# Stellar Mercenaries — user reviews > 20 indexed App Store user reviews of Stellar Mercenaries by Quest Builders LLC, rated 4.70/5 from 34 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/stellar-mercenaries/id6446969323/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/stellar-mercenaries/id6446969323.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 30 · 4★ 2 · 3★ 0 · 2★ 1 · 1★ 1 ## Newest reviews (5 of 20) ### 5/5 — The Best SHMUP on iOS *2023-07-28, version 1.2* This is hands down on of the best games on mobile. Forget the retro graphics, this plays better and is more customizable than any other game in the genre. Missions start off simple enough but once you progress through the solar system, you start getting hunted by mercenaries, having battles against enemy factions, and have a variety of game modes to play. The recent update is fantastic and allows players to get legendary upgrades as long as they put it in a shirt grind. Keep up the good work, excited to see where this goes. ### 5/5 — Soooo fun *2023-05-09, version 1.06* This game is incredibly and so well made. Very fun. ### 5/5 — Awesome sci-fi shooter *2023-04-27, version 1.0* Tons of customizations and addicting game play. Highly recommend! ### 5/5 — Awesome old school shooter *2023-04-27, version 1.0* There’s a lot going on with this one. Tons of ship customization, weapons options and even mods for weapons. The weapons all felt really different too, they weren’t just number increases. The procedural side missions with random hazards are really cool too. It’s nonlinear so when I got stuck I just flew some side missions to get better gear until I was able to get past the tough campaign mission. ### 5/5 — Amazing Shooter *2023-04-26, version 1.0* This game is amazing! Highly reminds me of Galaga meets 1942 meets games of today with upgrades and story and customization. I can’t believe it’s free! ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Purchase bugged *2025-03-18, version Jupiter Expansion* I was enjoying the game well enough to decide to support the dev with a purchase but when I purchased the Loadout special all I received was the ship; none of the equipment that was supposed to be included. Not sure if it’s bugged or they are hidden away somewhere in the UI but I can’t find them. ### 2/5 — Unfortunate *2023-08-17, version 1.2* I thought this was going to turn out to be a good game until I realized ship control was supposed to work over the entire screen. However, on my iPad 11 Pro, my ship is stuck at the bottom and I can only move side to side. ### 3/5 — Level 9 broken *2024-04-08* You can't beat level 9 because the train is stuck in an endless loop. Otherwise pretty fun. The retro isometric art is really nice. Kinda reminds me of Raptor. Having side missions is great too so you don't have to play the same missions on repeat to get cash etc. The enemy mercenary story part is also really cool (the lasers are easier than you think... keep your cool for those!) The balance of mechanics seems a bit off vs reward. The mechanism for buying upgrades is more convoluted than it needs to be and you end up just getting better/rarer stuff as drops anyway so the blueprints (at least up to level 9) have been completely useless to me. There are many animation moments that appear to waste a lot of game time (flying into hangar, waiting for the gates to open/close, waiting for your ship to fly off and end the mission, waiting for your reward box to open... why is it even in a box? That makes zero sense... just give the stuff as the reward...). Lastly if you kill a boss and it drops items on the screen there is no time to pick them up before the mission ends. This issue is only present for the final boss and does not affect mid level bosses. Also I did not pay for this app and just played the free version as it appears paying $ just gets you a better ship sooner (you can unlock at least 1 more ship if you beat some levels). ### 4/5 — A bug with a story level *2024-04-03* The game is great. It’s highly customizable and has a lot of diversity. I used to have practically 100% completed the game across two save files before the update or something else deleted them, and I was all too happy to get back to that point. However, on my way there, I realized the main mission 9 of earth was broken, at least for me. the cargo train doesn’t go out far enough for the cargo to appear on the screen, and then it just slowly moves downwards until it’s off screen after that, leading to fight an endless wave of easy enemies. So great game, but it just has a bug that completely stops progression, at least for me ### 4/5 — Enjoyable but cash shop broken *2023-05-08* I enjoy the game but the cash shop isn’t functional. Both the gems, currency crates and starter packs are not clickable. You can test or buy the load out and buy the individual chests. Which will give buy gem option which will let you buy gems. No solution for getting the currency packs or starter packs to purchase. I was discovered this while trying to by the legendary starter pack. **Developer response:** Hey Brightstar895! Thanks for your interest! We've recently opened up in-app purchases to all countries that the game is available in. If you experience additional issues, please feel free to contact us via our developer email: quest.builder@questbuildergames.com ### 5/5 — A hidden gem! *2026-02-25, version Challenges 1.70* The devs have made quite the shmup, lots of levels, customization, and replayability. ### 5/5 — Frequent crashes *2025-10-27, version Jupiter 1.3.2* I really want to love this game. It’s pretty rare to have a mobile game that actually rewards skill. My main issue with the game is that it crashes very frequently and has stability problems when the game gets intense. The frame rate can get very low. Probably around 10fps. The game will crash and you will lose progress along with any gems you used in that session. Hopefully it will be updated soon. This is on an iPhone 17 pro max on ios 26.0.1. ### 5/5 — Update ideas *2025-05-03, version Jupiter 1.3.1* Great game, been playing for several weeks and and gotta say it’s limitless when it comes to playability, but much more could be added to this game “simply”. Maybe things like a battle pass system or even a XP system for leveling up and add more things happening and help keep the player engaged. ### 5/5 — A bug with a story level *2024-08-09* My complaint with the game is now fixed, so just ignore this review and take the five stars **Developer response:** Great!! Thanks for the update and glad it’s working ### 5/5 — Level 9 broken *2024-04-27, version 1.4.1* Excellent ## Most praised reviews (5 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — A bug with a story level *2024-04-04* The game is great. It’s highly customizable and has a lot of diversity. I used to have practically 100% completed the game across two save files before the update or something else deleted them, and I was all too happy to get back to that point. However, on my way there, I realized the main mission 9 of the moon was broken, at least for me. the cargo train doesn’t go out far enough for the cargo to appear on the screen, and then it just slowly moves downwards until it’s off screen after that, leading to fight an endless wave of easy enemies. So great game, but it just has a bug that completely stops progression, at least for me ### 5/5 — Good play loop and progression *2024-03-02, version 1.3* I originally downloaded this for research for development with a ton of other games. I keep coming back to this to play because I enjoy the progression of the game and the endless options for missions. Controls are great as well. ### 5/5 — It’s good 👍 *2023-11-05, version 1.2* The game is really good! ✌️ ### 5/5 — Old School & Awesome *2023-08-08, version 1.2* Unoppressive ads. Fun grinding game. ### 5/5 — Simple but fun *2023-08-01, version 1.2* This is a great game that’s simple, but progressive in levels. --- *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 2026-07-17.*