Comparison

Nova vs Hex Squad Tactics

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

Head to head
About

Nova

Command a star fleet in a real-time galactic conquest game. Engage in strategic battles, forge binding diplomatic contracts, and manage your empire efficiently. Play at your own pace, from quick sprints to long campaigns, with background notifications keeping you informed.

Highlights
  • Real-time galactic conquest
  • Binding diplomatic contracts
  • Fog of war for strategic depth
  • Customizable game pace and duration
  • Background notifications
  • Map editor for custom galaxies
Features
Read full description

You command one star at the edge of a contested galaxy, with a few hundred ships in the garrison and a clock counting down. Everything else is neutral, or held by a rival who wants it as badly as you do. Hold the most living stars when the mission timer ends and you win. Knock every rival out first, and you win early. Nova is a real-time space-strategy game of galactic conquest for two or more players. Every commander starts with exactly the same star, ships, and credits, so games are won by decisions, not dice. A war of decisions. You move under fog of war, seeing only what your own stars and scouts can reach, so a spy probe before an assault is often worth more than the ships it costs. The defender always holds the home-field edge, which means you have to outnumber a garrison by better than three to two just to fight to even odds. Capture stars, build factories, and your fleets and treasury compound together; spend on speed, range, or battle power and the advantage carries across your whole empire. Drop a nova bomb and a star is gone for good, which denies it to a rival but scores it for no one. Diplomacy you can hold someone to. Talk in-game on a global channel or in a private thread with a single commander. Then make it binding: a contract offers another player cash outright, or only if they send the fleet you ask for, to the star you name. The moment they accept, the cash moves and the fleet launches on their behalf, and it cannot be recalled. Alliances are only as good as the deals behind them, and here the deals actually stick. Set the pace yourself. A game's host decides how long it runs and how fast its clock turns. Spin up a one-hour sprint where production ticks every few seconds and the whole war is settled over a lunch break. Or stretch the same game over days or even weeks, a long campaign you think about between meetings and come back to when something shifts. Any player can propose a pause for sleep or work, and once a second player agrees, the whole game freezes, deadlines and all, until it resumes. Let it run in the background. You never have to keep the app open or refresh anything. Nova notifies your device when it actually matters: a star of yours under attack, a shield that just blocked a spy probe, a fleet that reached its target, a message from a rival, a pause proposal, the game kicking off. Leave a slow game running for days and you will not lose the thread. Less micromanagement, more strategy. Fleets route themselves through your territory, so you can strike far beyond a single jump without plotting every hop. Standing orders turn a safe rear star into a supply pump: keep a garrison, forward the surplus, and reinforcements march to the front on their own while you think about the next move. Build your own galaxies in the map editor and play them with friends, or drop into a balanced Risk-style world for two to six commanders. Play from your iPhone, iPad or a browser against the same opponents; a game runs identically whether you join from iOS or the web.

About

Hex Squad Tactics

Features
Read full description

Hex Squad is a relaxed real-time tactics game about maneuver and angles. You command a small squad across a hex grid — where you point each trooper matters as much as where you move them. Every trooper sees down a weapon cone. Fog of war hides what no one is looking at. Bullets travel slowly enough that moving is a real dodge, so a fight is decided by positioning: get the angle, use the cover, and catch the enemy where their armor isn't. FEATURES • Real-time or turn-based — play in relaxed continuous time, or take it slow, turn by turn. • Free facing and weapon cones — line of sight is a cone you aim, not a stat. Flanking is the kill. • Cover, walls, and fog — read the battlefield, brace against walls, and control the lanes. • Automatic reaction fire — your troopers spot and defend themselves; you play the general. • Distinct classes — sniper, rifle, SMG, shield, and burst, each with its own reach and role. • Waves and regroup — hold ground as the arena tightens around you. • Play online — host a room with a 4-letter code and take on a friend, or fight the AI solo. Real-time or turn-based, both work online. • Fast to pick up, no accounts, no ads, no timers, no nonsense. Just tactics. Point your squad, hold the angles, and win the ground.

Screenshots

Nova4 screens
Hex Squad Tactics4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Nova at none against Hex Squad Tactics's 1. Hex Squad Tactics's advantage is update cadence (daily vs weekly). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Hex Squad Tactics sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Nova asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Nova ships an update weekly, Hex Squad Tactics daily. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Nova versus Hex Squad Tactics: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNovaHex Squad Tactics
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (4 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings4 — better—
Update frequencyWeeklyDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.415.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size51 MB41 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperKevin GilpinIAN KAINOA RICHARDSON

In-app purchases

None

Nova

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Hex Squad Tactics

One-time1
  • Hex Squad Tactics - Pro Unlock$3.99

Questions

Is Nova free?
Nova is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Hex Squad Tactics free?
Hex Squad Tactics is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Nova or Hex Squad Tactics have ads?
Neither Nova nor Hex Squad Tactics shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Nova or Hex Squad Tactics?
Nova ships an update weekly, and Hex Squad Tactics daily. Most recently, Nova was updated on October 12, 2026 and Hex Squad Tactics on October 10, 2026.

Other comparisons