwhelming or overpowered on boss stages, which is really nice and stops it from being a simple go-in-guns-blazing shooter. 

Nice work, keep it up devs :)

### 5/5 — Starlost - genuinely good space shooter!

*2020-01-14, version 1.1.06*

Starlost - genuinely good space shooter!

The elephant in the room is always going to be ads, and I think the dev has done well here. Ads are not overly intrusive and only appear as a small banner add when you’re at home-base. While you’re out mining and fighting, there’s no ads obstructing anything. It’s fair imho.

Graphics:

At first the graphics seem a bit... simple. There’s no real-time lighting from explosions, all effects are baked. But spend a bit more time with the game and you start to notice things. It’s a gorgeous art style and very on-theme, the resolution is pretty damned good and sharp, the colours pop - it looks (and runs) gorgeous.

Some levels have amazing scrolling in the background, one level is a planet - and it’s not just a 2D texture but the dev has gone out of their way to add three dimensional touches to a 2D game. It looks amazing, and as it runs so well we can look past real time effects like particles and lighting.

Audio:

My own work means I’m particularly suited to critique this area, but in reality there isn’t much to say. Sound effects wise, everything seems to do its job really well. 

Weapon sounds have variety, explosions sound good as well, and generally the sound overall is well mixed (only exception being the cargo full sound which is obnoxiously loud and probably intentionally so).

When you’re out fighting it really does sound like a war with a lot going on. There are some sfx that aren’t to my personal taste, but that’s all I can say (ion laser sounds weak for example).

There’s a few BGM tracks in this game and both have a calm out of battle and energetic in battle variation. It would have been nice to have a smooth transition between actions but it just cuts from one to the other. The music sounds like it came from multiple artists as the game doesn’t seem to have its own theme and the music suffers a little disjointedness as a result. These are really overall minor quibbles as the music does serve its purpose and the mis-match of styles lends it some additional variation.

Gameplay:

Man. I LOVE this game. I’ve completed the story and am now into endless insane mode where progress is coming quickly.

The basic premise of the game is to collect resources by mining asteroids and fighting to survive waves of enemies that are trying to stop you (the collective).

There is a story, and it’s not terrible, but it’s the gameplay that keeps you coming back. The controls are simple, and turrets in your ship fire automatically.

You can set turrets to a control group giving you some interaction - I like putting power hungry turrets on there so I can switch them on and off as I like depending on how much power I have and how quickly it regenerates.

You can also equip user-fireable weapons on special component slots, so you can get even more involved, firing devastating weapons forwards.

It’s a single stick shooter essentially - you steer fully yourself and go wherever you want. I would have loved a “manual fire” control group that gives you a second stick 🙏

Longevity:

The other elephant in the room is grinding. And yes, there is a bit of grinding to be done. The bosses are clearly gate-checks, forcing you to go back and replay previous content and mine resources to upgrade to come back stronger. 

In my opinion, the grind here isn’t bad at all, and it’s also not pay to win. I’d pay to support this personally, and nothing more.

When you first start playing and looking at upgrades costing 100+ million and cores, you think it’s one of those games that force you to pay.

It’s really not. Just farm a little, and I’ve completed every stage and am now into endgame survival and on experimental weapons for my ship. Look to complete the game and THAT is when money starts rolling in and the fun REALLY starts.

Conclusion:

Good graphics, audio, gameplay, and will keep you going a long while, while not being pay to win and reasonable adds.

Clearly the dev wanted to make a good game and the labour of love in almost every detail is clear.

Fantastic effort indeed.

### 5/5 — Good start, good graphics, potential

*2020-01-11, version 1.1.06*

It feels a bit incomplete but I haven’t hit any bugs yet. 

For joystick controls and overall controls I would love to customize the layout. 

I would also love it if the upgrades would tell you how much of an upgrade it is. Like increase 50% or 100% of this. 

For powers, having a little video or clip that shows what it does before purchase would be icing on top. 

Im not sure of guns have a firing arc or not but there are ranges but it would be nice to see where the guns can shoot.

### 5/5 — My absolute favourite game on mobile

*2020-01-08, version 1.1.06*

Starlost is probably the best free to play game I have ever found.

The gameplay is great,
little to no bugs,
I like the story,
looks amazing
and the jokes never get old

the bosses are a little difficult but what do I expect they are bosses after all. 

Every time I have a chance to watch an ad I’m sure as hell I’m going to watch it.

you guys deserve the money.

Keep up the great work and good luck with your next game.

