Ascension vs Star Realms
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ascension
Engage in a strategic deck-building card game where you acquire cards to gain Renown and unlock powerful Boons. Battle against the Fallen One alone or with friends, with expansions available to deepen the experience.
- Deck-building card game mechanics
- Single-player and multiplayer modes
- Unlock powerful Boons and Legendary status
- Cross-platform online play
- Offline AI opponents
- Multiple expansions available
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***Legends Expansion Now Available!** Return to the world of Vigil as the Muses of Malevolence rise to bring ruin. Legendary Heroes from Ascension’s past have returned to guide you, granting their power to those who prove worthy. Each card you acquire or defeat grants Renown with its factions, advancing you on the Legendary Track. As your Renown grows, unlock powerful Boons from Legendary Characters and, at the pinnacle of a faction’s track, gain Legendary status with the power to acquire or defeat one card from that faction for free each turn. Ascension: Deck Building Game, is the award winning deck building card game for mobile. Play alone or with friends to battle against the Fallen One for honor and victory. Conceived and designed by Magic: The Gathering tournament champions, Ascension will provide hours of engaging and strategic game play for enthusiast and experienced gamers alike. 2011 Golden Geek award winner (Best Mobile/Handheld Game) Pocket Gamer Bronze Award 2011 Dice Tower Awards Awards: Best Digital Boardgame Best Interface and Graphic Design - 2011 Best Online Multiplayer - 2011 Highlights: • Universal Application: Plays on phones and tablets • Beautifully detailed cards • Full asynchronous support for multiplayer online games • Cross-platform online play • Play against multiple offline A.I. opponents • Multiple expansions available to purchase to expand the Ascension experience! *AN INTERNET CONNECTION AND PLAYDEK ACCOUNT ARE REQUIRED FOR ONLINE PLAY.* Per our Terms of Service, you must be 13 years old or older to use the Playdek online games service. Also by Playdek: - Twilight Struggle - D&D: Lords of Waterdeep - Labyrinth: The War On Terror - Fort Sumter - Fluxx Having an issue? Looking for support? Please contact us at: support@playdekgames.com You can follow us on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram! Facebook: /playdek You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/playdek Twitter: @playdek Instagram: @playdek
Star Realms
Engage in thrilling space combat with this popular deckbuilding game. Build your deck, outmaneuver opponents, and conquer the galaxy. Offers both single-player campaigns and multiplayer battles.
- Deckbuilding gameplay
- Player vs Player combat
- AI battles
- Campaign mode
- Online multiplayer
- Pass and Play mode
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Star Realms is a hugely popular space combat deckbuilding game. Download and play today to find out why Star Realms is the winner of SXSW 2014 Board Game of the Year, 7 Golden Geek Awards from BoardGameGeek, including Best Mobile Game, and 2 Dice Tower awards! Reviews: "My readers are going to have a seizure about how good Star Realms is." -Owen Faraday, pockettactics.com “Good on all levels, thumbs up!” -Tom Vasel, The Dice Tower “This game is superb! I think it’s a brilliant game. Beautiful artwork, second to none.” -Tim Norris, Grey Elephant Gaming “What can I say? Star Realms is excellent.” - Lenny, ISlaytheDragon.com “I desperately wanted to play again and again. It's just consistently fun every time.” -The Critical Boardgamer Star Realms combines addictive deck building game play with exciting Trading Card Game (TCG) style combat! Designed by Magic the Gathering Hall of Famers Darwin Kastle and Rob Dougherty (of the Ascension Deckbuilding Game), Star Realms provides tons of playability for free, and a one-time upgrade to be able play with your friends and more on any device. Free Version •Universal Application: Play on iPhone, iPod, iPad, iPad Mini, and Ipad Air. •Addictive Deckbuilding Game with Player VS Player Combat. •Tutorial teaches you to play in minutes. •Stunning visuals. •Play VS the AI. •6 mission campaign mode. Full Game Additional Features •Play the AI on 3 different difficulty settings. •9 additional campaign missions. •Battle friends face to face with Pass and Play. •Online play with global rankings. •Challenge a friend online.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Star Realms at 4.6 against Ascension's 3.4. Star Realms also leads on update cadence (every 10 days vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (4.5K vs 1.1K). Ascension's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, review sentiment, 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
Both are free to download. Ascension sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Star Realms sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Star Realms holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.1K and 4.5K respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 60% of Ascension's written reviews are positive against 57% of Star Realms's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Ascension ships an update every 3 months, Star Realms every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ascension | Star Realms |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (1.1K ratings) | 4.6 (4.5K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 60.0% of reviews — better | 57.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1.1K | 4.5K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.2 GB | 509 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Playdek, Inc. | White Wizard Games |
Customer experience
Ascension
Star Realms
User reviews
Ascension
From 1.1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great game
- 👍 Awesome adaptation of the physical game
- 🕹️ Engaging gameplay
- 💰 Reasonable in-app purchase prices
- 🕰️ Excellent time killer
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and bugs
- 🔄 Slow AI turns
- 🔒 Issues with restoring purchases
- 🔍 Cluttered UI, hard to read cards
- 🔋 High battery consumption
Star Realms
From 4.5K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great game
- 👍 Excellent implementation
- 💡 Lots of content and features
- 🚀 Fast and smooth gameplay
- 👍 Challenging AI
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🐛 Issues with online play and connectivity
- 🐛 Unbalanced AI difficulty
- 💰 Expensive in-app purchases
- 🐛 Confusing UI and navigation
Bugs and requests
Ascension
Reported bugs
5 issues- Purchases disappearing after updates
- Restore function not working
- Crashes when certain cards are played
- Constructs getting stuck in the middle of the screen
- Game freezing and logging out users
Requested features
5 requests- Increase honor pool limit for online games
- Add custom deck building options
- Optimize for iPhone X and newer devices
- Provide option to revert to old art style
- Improve online multiplayer experience
Star Realms
Reported bugs
4 issues- Game freezes and crashes on launch
- Online games getting stuck or timing out
- Inability to scrap or play certain cards
- Incorrect card behavior and interactions
Requested features
4 requests- Add undo/rewind functionality
- Improve offline/single-player experience
- Implement better matchmaking and player communication
- Provide more detailed game statistics and analytics
In-app purchases
Ascension
- Storm of Souls expansion$0.99
- Promo Pack 1$0.99
- Immortal Heroes expansion$0.99
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- Ascension Promo Cards - Pack 4$0.99
- Rise of Vigil$0.99
- Darkness Unleashed expansion$0.99
- Realms Unraveled expansion$0.99
- Dawn of Champions$0.99
- Dreamscape$0.99
- Return of the Fallen expansion$1.99
Star Realms
- Crisis: Bases and Battleships Set$1.99
- Crisis: Events Set$1.99
- Crisis: Heroes Set$1.99
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- Crisis: Fleets and Fortresses$1.99
- Command$1.99
- Gambit Set$3.99
- Cosmic Gambit$3.99
- Full Version$4.99
- Colony Wars$4.99
- Frontiers$4.99








