# Stardew Valley vs Loop Hero

The clearest difference is price: Loop Hero at Free against Stardew Valley's $4.99. Stardew Valley's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (every 3 days vs every 10 days). On rating, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Loop Hero is free to download; Stardew Valley costs $4.99 up front. Loop Hero sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Stardew Valley asks for nothing beyond the download.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Stardew Valley against 4.9 for Loop Hero. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Stardew Valley has 64K ratings behind it against 3.9K, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Stardew Valley ships an update every 3 days, Loop Hero every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Stardew Valley | Loop Hero |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | $4.99 | **Free** |
| Rating | [4.8 (64K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/stardew-valley/id1406710800/reviews) | **[4.9 (3.9K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/loop-hero/id6464048549/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **64K** | 3.9K |
| Positive reviews | — | 74.9% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 3 days** | Every 10 days |
| Monetization | Paid | **Free with in-app purchases** |
| Best chart rank | **#1** | — |
| Size | 442 MB | 213 MB |
| Requires iOS | **13.0** | 15.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 12+ | 9+ |
| Developer | [ConcernedApe](https://appshunter.io/developer/1620477446) | [Playdigious](https://appshunter.io/developer/1041387229) |

## What reviewers say

### Stardew Valley

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/stardew-valley/id1406710800)

**Currently charting:** #1 Top Paid · Role Playing, #3 Top Paid · Simulation, #9 Top Paid · Games, #11 Top Paid (US App Store)

Cultivate a new life in this open-ended farming RPG. Build your dream farm, raise animals, grow crops, and explore mysterious caves. Customize your farmer, settle down, and become part of a vibrant community.

**Highlights:** Build and customize your farm, Raise animals and grow crops, Explore caves and battle monsters, Develop relationships and start a family, Participate in festivals and quests, Fishing and foraging activities, Mobile-specific controls and auto-save

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Addictive and fun
- 👍 Engaging storylines
- 🌟 Beautiful game
- 🎮 Great gameplay
- 🕹️ Relaxing and calming

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Crashes and freezes
- 🔍 Difficult to find/catch fish
- 🎮 Challenging controls, especially for combat
- 🔁 Repetitive dialogue/events
- 🔧 Bugs with furniture placement and interactions

**Reported bugs**

- Fishing rod sound bug
- Sewer key cutscene not triggering
- Furniture/building placement issues
- Inventory/interaction bugs
- Crashing when entering certain areas

**Requested features**

- Multiplayer support
- More NPC interactions and relationships
- Ability to grow up/customize children
- Joystick/controller support
- More end-game content and challenges


### Loop Hero

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/loop-hero/id6464048549)

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:** Family Sharing

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Unlock Full Game | $6.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Excellent mechanics
- 👍 Great replayability
- 👍 Charming graphics
- 👍 Unique and enjoyable experience
- 👍 Smooth gameplay

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Sound doesn't work
- 🐛 Crashes and freezes
- 🐛 Unresponsive after certain actions
- 🐛 Difficulty reading small text
- 🐛 Accidental card placement

**Reported bugs**

- Game crashes after defeating first boss
- Unplayable after initial progress
- Inability to progress past trial version

**Requested features**

- Portrait mode
- More classes/build diversity
- Improved UI/overlay customization
- Chinese language support


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Stardew Valley free?

Stardew Valley costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Loop Hero free?

Loop Hero is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Stardew Valley or Loop Hero?

Loop Hero is rated higher. Stardew Valley averages 4.8 out of 5 from 64K ratings, while Loop Hero averages 4.9 from 3.9K ratings.

### Do Stardew Valley or Loop Hero have ads?

Neither Stardew Valley nor Loop Hero shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Stardew Valley or Loop Hero?

Stardew Valley ships an update every 3 days, and Loop Hero every 10 days. Most recently, Stardew Valley was updated on October 3, 2026 and Loop Hero on October 1, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*