# Subterfuge — user reviews > 264 indexed App Store user reviews of Subterfuge by Secret Plan LLC, rated 4.70/5 from 580 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/subterfuge/id702951905/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/subterfuge/id702951905.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 509 · 4★ 31 · 3★ 7 · 2★ 8 · 1★ 25 ## What do users think of Subterfuge? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Great game - 👍 Awesome strategy game - 👍 Brilliant game - 👍 Fantastic game - 👍 Best strategy game - 👍 Excellent game - 👍 Incredible game - 👍 Beautifully crafted - 👍 Excellent multiplayer - 👍 Extremely well thought out **Cons** - 🐛 Buggy - 🐛 Crashes too much - 🐛 Unplayable - 🐛 Crashes - 🐛 Chat freezes - 🐛 Incompatible with older devices - 💰 Expensive IAP - 🕰️ Slow paced - 👥 Toxic community **Commonly reported bugs** - Queen randomly loses hire points - Win conditions don't trigger - Login screen freezes - Game crashes on launch - Notifications arrive late - Unable to delete subs on iOS - Touchscreen issues (not centered, wrong button presses) **Most requested features** - Accelerated gameplay - Shorter game modes - Alliance feature - More specialists - New game modes - Ability to view player profiles during game - Option to privately tag players - Refresh button - Ability to delete subs on iOS - NAP Breaker medal - Customizable backgrounds and items - Dark mode option - Advanced analytics dashboard ## Newest reviews (16 of 264) ### 3/5 — Love the Game but issues with recent updates *2024-12-27, version 10169* Recent Updates have made it impossible to delete subs on IOS. Please fix. Great Game otherwise. ### 5/5 — OMG *2024-10-15, version 10070* FIRST UPDATE IN SEVEN YEARS :0 ### 5/5 — Once you learn how to play this game, it will consume you… *2024-08-05* You won’t be able to sleep comfortably if you are in the midst of the game. You will always be scheduling subs during work, school, and late at night. You become more emotionally invested in your relationship with your allies than your closest friends. You will cry when you are betrayed, scream when you prevail and pray for good specialist hires in your most dire moments. You will anxiously await the sound of notifications alerting you of messages from other players. But most of all, this game will be the only thing you think about while your playing it, morning, day, and night, it will be at the forefront of your thoughts constantly. Play if you so please, but be warned of the vice-like grip this game has on a man’s soul, and enter cautiously. ### 5/5 — ENFIN UN BON JEU DE STRATÉGIE!!! *2024-04-11* Excellent jeu de stratégie avec un chat pour discuter avec les autres joueur de votre Game un vrai kiff ! ### 5/5 — Amazing game *2023-10-27, version 495* Absolutely wonderful. Great game with great people playing. Wish the Tier 2 purchase was a bit cheaper, but I don’t think it was a terrible choice to buy it. In general, great game, defs play it again ### 5/5 — Sensational *2023-08-04* This game is nothing short of an absolute masterpiece (except for the sometimes pesky bugs) but besides that, the community is like no other and if you play a few matches you’ll come to see exactly that, every game is like walking through a different street in Detroit so you never know what you’re gonna get and that’s the magical part, you might run into the infamous OliverTwist or maybe even be able to attend the world famous Cramathon always hosted by Richard Cramcram. In terms of gameplay it is stellar, all specs have been thought out amazingly, the game is well balanced and it is a game so obviously designed to prove combat iq, I’d say in terms of strategy it easily rivals chess and I’d recommend it to anyone who likes games who put the “real time” in real time strategy. This game allows you to test every single concept in the art of war or the 36 stratagem whatever it’s called book. Amazing amazing game. ### 5/5 — Brilliant underrated game *2023-07-18, version 495* It's sadly abandoned but it's well made no serious bugs if any ### 5/5 — Un vrai jeu de stratégie *2023-02-09* Enfin un jeu bien et intelligent ! Merci je me régale ! ### 5/5 — New medal *2023-01-04, version 495* Dear developers! The game is great but can I ask you to add a “NAP Breaker medal”? ### 3/5 — Won’t work *2022-11-17, version 495* Game keeps kicking me out the moment I open it, simple as that. ### 5/5 — Best Strategy game ever written *2022-07-02, version 495* Stripped down graphics, and a mix between diplomacy and axis & Allies. There’s a highly dedicated player base with Thousands of hours of game play. If u think you have what it takes to become the greatest strategist ever born, this is the game for you. Don’t be shy, as this game will