- a very satisfied player 514

### 5/5 — Wow!

*2020-01-04, version 1.1.06*

Starlost is like if I Digit and Ultraviolet Dawn has a baby...who grew up to be Galaxy on Fire and adopted a kid and named it Starlost lol. From the I Digit side, you burn fuel and gather resources to bring back for money, then repair and upgrade. From the Ultraviolet Dawn side, heavily customized upgrades and above view space exploration. It’s scratching my Ultraviolet Dawn itch as Sad Cat Software abandoned that game it seems. I’ve been seeking a game similar but better and I found it. Good job, dev! Now to continue luring space pirates back to the home ship so the mounted guns can aid me in their destruction. #Strategy
@AppNasty /Twitter

### 4/5 — Multiplayer?

*2019-12-22, version 1.1.06*

Multiplayer please

### 5/5 — Great space miner

*2019-12-09, version 1.1.06*

Very enjoyable. If you love popping asteroids, you’ll have fun for hours. 

If you liked the classic “Space Miner: Ore or Bust” game, you’ll probably enjoy this one. The gameplay and controls are pretty good, and the plot is decent. It may not be as polished as the “Space Miner” games, but it’s pretty close. The difficulty ramps up quickly in the first couple sectors, when you’re still trying to get your first upgrades. But once you get a few ship upgrades, you’re nearly invincible (except against bosses). Eventually mining does become grindy, and there isn’t much to break up the gameplay. The art is pretty cool, especially the picture of the guy who looks like he’s a coal miner.

As for the in-game purchases, I do recommend the license which removes that annoying ad, but also doubles income. Otherwise, I think the developer is a little too optimistic in thinking that people will purchase tons of skins or nanocores, because there really isn’t much added value with these premium items. The cosmetic ship skins and antennas would be better if I could actually zoom in further on my ship and see it! And dying isn’t really that bad at all, so I have yet to use a nanocore.

Since I do enjoy this game, I have a few suggestions for quality of life improvements. It needs some battery saver mode or general optimization, because it drains my iPad battery extremely fast. I also need better descriptions, like which turrets fire 360 degrees, or what exactly does “Shield Multiplier” do. I’d also like to see more uses for nanocores.

The UI needs to be more clear that docking is the only way to save the game. I was frustrated when exiting to menu and it didn’t warn me that it wasn’t saving (especially when I accidentally tap Exit to Menu instead of Resume). How about an “Are you sure?” prompt?

Most of the issues are UI, which can be easily patched. Gameplay is solid, and even though a bit grindy it’s pretty fun.

### 5/5 — Awesome game

*2019-12-05, version 1.1.06*

Loving this game, well done to the developers!

Edited to add: how is this game not killing it in the charts?!

### 5/5 — Great game

*2019-11-30, version 1.1.06*

I’m just a big tard who didn’t download sector 16 and 17

### 5/5 — Pretty good!

*2019-11-27, version 1.1.06*

I found out about this game through reddit and it’s been fun so far. One thing I noticed is that for X series phones parts of the UI are a bit cut-off because of the notch and the rounded corners. Perhaps they could be shifted a bit.

## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated)

### 1/5 — Paid for camo skin but it’s still locked

*2025-04-23, version 1.1.06*

I paid for the camo skin.  Apple confirmed the purchase and the money left my bank account.  The game still has the skin locked.  I want the skin or my money back.

### 1/5 — Warning! Adblocked and Webblocked!

*2019-11-16, version 1.1.06*

Not only does the game place ads so they cover half your radar screen (and presumably half your subsystem controls), but it also refuses to launch unless you have an active internet connection. Therefore, if you want to play the game enough to see if you like it enough to pay to remove ads, you're forced to first pay to remove ads.

### 1/5 — Won’t even start

*2019-10-25, version 1.1.06*

Downloaded the game. The game open to download asset packs but nothing happened. Restarted it twice but didn’t work. 

Very disappointing.

### 2/5 — .

*2019-10-28, version 1.1.06*

Unpacking assets failed the first few times, I could only play for 5 minutes before the adverts forced me to uninstall, so distracting against a dark background and normal dialog.

### 3/5 — Great game but forgotten by developer on IOS.

*2023-02-16, version 1.1.06*

Great game but very disappointing the IOS version has not been updated and is seemingly forgotten.

