Comparison

Sheltered vs Star Traders

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Sheltered

Manage your family's survival in a post-apocalyptic world. Gather resources, make tough moral choices, and defend your underground shelter from threats. Strategize combat and develop your family's skills to endure the harsh new reality.

Highlights
  • Disaster management
  • Resource gathering
  • Moral decision-making
  • Shelter defense
  • Crafting weapons
  • Turn-based combat
  • Family skill development
Features
Read full description

Sheltered is a post-apocalyptic disaster management game that gives a whole new meaning to the term “nuclear family”. Given a head-start over the billions lost in a nuclear holocaust, you must gather as many supplies as possible en route to the concrete underground shelter that will soon become your family home for the foreseeable dire future. As the overwhelming despair of this new world surrounds you, how will you survive? Your approach to the countless moral choices you’ll be faced with on a daily basis, could be the difference between the lives of your family or their unfortunate end. Resources are scarce though, with barely enough to cling desperately to life for another day you’re already faced with a monumental choice. Who will you send to venture out into the vast unforgiving wasteland? Whilst exploration is a traumatic experience, the weapons you can craft from resources could tip the scales of life or death in your favour. Assaults from feral beasts and roaming factions are endlessly closing in, imminent and deadly risks surround you. ‘Violence is never the answer’… Maybe you once believed that, but combat may now be your only option for survival. As you and your family grow and progress, so do their skills, attributes and weaknesses. Ensure that they’re well equipped as you strategize, securing victory against those who threaten the survival of your family in tense turn based combat.

About

Star Traders

Command your own starship and crew in a vast, procedurally generated open universe. Forge your path as a pirate, merchant, bounty hunter, or explorer, influencing factions and shaping your crew through your choices in this epic sci-fi RPG.

Highlights
  • Open universe exploration
  • Multiple captain careers (26 jobs)
  • Spaceship customization (350+ upgrades)
  • Crew assembly and talent management
  • Dynamic narrative and faction influence
  • Crew molding based on player choices
  • Varied difficulty options including permadeath
Features
Read full description

You are the captain of a starship venturing through a massive open universe. Customize your crew and take command at the helm of your very own ship as you explore a galaxy torn apart by internal strife, alien threats, and political intrigue. Command your ship and crew as a space pirate, merchant, bounty hunter, and more in Star Traders: Frontiers – an epic space RPG from Trese Brothers Games. Venture forth into a massive open universe, rich with adventure and the lore of the Star Traders. Choose your path by assembling and commanding your custom crew and spaceship in a constantly evolving galaxy torn by internal strife, political intrigue, and alien threats. Will you fly as a pirate terrorizing shipping lanes, join the solar wars as a military captain, or track targets across the stars as a fearsome bounty hunter? - Explore a rich, open universe: Discover endless procedurally-generated galactic maps, meet unique characters, and take on enemies to conquer the galaxy! - Become an intergalactic captain: Take on the role of a spy, smuggler, explorer, pirate, merchant, bounty hunter, and more (26 jobs total)! - Customize your own spaceship: Choose from more than 350 upgrades and 45 ship hulls to build your very own vessel to venture across the vast reaches of space. - Assemble and tailor a loyal crew: Assign talents and equip specialized gear for every spaceship crew member. - Experience an ever-changing narrative: Decide to make friends or foes with other factions and influence political, economic, and personal vendettas. - Mold the crew by your choices: As you make decisions and set the tone for your ship, your crew will grow and change to match. Destroy enemy ships with all hands on deck and your crew will become more bloodthirsty and savage. Explore distant worlds and loot dangerous wastelands and your crew will become intrepid and clever ... or scarred and half-mad. - Varied Difficulty Options! play with save slots to try out different builds or storylines or turn on character permadeath and enjoy classic roguelike experience - Achievement Unlocks: accomplish story and challenge goals to unlock additional optional (but not better) content like new starting ships and new starting contacts First there was the Exodus – when survivors of a great war left the ruins of the Galactic Core behind in search of a new home in the stars. Scattered worlds were claimed on the fringe of the galaxy. Each pocket of survivors held on to an isolated set of worlds while trying to rebuild under the great law of Shalun. Three centuries later, technology has brought them back together again. Discovery of the hyperwarp has bridged what was once an unimaginable distance between far-flung colonies, long-lost families, and political factions. With that reunification has come great economic prosperity. The hyperwarp reestablished the transportation of cargo, goods, and technologies between the quadrants – but it has also brought great strife. Political rivalries have been rekindled, blood has been shed in age-old feuds, and the fires of war have been stoked. Amidst the political infighting, a ruthless revolution is rising – and the fervent explorers of the hyperwarp have awoken something that was better left asleep. Our very first game, Star Traders RPG, took hundreds of thousands of gamers on an interstellar adventure. Star Traders’ success and overwhelmingly positive reception helped to launch Trese Brothers Games. It was the adventures of our community’s star-crossed captains that put us on a trajectory to share more of our worlds, ideas, and dreams. We set out to capture the loneliness, bravery, and camaraderie of people living together in a spaceship sailing across the stars. It is with great pride that after releasing four other games in the Star Traders universe, we’ve created a sequel to the original Star Traders RPG. Step onto the bridge of your starship, take to the stars, and create your own story in Star Traders: Frontiers.

