Comparison

Terraforming Mars vs Hero Realms

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

Head to head
About

Terraforming Mars

Lead a corporation to terraform Mars by building cities, forests, and oceans. Manage resources, complete objectives, and increase your Terraform Rating to make the planet habitable. Compete against rivals and lead humanity into a new era.

Highlights
  • Official board game adaptation
  • Play against AI or up to 5 players
  • Online and offline multiplayer
  • Corporate Era variant
  • Solo challenge mode
  • Expansions available for new content
Features
Read full description

CREATE LIFE ON MARS Lead a corporation and launch ambitious Mars terraforming projects. Direct massive construction works, manage and use your resources, create cities, forests and oceans, and set rewards and objectives to win the game! In Terraforming Mars, place your cards on the board and use them wisely: - Achieve a high Terraform Rating, by increasing the temperature and oxygen level or creating oceans... Make the planet habitable for future generations! - Get Victory Points by building cities, infrastructure and other ambitious projects. - But watch out! Rival corporations will try to slow you down... That's a nice forest you planted there... It'd be a shame if an asteroid crashed right on it. Will you be able to lead humanity into a new era? The terraforming race begins now! Features: • The official adaptation of Jacob Fryxelius' famous board game. • Mars for all: Play against the computer or challenge up to 5 players in multiplayer mode, online or offline. • Game variant: Try the rules of the Corporate Era for a more complex game. With the addition of new cards, including 2 new corporations, focused on economy and technology, you will discover one of the most strategic variants of the game! • Solo Challenge: Finish terraforming Mars before the end of generation 14. Try new rules and features in the most challenging Solo mode on the (red) planet. DLCs: • Speed up your game with the Prelude expansion, adding a new phase at the start of the game to specialize your corporation and boost your early game. It also introduces new cards, corporations and a new solo challenge. • Explore a new side of Mars with the Hellas & Elysium maps, each bringing a new set of twists, awards and milestones. From the Southern Wilds to the Other Face of Mars, the taming of the Red Planet continues. • Add the Venus board to your game, with a new Solar phase to hasten your games. Shake up Terraforming Mars with the Morning Star expansion, featuring new cards, corporations, and resources! • Spice up the game with 7 new cards from the Original Promo Pack: Includes everything from the microbe-oriented corporation Splice to the game-changing Self-Replication Robot project. * Try the Big Box Promo Pack and its 23 cards to raise the level even higher. Play as the expert-only Pharmacy Union or enjoy the more relaxed Astrodrill corporation with this DLC! * Establish outposts and trade with them in Colonies! Featuring 49 project cards, 5 corporations, and a whole new game system, Colonies is the most content-packed DLC to date! Languages available: French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Swedish Having an issue? Looking for support? Please contact us: https://asmodee.helpshift.com/ Find all the latest news for Terraforming Mars on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TwinSailsInt Twitter: https://twitter.com/TwinSailsInt YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/twinsailsinteractive © Twin Sails Interactive 2019. © FryxGames 2016. Terraforming Mars™ is a trademark of FryxGames. Developed by Artefact Studio.

About

Hero Realms

Engage in strategic deckbuilding combat, recruit powerful champions, and level up your heroes. Enjoy PvP, co-op against AI bosses, or a single-player campaign. The free version offers core gameplay with optional expansions.

Highlights
  • Deckbuilding combat
  • Recruit champions
  • Hero leveling system
  • Online PvP
  • Cooperative play vs AI
  • Single-player campaign
  • Multiple character classes
Features
Read full description

Become a hero! Choose your class, perform mighty actions, and recruit powerful champions to your cause as you grow in power. Awarded Origins Fan Favorite Best Card Game. From the makers of the award-winning Star Realms® Deckbuilding Game, Hero Realms® combines the fun of deckbuilding games with the interactivity of trading card game-style combat. As you play, use Gold to add new actions and champions to your deck. When played, those actions and champions generate powerful effects, give you additional gold, and attack your opponent and their champions. If you reduce your opponent's health to zero, you win! [Non-Collectible Deck Building Game] Hero Realms does not require you to collect new cards. You start every game with a basic deck, and will acquire cards from the shared center row to build up your deck and defeat your opponent. Victory rewards skill, and not your collection of rare cards! [Level Up Your Heroes] Create a hero from one of several classes (free players start with the Fighter and Wizard available). Level them up with new skills, abilities and equipment, and take them to battle in thrilling Online PVP. Hero Realms uses fair match making, only allowing matches between equal levelled heroes. However, if you feel daring, you can choose to engage in combat against higher levelled opponents for additional XP and bragging rights. [Cooperative Online Play] Hero Realms also features online co-operative play. Battle against challenging AI bosses with another human player as a partner. Free players have access to the Pirate Lord mission, with other co-op missions available with the Base Set purchase. [Single Player Campaign] For offline play, take on the Welcome to Thandar campaign. Fight your way through scripted, story-based chapters against varied AI opponents. [Free Version] Free players will get to experience: - Addictive Deckbuilding Game with Player VS Player Combat. - Play VS the AI - Play with the Fighter and Wizard character classes - Level-up your characters up to Level 3 - Play the first 3 missions in the Welcome to Thandar campaign - Play the Pirate Lord co-op mission Purchasing the Base Set will unlock the full Hero Realms experience: - Unlocks hard AI difficulty level - Unlocks the Cleric, Ranger, and Thief character classes - Level-up your characters to Level 12 - Unlocks the entire Welcome to Thandar campaign. - Unlocks the Necromancers, Inquisition, and Orc Riot co-op missions. Please note that Hero Realms purchases are not compatible with Family Sharing.