### 3/5 — Spoiler for level 16

*2022-04-27, version 1.1.06*

The towers still shoot you with the space laser despite Ceres saying that they can after destroying one of them, meaning you need to have significant defenses and speed to avoid it, and sometimes it just decides to hit you, even if you destroyed the tower in the area
Don’t use the bleeder mk1 and 2, the projectiles it launches have a tendency of glitching and being anywhere from 2x to 50x what it was supposed to be, covering a large part of the screen

### 3/5 — Spent a lot of ru to get two flamers for them to not work at all grand

*2022-03-18, version 1.1.06*

Love the game to bits play it loads good game to replay as the ru mines keep memory and loot boxes making the game that little bit easier and more interesting each play through but for some reason some times the flamers work and sometime not how do I fix this???

### 3/5 — Great potential except for a few major flaws.

*2021-09-05, version 1.1.06*

I’m really enjoying this game, however there are a couple of major design flaws that will make the game incredibly tedious, to the point where I likely will drop it.

The biggest of the flaws is the the controls for mining... you need to tap of each asteroid, sometimes multiple times, to mine.. when you are flying around in joystick mode on an iPad, this is exceptionally annoying.  Please Devs, consider adding a button that would just mine the nearest asteroid.

### 3/5 — Overpowered Bosses

*2020-06-14, version 1.1.06*

The game will be better if the bosses are less overpowered

### 4/5 — Good game

*2023-05-14, version 1.1.06*

Good game play but difficulty scaling is crap

## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated)

### 5/5 — Its pretty great

*2025-11-20, version 1.1.06*

A healthy dose of sarcasm and dry wit, solid gameplay loop over a decent story and challenging end game content. Yeah, its pretty great

### 5/5 — Update?

*2025-09-06, version 1.1.06*

Wasn’t there going to be a sequel to this? Is there anywhere I can see the development progress of it.

### 5/5 — Great game, but not this version

*2022-08-16, version 1.1.06*

This is probably in my top 3 mobile games, on Android.

Issue is, iOS never got the last patch which basically completes the game. Without it, you are missing one of the end game modes to play. Missing an entire tier of upgrades, missing lots of weapons and items, missing better loot box choices as well as quality of life updates that make the challenge missions actually possible.

As it is, the game is incomplete on the iPhone. I wish the dev would give iOS some love, but for now, I would avoid this version if you have an option.

### 5/5 — Freaking AMAZING.

*2022-03-03, version 1.1.06*

This is awesome. IMO, the best mix of challenge and ease. Might update once I get past the first real sector. If I’m not too busy playing!! ❤️Much love guys and girls of Hoodwinked!!

### 5/5 — Underrated!

*2022-02-09, version 1.1.06*

This game needs more attention. I had a great time playing through. Interesting story, great controls, and a fantastic concept.

### 5/5 — Months

*2022-01-05, version 1.1.06*

I’ve been playing this game for months. Completed it and now am just playing the endless version. It’s just a nice game to pass the time with.

### 5/5 — Great game so far

*2021-12-21, version 1.1.06*

I have played around 5 hours so far, beat the first boss.

I have encountered no ads.

The game plays great. Lots of different weapons and upgrades to explore.

You acquire credits by mining asteroids. This does become tedious as you have to manually press the asteroids repeatedly. Auto fire, just like enemies are targeted would be cool!

Give it a try!

### 5/5 — Great game!

*2021-06-25, version 1.1.06*

Having alot of fun playing this game, am probably about 2/3 of the way through it and have to say it is probably one of the best space shooter games i have played on mobile. I like the good selection of weapons and upgrades and, without spoilers, some of the zones are wholly unique, very clever and fun to play in. The devs have obviously put a-lot of thought into making each sector’s challenges feel different than the last. 

Top tip: mastering the ships ‘dodge’ will greatly increase your survivability and effectiveness against stronger enemies, letting you punch above your weight.

Feedback for devs: it might be nice if some of the upgrades are clearer as to what benefit they give and by how much, for example the upgrade that increases your shield max hp is vague as to the amount of benefit it gives. Other than that, thank you for the fun game :)

### 5/5 — It’s a shame that

*2020-12-14, version 1.1.06*

It’s a shame that there is no paid option to remove these awful adverts, I’d pay to remove them

### 5/5 — Crashing

*2020-04-07, version 1.1.06*

The game itself is amazing the only thing is it keeps crashing usually in combat but once right after spawning in. It removes all money gained and my ships inventory since I last docked but remembers other things like enemies spawning and objectives. 
Also enemies spawn too often to get resources easily

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*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 2026-09-09.*