Screenshots

Sheltered4 screens
Star Traders4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Star Traders at 4.6 against Sheltered's 4.1. Star Traders also leads on review sentiment (73% vs 57%) and chart position (#65 vs unranked). Sheltered's advantage is price ($3.99 vs $6.99) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 12.1). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Sheltered costs $3.99 and Star Traders $6.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Star Traders holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 356 and 673 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 57% of Sheltered's written reviews are positive against 73% of Star Traders's.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Sheltered versus Star Traders: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShelteredStar Traders
Price$3.99 — better$6.99
Rating4.1 (356 ratings)4.6 (673 ratings) — better
Positive reviews57.0% of reviews72.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings356673 — better
Update frequency—Every 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank—#65 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS10.0 — better12.1
Further details — not scored
Size402 MB316 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperTeam17 Digital LimitedTrese Brothers

Customer experience

Sheltered

All ratings355 ratings
Positive75.5%
Neutral9.0%
Negative15.5%
Written reviews256 reviews
Positive57.0%
Neutral16.0%
Negative27.0%

Star Traders

All ratings668 ratings
Positive88.8%
Neutral2.7%
Negative8.5%
Written reviews221 reviews
Positive72.9%
Neutral6.8%
Negative20.4%

User reviews

Sheltered

From 356 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Addictive gameplay
  • 👍 Challenging and fun
  • 🎨 Beautiful pixel art
  • 💰 Good value for money

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches
  • 🕹️ Poor controls and UI
  • 🍔 Difficulty finding food
  • 🔍 Lack of tutorial and explanations

Star Traders

From 673 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🌟 Impressive depth and complexity
  • 🌍 Vast open-world with endless possibilities
  • 🔍 Engaging story and lore
  • 🤖 Diverse gameplay options (trading, exploration, combat, etc.)
  • 🕹️ Satisfying ship and crew management

Room to improve

  • 🤔 Steep learning curve, lacks clear tutorials
  • 🔍 Repetitive or tedious aspects in late game
  • 📱 UI/UX issues on smaller mobile devices
  • 🎲 Frustrating RNG elements and difficulty spikes
  • 🔒 Lack of cloud save functionality

Bugs and requests

Sheltered

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Expedition parties disappearing
  • Shower functionality issues
  • Inventory management problems
  • Freezing and crashing on load

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add sandbox mode
  • Improve expedition system
  • Implement cloud save
  • Update for larger screens
  • Add more content and updates

Star Traders

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crew combat screen UI issues causing accidental input
  • Reputation/faction system bugs leading to unexpected outcomes
  • Crashes and freezes when navigating certain screens
  • Inconsistent behavior with ship component upgrades

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to customize ship colors and appearances
  • Option to command/control multiple ships as a fleet
  • More end-game content and progression systems
  • Improved UI scaling and optimization for larger screens
  • Cloud save/sync functionality across devices

In-app purchases

None

Sheltered

No in-app purchases

None

Star Traders

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sheltered free?
Sheltered costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Star Traders free?
Star Traders costs $6.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Sheltered or Star Traders?
Star Traders is rated higher. Sheltered averages 4.1 out of 5 from 356 ratings, while Star Traders averages 4.6 from 673 ratings.
Do Sheltered or Star Traders have ads?
Neither Sheltered nor Star Traders shows ads.

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