actually gain you respect and friends when you have become accomplished. I look forward to another 7 years of Subterfuge. ### 4/5 — well polished *2022-05-16, version 495* -Free to play and not pay to win. You don’t have to all the core features of the game are all there immediately without any pay walls. The only paid things include a one-time upgrade that lets you play more than one game at once, rated games and scheduling more than 2 orders. -“subterfuge”- deceit used in order to achieve one's goal. Considering that this is a free for all game with ingame chat, charisma 100 is valuable skill -singleplayer puzzles that teach you the basics and skills as you figure out the solutions (there are hints that give a little help) -A rare theme with fitting sound effects and flavour texts for the specialists. -A slow pace* rts with strategic points for production and pop cap -specialists with bonus/effects some of which from participating in combat to passive map-wide bonuses. The extent these effects can be combined substantially raises the skill ceiling in terms of internal management (good micro alone won’t win 10 player free-for-alls, deception is a must have skill) *This isn’t the kind of game you play for hours in one session. It’s designed to be checked on for ~10 mins every 8 hours or so. A sub will take at 8 to 12 hours to get to the adjacent outposts, you can log out the game to leave it running on the server and there is a dial for turning the clock back and forth to see how events unfold ahead of time or events that have occurred, scheduling actions (launching subs and/or hiring/promoting specialists) for when you’re offline. One game takes roughly a week (there isn’t a time limit and the victory conditions can be met sooner or later) this game suits you if most, but not all, of your time is spoken for. ### 5/5 — My favourite game *2022-04-01, version 495* This game is just perfect for me, no ads! Just pure strategy and diplomacy. Most of the complaints are about the game being slow, but it’s meant to be like that. It’s meant to be the game you play once or twice a day (like Wordfeud) but with more to do in the meantime. If you waiting for subs to move, you could form an alliance, start a war, spread a rumour, force a peace, or discuss tactics all with a simple text box. In conclusion, get this game! ### 3/5 — Experience Depends on Player Preference *2021-12-29, version 495* I like the concept of this game. A few simple mechanics which create a unique and compelling player experience. Unfortunately however, I find the speed of the gameplay to be too slow. It often takes over half a day for a submarine to move from one outpost to another, and that’s assuming you don’t want to move a submarine from one side of your territory to another. It is exceedingly difficult for me to call this a “real-time strategy game”, but I recognise there is an audience that prefers the slower gameplay. Try out a game and see if you like it, but be prepared to wait a couple of days for anything interesting to happen. ### 5/5 — If you have resolution issue adjust text size to minimum in display settings in ipad mini. *2021-11-05, version 495* To fix resolution issue ### 5/5 — One of my favourite mobile games ever. *2021-11-03, version 495* I am really upset about the ipad app for the game. I would love for it to work in landscape mode. If not in full screen then atleast in the centre of the screen in a smaller window. I can’t give any less than 5 stars cause that’d be unfair to the devs but i’m still hoping someone sees this and does something about it. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Not worth 15$ *2025-04-02* Came in expecting a strategy board game, and left after realizing its just a bunch of chatrooms with glorified idle-clicker gameplay. The technical side of the game is simple, and most of the impactful gameplay is interacting with other players. The game is slow, so most players play multiple lobbies at once. The result is that people resign very early if their start isn’t optimal, and move onto the next lobby. I had about 7 players disconnect in my first four rated matches for no apparent reason. Three of those games went to players who ate up the dc’ed ones, while the rest turtled up and play for 2nd or 3rd place. Also apparently the leaderboard is full of players on multiple accounts and the dev doesn’t really care because they’re making another game. Tldr: -Quality of games is poor without any matchmaking -Optimal strategy is to fight other players as little as possible -Game doesn’t receive any notable updates (you can check the update history yourself) The 15$ (used to be $5) to unlock the full game is obviously not going towards developing this game. ### 1/5 — Ipad version is now