Comparison

Star Realms vs Hero Realms

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Deckbuilding gameplay
  • Player vs Player combat
  • AI battles
  • Campaign mode
  • Online multiplayer
  • Pass and Play mode
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Hero Realms

Engage in strategic deckbuilding combat, recruiting champions and using gold to acquire new cards. Battle opponents online or cooperatively against AI, with a single-player campaign available. Level up your hero and unlock new classes and missions.

Highlights
  • Deckbuilding combat
  • Recruit champions
  • Online PVP
  • Cooperative online play
  • Single player campaign
  • Hero leveling system
Features
Read full description

Become a hero! Choose your class, perform mighty actions, and recruit powerful champions to your cause as you grow in power. Awarded Origins Fan Favorite Best Card Game. From the makers of the award-winning Star Realms® Deckbuilding Game, Hero Realms® combines the fun of deckbuilding games with the interactivity of trading card game-style combat. As you play, use Gold to add new actions and champions to your deck. When played, those actions and champions generate powerful effects, give you additional gold, and attack your opponent and their champions. If you reduce your opponent's health to zero, you win! [Non-Collectible Deck Building Game] Hero Realms does not require you to collect new cards. You start every game with a basic deck, and will acquire cards from the shared center row to build up your deck and defeat your opponent. Victory rewards skill, and not your collection of rare cards! [Level Up Your Heroes] Create a hero from one of several classes (free players start with the Fighter and Wizard available). Level them up with new skills, abilities and equipment, and take them to battle in thrilling Online PVP. Hero Realms uses fair match making, only allowing matches between equal levelled heroes. However, if you feel daring, you can choose to engage in combat against higher levelled opponents for additional XP and bragging rights. [Cooperative Online Play] Hero Realms also features online co-operative play. Battle against challenging AI bosses with another human player as a partner. Free players have access to the Pirate Lord mission, with other co-op missions available with the Base Set purchase. [Single Player Campaign] For offline play, take on the Welcome to Thandar campaign. Fight your way through scripted, story-based chapters against varied AI opponents. [Free Version] Free players will get to experience: - Addictive Deckbuilding Game with Player VS Player Combat. - Play VS the AI - Play with the Fighter and Wizard character classes - Level-up your characters up to Level 3 - Play the first 3 missions in the Welcome to Thandar campaign - Play the Pirate Lord co-op mission Purchasing the Base Set will unlock the full Hero Realms experience: - Unlocks hard AI difficulty level - Unlocks the Cleric, Ranger, and Thief character classes - Level-up your characters to Level 12 - Unlocks the entire Welcome to Thandar campaign. - Unlocks the Necromancers, Inquisition, and Orc Riot co-op missions. Please note that Hero Realms purchases are not compatible with Family Sharing.

Screenshots

Star Realms3 screens
Hero Realms4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Star Realms at 4.6 against Hero Realms's 4.3. Star Realms also leads on ratings volume (4.5K vs 219). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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. Star Realms sells 12 one-off in-app purchases and Hero Realms sells 13 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Star Realms holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Star Realms has 4.5K ratings behind it against 219, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 57% of Star Realms's written reviews are positive against 60% of Hero Realms's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Star Realms ships an update every 10 days, Hero Realms every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Star Realms versus Hero Realms: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStar RealmsHero Realms
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (4.5K ratings) — better4.3 (219 ratings)
Positive reviews57.0% of reviews60.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4.5K — better219
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size509 MB435 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperWhite Wizard GamesWhite Wizard Games

Customer experience

Star Realms

All ratings4,453 ratings
Positive91.3%
Neutral2.1%
Negative6.6%
Written reviews405 reviews
Positive57.0%
Neutral10.9%
Negative32.1%

Hero Realms

All ratings219 ratings
Positive80.8%
Neutral5.0%
Negative14.2%
Written reviews133 reviews
Positive60.2%
Neutral10.5%
Negative29.3%

User reviews

Star Realms

From 4.5K App Store ratings

What 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

Hero Realms

From 219 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great game mechanics
  • 🚀 Smooth and polished app
  • 💡 Diverse game modes (PvP, co-op, campaign)
  • 👍 Faithful adaptation of the physical card game
  • 💡 Character progression and leveling system

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and crashes
  • 🔒 Lack of local multiplayer (pass-and-play)
  • 💰 Expensive in-app purchases for additional content
  • 🌐 Lack of language support (e.g., no French, Spanish)
  • 🔍 Unclear tutorial and explanations of game mechanics

Bugs and requests

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

Hero Realms

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes when trying to play online
  • Inability to access purchased content
  • Freezing and black screen issues
  • Incorrect character level progression
  • Matchmaking problems and long wait times

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more expansions and additional content
  • Implement a friends list and social features
  • Improve the campaign mode with more levels and challenges
  • Add an option to check the contents of your deck before playing
  • Implement a turn timer to prevent players from stalling

In-app purchases

12 purchases

Star Realms

One-time12
  • High Alert: Invasion$1.99
  • Crisis: Bases and Battleships Set$1.99
  • Crisis: Events Set$1.99
Show 9 more
  • Crisis: Heroes Set$1.99
  • Crisis: Fleets and Fortresses$1.99
  • Command$1.99
  • Gambit Set$3.99
  • Cosmic Gambit$3.99
  • High Alert: First Strike$3.99
  • Full Version$4.99
  • Colony Wars$4.99
  • Frontiers$4.99
13 purchases

Hero Realms

One-time13
  • 80 Gems$0.99
  • 200 gems$2.29
  • Four Journeys Campaign$3.99
Show 10 more
  • 500 Gems$4.99
  • Hero Realms: Call to Arms$4.99
  • Journeys Expansions$4.99
  • Journeys Promo Expansion$4.99
  • Dungeons Expansion$7.99
  • 1200 Gems$9.99
  • Hero Realms Base Set$9.99
  • 2500 Gems$19.99
  • 6500 Gems$49.99
  • 14000 Gems$99.99

Questions

Is Star Realms free?
Star Realms is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Hero Realms free?
Hero Realms is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Star Realms or Hero Realms?
Star Realms is rated higher. Star Realms averages 4.6 out of 5 from 4.5K ratings, while Hero Realms averages 4.3 from 219 ratings.
Do Star Realms or Hero Realms have ads?
Neither Star Realms nor Hero Realms shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Star Realms or Hero Realms?
Star Realms ships an update every 10 days, and Hero Realms every 2 weeks. Most recently, Star Realms was updated on October 29, 2026 and Hero Realms on October 30, 2026.

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