Screenshots

Terraforming Mars4 screens
Hero Realms4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Hero Realms at Free against Terraforming Mars's $8.99. Hero Realms also leads on review sentiment (60% vs 45%). Terraforming Mars's advantage is ratings volume (7.6K vs 219) and chart position (#27 vs unranked). On rating, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

Hero Realms is free to download; Terraforming Mars costs $8.99 up front. Terraforming Mars sells 6 one-off in-app purchases and Hero Realms sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Terraforming Mars holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Terraforming Mars has 7.6K ratings behind it against 219, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 45% of Terraforming Mars's written reviews are positive against 60% of Hero Realms's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Terraforming Mars ships an update every 3 weeks, Hero Realms every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Terraforming Mars versus Hero Realms: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTerraforming MarsHero Realms
Price$8.99Free — better
Rating4.5 (7.6K ratings) — better4.3 (219 ratings)
Positive reviews45.1% of reviews60.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings7.6K — better219
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#27 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size353 MB435 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperTwin Sails InteractiveWhite Wizard Games

Customer experience

Terraforming Mars

All ratings7,460 ratings
Positive87.7%
Neutral3.9%
Negative8.4%
Written reviews907 reviews
Positive45.1%
Neutral15.9%
Negative39.0%

Hero Realms

All ratings219 ratings
Positive80.8%
Neutral5.0%
Negative14.2%
Written reviews133 reviews
Positive60.2%
Neutral10.5%
Negative29.3%

User reviews

Terraforming Mars

From 7.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Faithful adaptation of board game
  • 👍 Great UI and animations
  • 🕹️ Smooth solo gameplay
  • 💰 Good value for money

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
  • 🕹️ Unreliable multiplayer experience
  • 🕰️ Long load times to resume games
  • 🤯 Confusing multiplayer features
  • 🤖 Weak AI opponents

Hero Realms

From 219 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great game mechanics
  • 🚀 Smooth and polished app
  • 💡 Diverse game modes (PvP, co-op, campaign)
  • 👍 Faithful adaptation of the physical card game
  • 💡 Character progression and leveling system

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and crashes
  • 🔒 Lack of local multiplayer (pass-and-play)
  • 💰 Expensive in-app purchases for additional content
  • 🌐 Lack of language support (e.g., no French, Spanish)
  • 🔍 Unclear tutorial and explanations of game mechanics

Bugs and requests

Terraforming Mars

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Science tags not counted properly
  • Power infrastructure card not functioning
  • Inability to place tiles in some cases
  • Saved games not loading properly

Requested features

5 requests
  • Undo button for actions
  • Ability to see final game metrics
  • Notifications for turn updates
  • Ability to track win/loss records
  • More expansion content

Hero Realms

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes when trying to play online
  • Inability to access purchased content
  • Freezing and black screen issues
  • Incorrect character level progression
  • Matchmaking problems and long wait times

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more expansions and additional content
  • Implement a friends list and social features
  • Improve the campaign mode with more levels and challenges
  • Add an option to check the contents of your deck before playing
  • Implement a turn timer to prevent players from stalling

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Terraforming Mars

One-time6
  • Original Promo Pack$2.99
  • Terraforming Mars - Prelude$3.99
  • Hellas & Elysium$3.99
Show 3 more
  • Venus Next$3.99
  • Colonies$3.99
  • Big Box Promo Pack$4.99
10 purchases

Hero Realms

One-time10
  • 80 Gems$0.99
  • 200 gems$2.29
  • Four Journeys Campaign$3.99
Show 7 more
  • 500 Gems$4.99
  • Hero Realms: Call to Arms$4.99
  • Journeys Expansions$4.99
  • Journeys Promo Expansion$4.99
  • Dungeons Expansion$7.99
  • 1200 Gems$9.99
  • Hero Realms Base Set$9.99

Questions

Is Terraforming Mars free?
Terraforming Mars costs $8.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Hero Realms free?
Hero Realms is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Terraforming Mars or Hero Realms?
Terraforming Mars is rated higher. Terraforming Mars averages 4.5 out of 5 from 7.6K ratings, while Hero Realms averages 4.3 from 219 ratings.
Do Terraforming Mars or Hero Realms have ads?
Neither Terraforming Mars nor Hero Realms shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Terraforming Mars or Hero Realms?
Terraforming Mars ships an update every 3 weeks, and Hero Realms every 2 weeks. Most recently, Terraforming Mars was updated on November 8, 2026 and Hero Realms on November 2, 2026.

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