Comparison

Bardcard vs Loop Hero

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

Head to head
About

Bardcard

Embark on a card-matching roguelite adventure through a mysterious subterranean world. Explore over 40 rooms, discover unique items, battle monsters, and uncover the secrets of this realm. Can you survive the dungeon and find your brother?

Highlights
  • Card-matching dungeon exploration
  • Over 40 rooms with secrets
  • 150+ unique hand-drawn cards
  • Old-school RPG elements
  • Challenging roguelite system
  • Persistent artifacts and companions
Features
Read full description

Bardcard is a card-matching roguelite featuring a mysterious subterranean world to explore. Match cards to advance through the dungeon. Discover helpful equipment, battle dangerous minions, and meet magical familiars that join you on your adventure. Learn the secrets of this realm and discover the truth about the chaos that engulfs it. Can you find your brother Lukas? Who is ZUG? How far down does this dungeon go? FEATURES ========= - 40+ rooms to explore: Determine the best card-matching sequence to survive each floor. Keep on the lookout for alternate exits leading down less-traveled paths, and rare artifacts that appear when specific cards are matched. Are you exploring a dark room? In that case you’d better bring a torch! - 150+ unique, hand-drawn cards to discover: Weapons, armor, and magical items to protect you in the dungeon. Various characters that guide you, teach skills, and present puzzles. Monsters and traps to thwart your progress at every turn. There’s a lot to discover, and each game is a bit different than the last. - Old-school RPG elements set within an immersive world: Turn-based action, experience levels, quests to complete, and more. We’ve taken elements from all our favorite games of yesteryear and rolled them into Bardcard. - Beautiful soundtrack created by us: We’ve orchestrated every flute, piano, and xylophone to create a unique realm to adventure in. - Challenging rogelite system with powerful persistent artifacts: Death is likely unavoidable in this dangerous world. Lucky for you, there are special items and companions that stick with you no matter what happens in the dungeon. ACCOLADES ========== App Store Game of the Day (11/8/22) ABOUT RASCAL MAGIC ================== We are two childhood friends building a mysterious world for you to explore. Originally from Michigan and now based up and down the West Coast, we create everything from the gameplay, imagery, audio, and story, to physical apparel and collectibles. Although we charge a small price for downloading our games, we don’t have in-game advertising or in-app purchases. It’s just not our thing. Instead, you get access to the entire game and future updates. Let’s do this! We’d love to hear from you: hello@rascalmagic.com

About

Loop Hero

Embark on a roguelike RPG adventure where you strategically place cards to create enemy encounters, buildings, and terrain. Equip your hero with powerful loot, expand your camp, and unlock new classes and cards to break an endless cycle of despair and save a forgotten world.

Highlights
  • Randomly generated expedition loops
  • Strategic card placement for trials
  • Loot collection for hero progression
  • Camp expansion and reconstruction
  • Unlockable classes and cards
  • Retro pixel art dark fantasy story
Features
Read full description

*Try Loop Hero for free and unlock the full game for the whole adventure!* The Lich has thrown the world into a timeless loop and plunged its inhabitants into never ending chaos. In this roguelike RPG, wield an expanding deck of mystical cards to place enemies, buildings, and terrain along each unique expedition loop for the brave hero. Recover and equip powerful loot for each class of hero for their battles and expand the survivors' camp to reinforce each adventure through the loop. Unlock new classes, new cards, and devious guardians on your quest to shatter the endless cycle of despair. FEATURES - Explore an endless number of paths: bring your hero on randomly generated loops and never experience the same run twice. - Shape your expeditions into darkness: build your deck and place your cards to script your hero’s trials and tribulations. - Loot as you loop to rebuild the world: recover your memories as you collect equipment and resources to become stronger, reconstruct your camp and get your reality back. - Plunge into a gloomy universe: discover a melancholic dark fantasy story told through a retro pixel art direction and recollect the memories of this world. - Break the cycle: triumph over mighty bosses to free the world from the Lich’s neverending time loop. CAREFULLY REDESIGNED FOR MOBILE - Revamped interface – exclusive mobile UI with complete touch control - Game Center achievements - Cloud Save – Share your progress between iOS devices - Compatible with MFi controllers - iPhone 15 Optimization (including Pro Max)

Screenshots

Bardcard4 screens
Loop Hero4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Loop Hero at Free against Bardcard's $3.99. Loop Hero also leads on ratings volume (3.9K vs 55) and update cadence (every 10 days vs monthly). Bardcard's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and review sentiment (88% vs 75%). On rating, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

Loop Hero is free to download; Bardcard costs $3.99 up front. Loop Hero sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Bardcard asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Loop Hero holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Loop Hero has 3.9K ratings behind it against 55, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 88% of Bardcard's written reviews are positive against 75% of Loop Hero's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bardcard ships an update monthly, Loop Hero every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Bardcard versus Loop Hero: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBardcardLoop Hero
Price$3.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (55 ratings)4.9 (3.9K ratings) — better
Positive reviews87.5% of reviews — better74.9% of reviews
Number of ratings553.9K — better
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.115.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size188 MB213 MB
Age rating9+9+
DeveloperKevin MiklesPlaydigious

Customer experience

Bardcard

All ratings55 ratings
Positive92.7%
Neutral1.8%
Negative5.5%
Written reviews24 reviews
Positive87.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative12.5%

Loop Hero

All ratings3,814 ratings
Positive97.5%
Neutral0.7%
Negative1.8%
Written reviews287 reviews
Positive74.9%
Neutral6.6%
Negative18.5%

Bugs and requests

Bardcard

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Loop Hero

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Game crashes after defeating first boss
  • Unplayable after initial progress
  • Inability to progress past trial version

Requested features

4 requests
  • Portrait mode
  • More classes/build diversity
  • Improved UI/overlay customization
  • Chinese language support

In-app purchases

None

Bardcard

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Loop Hero

One-time1
  • Unlock Full Game$6.99

Questions

Is Bardcard free?
Bardcard costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Loop Hero free?
Loop Hero is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Bardcard or Loop Hero?
Loop Hero is rated higher. Bardcard averages 4.7 out of 5 from 55 ratings, while Loop Hero averages 4.9 from 3.9K ratings.
Do Bardcard or Loop Hero have ads?
Neither Bardcard nor Loop Hero shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bardcard or Loop Hero?
Bardcard ships an update monthly, and Loop Hero every 10 days. Most recently, Bardcard was updated on September 27, 2026 and Loop Hero on September 28, 2026.

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