Comparison

Pixel Starships™ 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

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

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

Pixel Starships™4 screens
Loop Hero4 screens

Verdict

The call

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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

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.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Pixel Starships™ versus Loop Hero: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPixel Starships™Loop Hero
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (35K ratings)4.9 (3.9K ratings) — better
Positive reviews81.9% of reviews — better75.0% of reviews
Number of ratings35K — better3.9K
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterEvery 10 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size450 MB213 MB
Age rating9+9+
DeveloperSavy Soda Pty LtdPlaydigious

Customer experience

Pixel Starships™

All ratings35,060 ratings
Positive95.1%
Neutral2.1%
Negative2.7%
Written reviews781 reviews
Positive81.9%
Neutral4.7%
Negative13.3%

Loop Hero

All ratings3,814 ratings
Positive97.5%
Neutral0.7%
Negative1.8%
Written reviews288 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral6.6%
Negative18.4%

User reviews

Pixel Starships™

From 35K App Store ratings

What 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 ratings

What 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
Show 3 more
  • 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
Show 12 more
  • 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

11 purchases

Pixel Starships™

Subscriptions1
  • One Month Membership7 Days trial$3.991 Month
One-time10
  • Special Offer$1.99
  • Clip of Starbux$4.99
  • Special Offer$4.99
Show 7 more
  • 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
1 purchases

Loop Hero

One-time1
  • Unlock Full Game$6.99

Questions

Is Pixel Starships™ free?
Pixel Starships™ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Loop Hero free?
Loop Hero is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pixel Starships™ or Loop Hero?
Loop Hero is rated higher. Pixel Starships™ averages 4.7 out of 5 from 35K ratings, while Loop Hero averages 4.9 from 3.9K ratings.
Do Pixel Starships™ or Loop Hero have ads?
Neither Pixel Starships™ nor Loop Hero shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pixel Starships™ or Loop Hero?
Pixel Starships™ ships an update every 9 days, and Loop Hero every 10 days. Most recently, Pixel Starships™ was updated on October 29, 2026 and Loop Hero on October 30, 2026.

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