Subterfuge vs Retro Commander
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Subterfuge
Engage in a week-long real-time strategy and diplomacy game. Gather intelligence, coordinate with others, and issue orders to influence the game's outcome. Master both strategic planning and player negotiation to achieve victory.
- Week-long real-time gameplay
- Strategy and diplomacy mechanics
- Intelligence gathering
- Order issuance
- Player coordination
- Unlimited scheduled orders (with IAP)
- Private game creation (with IAP)
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• Multiplayer Game of the Year 2015 by Pocket Tactics * • Best Mobile Games of 2015 by CNET * Subterfuge is a week-long multiplayer game of strategy, diplomacy, and betrayal that plays out in real time. Check in for ten minutes, a few times a day: read the sonar, schedule your orders, and reply to the ally who insists the fleet massing on your border is "purely defensive." Then close the game and get on with your day while your plans execute. BUY ONCE, PLAY ANYWHERE Buying the game on mobile gives you full access to the Steam version. DRIVE THE TIME MACHINE Drag the Time Machine forward and watch tomorrow unfold. See where every visible sub will be, how combat resolves, and what your factories will have produced by Thursday. Then, schedule your own orders to execute at any moment, hours or days ahead. Launch the invasion at 4:12 a.m. without setting an alarm but remember everyone else has a Time Machine too. DEPTH THAT FITS AROUND YOUR LIFE A game of Subterfuge lasts a week or more, but a session lasts minutes. It was designed by two new parents who wanted Diplomacy-grade scheming without giving up their evenings. The strategy happens in your head and on your schedule. THE REAL MAP IS THE OTHER PLAYERS Every alliance, border pact, joint strike, and deception in Subterfuge happens in chat. None of it is enforced by the game. A treaty is worth exactly as much as the person who signed it, intel is worth exactly as much as its source, and the player feeding you sonar reports may be feeding your rival the same. Winning means reading people as sharply as you read the map. NO DICE. NO LUCK. ONLY PEOPLE. The Time Machine can show you tomorrow because there is no randomness. Every battle can be forecast down to the last driller before it happens. Recruit powerful specialists to tilt the math and bend the rules. The only truly unknowable variable in Subterfuge is human intention. COMMUNITY CROSSPLAY SINCE 2015 Join a cross-platform player pool that has kept Subterfuge alive and updated for over a decade. Play the same game from your desk and your phone. Open the war room on a second monitor at work, then answer a treacherous counter-offer from the school pickup line. A TYPICAL WEEK • Day 1: Nine polite introductions. Four proposed alliances. One of them is sincere. • Day 2: You and your neighbor agree to keep borders demilitarized. You both start counting drillers. • Day 4: Your ally proposes a joint strike on the olive. Olive has just proposed the same about your ally. • Day 5: Drill a mine. Sonar picks up a "defensive" fleet drifting towards it, thirty hours out. Plenty of time. You schedule your counter, draft two very different messages, and head to lunch. • Day 6: The trap you scheduled yesterday ago springs mid-meeting, exactly as planned. You watch it from your desk and say nothing. • Day 7: Trap closed. Olive's mine captured. • Day 8: Victory. Your former ally sends a simple message: "Well played. Rematch?"
Retro Commander
Engage in post-apocalyptic real-time strategy battles. Command diverse units and technologies in a rich story campaign or test your skills against AI and players in cross-platform multiplayer. Features include a map editor and extensive modding capabilities.
- Post-apocalyptic RTS gameplay
- Story campaign with unique factions
- Single-player skirmish matches vs AI
- Cross-platform multiplayer
- Map editor and modding support
- Diverse units and research options
- Multiple game modes (capture the flag, battle royale)
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Retro Commander is a post-apocalyptic real-time strategy wargame (RTS). Take command and fight it out in a world where a cataclysmic timeline has transpired on Mother Earth. Wage wars solo, against the AI, or take on your gaming comrades and friends in cross-platform multiplayer matches. Form teams and clans and fight co-op style with the AI and other players for ultimate victory. As opposed to other real-time strategy game, Retro Commander tries to focus on both, a fun single player and a thrilling multiplayer experience. The game strives to be easy to learn with a modern user interface. Single player comes with skirmish matches against the AI as well as a comic-based story campaign. Multiplayer can be played cross-platform and includes a ranking and rating system. POST-APOCALYPTIC: Real-time strategy (RTS) played in a post-apocalyptic timeline on Mother Earth. The environment includes day-night cycles, rain, snow, wind and solar flare activity. STORY CAMPAIGN: Deep campaign and story line of humanity after a cataclysmic event. Factions come with their own specialized technologies such as stealth, robots, drones or shields. SINGLE & MULTIPLAYER: A challenging AI for both single and multiplayer matches with co-op play. Cross-platform multiplayer including LAN/internet. ONLINE play comes with an award and rating system. PLAY MODES: In addition to regular skirmish matches, the game supports missions such as elimination, survival, capture the flag, defense and battle royale. Available in both single and multiplayer also are escort and rescue missions. STRUCTURES & TROOPS: Common troops for land, sea and air warfare is available to all factions. Specialized elements such as stealth, shields, EMP weapons, nukes, portals, orbital weapons, assimilator and other troops and structures provide for additional variety. RESEARCH: A tech tree and research options enable to build specialized structures and troops. A Tech Snatcher can be used to steal enemy technology. MODDING: A map editor is included allowing for player-modded maps including player-modded campaigns. All elements including troops, structures, as well as graphics and sound effects, can be modded if desired.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Subterfuge at 4.7 against Retro Commander's 3.7. Subterfuge also leads on update cadence (every 10 days vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (586 vs 16). Retro Commander's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). 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. Subterfuge sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Retro Commander sells 14 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Subterfuge holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Subterfuge has 586 ratings behind it against 16, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 87% of Subterfuge's written reviews are positive against 80% of Retro Commander's.
Subterfuge ships an update every 10 days, Retro Commander every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Subterfuge | Retro Commander |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (586 ratings) — better | 3.7 (16 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 87.0% of reviews — better | 80.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 586 — better | 16 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 47 MB | 151 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Secret Plan LLC | Noble Master LLC |
Customer experience
Subterfuge
Retro Commander
Bugs and requests
Subterfuge
Reported bugs
7 issues- Queen randomly loses hire points
- Win conditions don't trigger
- Login screen freezes
- Game crashes on launch
- Notifications arrive late
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- Unable to delete subs on iOS
- Touchscreen issues (not centered, wrong button presses)
Requested features
13 requests- Accelerated gameplay
- Shorter game modes
- Alliance feature
- More specialists
- New game modes
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- Ability to view player profiles during game
- Option to privately tag players
- Refresh button
- Ability to delete subs on iOS
- NAP Breaker medal
- Customizable backgrounds and items
- Dark mode option
- Advanced analytics dashboard
Retro Commander
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Subterfuge
- Patron (L3)$4.991 Month
- Medal$0.99
- Pack of 5 Medals$4.99
- Level 2 Security Clearance2 variants$9.99
Retro Commander
- Map: Chapter 02$0.99
- Map: Battle Map 02$0.99
- Map: Battle Map 05$0.99
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- Clan Manager$1.99
- Map: Chapter 03$3.99
- Map: Chapter 08$3.99
- Map: Battle Map A1$3.99
- Map: Chapter 04$3.99
- Map: Chapter 06$3.99
- Map: Chapter 07$3.99
- Map: Battle Map 03$3.99
- Map: Battle Map 04$3.99
- Modded Maps$4.99
- All Maps & Modding$19.99









