Pixel Starships™ vs Loop Hero
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pixel Starships™
Command every aspect of your starship in a persistent online universe. Build, battle, explore, and manage resources in this 8-bit spaceship management game. Form alliances and conquer with friends.
- Build custom starships
- Command multiple races and factions
- Online player battles
- Manage resources and power
- Explore planets and secrets
- Form alliances
- Program AI for automatic combat
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Featured by Apple in Best New Games! From one of the most successful Mobile Game Kickstarter campaigns of the year comes Pixel Starships! Pixel Starships is the world’s first total spaceship management game in an 8bit massive online universe. In Pixel Starships, you command every aspect of your ship from construction to battles in a single persistent world. Featured Reviews - Touch Arcade - Pixel Starships tasks you with outfitting your very own ship with resource rooms, staff, and weapons. This looks Awesome! MMGN - The graphics in this 8Bit indie game is the best we've seen in a retro style game for a long time PocketTactics - I’m intrigued by the cutaway side-view of the starship with turbolifts and transporters at the ready TechTimes - The World’s First 8-Bit Total Starship Management Game Hits The Online Universe The Discovery Channel - A fully immersive starship captain experience. Key Features - ● Build Epic Starships of your own design. ● Many races, aliens, factions to command and conquer. ● Battle it out with other real players in a single massive online universe. ● Manage diplomacy, recruitment, research, exploration! ● Control ship's power and limited resources. Discover epic weapons. ● Build and deploy support ships to support your Starfleet. ● Cross section full ship control and battles. ● Explore planets, discover secrets of space. ● Form alliances and battle with your friends to achieve victory! ● Program situational AI commands to systems and crew allowing automatic combats and offline play. If you're a fan of Star Wars and Star Trek; if you enjoy games like EVE, Clash of Clans, FTL, or Homeworld, you'll love Pixel Starships! Note - Pixel Starships is totally free to play and is designed for perfect balance for all players. However, there are in-app items that can be purchased for real money to help speed up progress or offer cosmetic improvements. If you don't want this feature, please disable in-app purchases in your device's settings. Note on Auto-Renewing Subscription - Pixel Starships contains a optional Subscription Membership. Members receive extra missions, bonuses, and daily rewards. Membership content is regularly updated. The Monthly Membership Subscription cost is USD $3.99 per month or a similarly adjusted currency price in your local region. Please refer to IAP menu or in app display for localised pricing. Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription is auto renewable and will renew monthly unless cancelled at least 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. Subscription can be cancelled via iTunes subscription manager. There is also a 7 day free trial for the membership; the free trial period is not transferrable and any remaining free time is cancelled if a paying subscription starts. Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. EULA: http://www.pixelstarships.com/eula Privacy Policy: http://www.pixelstarships.com/privacypolicy As per Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, you must be at least 13 years of age to play or download Pixel Starships.
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.
- 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
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*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
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Pixel Starships™ at 35K against Loop Hero's 3.9K. On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Pixel Starships™ sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Loop Hero sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Pixel Starships™ against 4.9 for Loop Hero. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pixel Starships™ has 35K ratings behind it against 3.9K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 82% of Pixel Starships™'s written reviews are positive against 75% of Loop Hero's.
Pixel Starships™ ships an update every 9 days, Loop Hero every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pixel Starships™ | Loop Hero |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (35K ratings) | 4.9 (3.9K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 81.9% of reviews — better | 75.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 35K — better | 3.9K |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Every 10 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 450 MB | 213 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Savy Soda Pty Ltd | Playdigious |
Customer experience
Pixel Starships™
Loop Hero
User reviews
Pixel Starships™
From 35K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Decent game with no pay wall harassment
- 🚀 Great little game
- 🚀 Good game
- 🚀 Straight gas
- 🚀 Amazing game
Room to improve
- 🐛 Glitchy
- 🐛 Horrible backend, would not recommend for slower devices
- 🐛 Cleverly disguised ad farm
- 🐛 Needs some fixing
- 🐛 Unfair in battle
Loop Hero
From 3.9K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Excellent mechanics
- 👍 Great replayability
- 👍 Charming graphics
- 👍 Unique and enjoyable experience
- 👍 Smooth gameplay
Room to improve
- 🐛 Sound doesn't work
- 🐛 Crashes and freezes
- 🐛 Unresponsive after certain actions
- 🐛 Difficulty reading small text
- 🐛 Accidental card placement
Bugs and requests
Pixel Starships™
Reported bugs
8 issues- Crew abilities not working as intended
- Losing resources and trophies due to connection issues
- Ads not rewarding the promised amount of Starbux
- Scrolling issues when rearranging ship layout
- Inconsistent loading times
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- Missions consuming daily allowance even on error
- Starbux purchases not being credited
- Resources not properly credited after selling on the market
Requested features
17 requests- Lower how much bux people can ask for items and resources
- Set a limit on bux that's not too ridiculous
- Add more galaxies to explore
- Add larger ships
- Add smaller support craft that can fight alongside the main ship
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- Add a faction war mode with 3v3 or 5v5 battles
- Add a way to have multiple ships in your fleet
- Add a ranking system for top players and top ships
- Add more ship customization options
- Add a way to remove items from the market
- Add a panel to view all crew stats
- Add a button to fix all modules at once
- Add multiple AI preset options for combat
- Add a way to fight against your own ship to test vulnerabilities
- Add a permanent live PvP mode
- Add a way to change the email associated with an account
- Add a daily login bonus that increases over consecutive days
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
Pixel Starships™
- One Month Membership7 Days trial$3.991 Month
- Special Offer$1.99
- Clip of Starbux$4.99
- Special Offer$4.99
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- Season Pass$8.99
- Roll of Starbux$9.99
- Special Offer$9.99
- Stash of Starbux$19.99
- Special Offer$19.99
- Case of Starbux$49.99
- Bank of Starbux$99.99
Loop Hero
- Unlock Full Game$6.99
Questions
Is Pixel Starships™ free?
Is Loop Hero free?
Which has better reviews, Pixel Starships™ or Loop Hero?
Do Pixel Starships™ or Loop Hero have ads?
Which is updated more often, Pixel Starships™ or Loop Hero?
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