very bad *2025-02-24* To the new developpers : the new ipad version is terrible ! You can’t zoom out like before to see the entire map , we’re always stuck in a close-up view which makes it unplayable. We can see now maybe less than one third of what we could see before when zooming out. ### 1/5 — Top worst *2025-01-02, version 10169* One of the worst games. It looks like military recruitment IQ exam but just bizarre what’s going on here. Very boring. Pass on this one ### 1/5 — Harassment Central!!! *2022-09-27, version 495* The chat in this game is pathetic. There’s no excuse for that today. You can’t mute anyone, can’t block anyone, can’t leave group chats. People can just harass you with hate speech and abuse non-stop and there’s nothing you can do about it. What a toxic game! Inexcusable. ### 1/5 — Broken *2021-07-28, version 495* I downloaded this game because I heard it was good and when I opened it the touchscreen was not centered and every time I try to tap something it would open the option that was way below the button I was trying to press 😡😡😡 ### 1/5 — Won’t start, crashes after about 0.5s *2021-02-12, version 495* Crazy ### 1/5 — Have just paid £10 for..... noting *2020-11-01, version 495* My account won’t verify despite me clicking on the link I receive on my register email. No help or support on line and the FAQ section is no help. This developer has conned me out of £10. Don’t buy!!!! ### 1/5 — Needs an update *2020-04-20, version 495* Bugs, balancing, cheating ### 1/5 — 5 Years *2020-03-27, version 495* I’ve had this app for 5 years (downloaded 2015). I have the paid subscription. App just glitches on day 11 where I can’t access the game. Very frustrating and unacceptable. It used to be my favorite iPhone game. Now it gets my warning. Do not download! Do not pay! Glitching app. ### 1/5 — Flawed brilliance *2019-01-21, version 495* This game needs a few more tweaks before being amazing. It’d be a five star game easily if it weren’t for some pretty egregious problems which can render games unplayable and provide griefers with the tools to ruin your enjoyment. It’s a shame because honestly when everyone of being fair this is the best strategy game you could ever want to play ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Resist slop, embrace subs *2026-05-25, version 10518* This is just a really solid strategy game and doesn’t feed into a dopamine hole just to push ads on you. Enjoy and embrace this game and its community. ### 5/5 — Played this game for years *2026-03-01, version 10365* Truly one of the best games of all time ### 5/5 — Amazing game! *2026-01-26, version 10275* Some of the most intense fun you can have over 10 days ### 5/5 — Great game *2025-09-28, version 10275* It's an awesome strategy game. Definitely recommend a download its comparable to War* the board game but more indepth. the only but* is that its a slow game, its Not clash royal where its a 360sec quickie. 1 match takes place over 5 days. I'll play a game every month er so. Awesome game, give it a try. ### 5/5 — 5/5 *2025-06-02, version 10211* This is literally the best mobile game so underrated ### 5/5 — One of a Kind Game *2025-03-15, version 10183* An awesome game with updates still happening 10+ years after release. Even though it’s old it’s still unparalleled in its niche genre. Nothing scratches my need for strategy and diplomacy quite like Subterfuge. ### 5/5 — Best hidden gem in the App Store! *2025-03-04, version 10183* By far the best game on the store. Been playing since 2015, and I recently re-downloaded it after the updates. Still as gritty, and thought provoking as I remember it! ### 5/5 — This game still rules *2025-01-14, version 10183* 5/5. Never played anything else like it. ### 5/5 — Best. Game. Ever. *2024-11-23, version 10127* It’s the best game on iOS bar none, and it has been for years. ### 5/5 — A deep commitment *2024-11-17, version 10127* Subterfuge goes beyond strategic co-ordination, as good as that is, and indeed there are some real haymakers there. Its novelty is in its social dynamic: to do well one should negotiate with everybody on the board. This typically means relations with 4-7 opponents, some for short-term gain, some for the longer game, and perhaps reneging on arrangements prior. Not for everybody, given the real risk of being betrayed. A Subterfuge player is able to adequately automate unit instructions, but the game still favours constant maintenance throughout the entire length of the 7-10 day campaign. Casual players beware! The devs had to take a break, but for their fans they’ve come back to support this corner of the strategy game hobby. Some communities are too precious to disperse. --- *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 2026-08-26.*