Last updated on January 16th, 2026 at 04:59 am
Hoplite – Strategy Game Review
Hoplite is a Strategy/Puzzle game from Douglas Cowley, first launched in 21st December 2013.
It’s rated 12+ and currently has 776+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Hoplite Stand Out
"Blanket recommendation for this one." – Pocket Tactics (5 stars)
"It's very simple to learn, but there's a huge amount of depth to the game" – Touch Arcade (5 stars)
Hoplite is a turn-based strategy game focusing on tactical movement around small maps.
This game is designed to be hard, yet fair. You'll need to think before you act if you hope to win. Every move counts!
Quest Mode:
• Make strategical choices to upgrade your abilities as you dive deeper into the underworld.
• Earn achievements and unlock access to new upgrades.
• Procedurally generated levels give a new experience every play.
• Challenge your friends and see how you rank on the leaderboard.
Challenge mode:
• Jump straight into the action with a randomized set of upgrades.
• Try to beat the daily challenge or play predetermined challenges at two difficulty levels.
This Strategy game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Hoplite is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 22nd October 2025
Recent improvements include:
- Fixed protection and some conducts not being saved correctly
Download & Availability
Hoplite is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Cant believe this game is still around, played it on our Android device at least 5 years ago and loved it. As the title suggests this isnt a run n gun type game; youll spend more time planning than acting; be patient when progressing and youll be handsomely rewarded.
Ive been coming back to this game for over ten years now. Great on mobile.
A truly unparalleled gamesimple yet profoundly deep. It hooks you instantly and keeps you coming back for more.
Awesome game, unfortunately the update to iOS 26 makes the game not go past the splash screen if on Lockdown mode. Toggling off Game Mode does not seem to have any effect.
A truly unparalleled gamesimple yet profoundly deep. It hooks you instantly and keeps you coming back for more.
Good game. Would love landscape mode for iPad.
Fun game to learn and play. Lots of different moves and strategies to beat the levels. The difficulty gets almost impossible once you collect the golden ram armor tho. 15-24 enemies on the screen, no safe spots to move to. Wish it was just a bit more easy.
This is a very engaging game. Its simple for very intelligent and fun. Ive been playing it on and off for years. We highly recommend it.
Came back to this beloved game after a couple years and its been improved?? So happy when devs keep supporting their games for the long haul its not trivial and not always monetarily rewarding. If you like tactical or puzzle games this is a must.
This is the game we come back to the most. Quick and easy to pick up. Consistently challenging but never unfair. Great system and visual design/style. Cant recommend this enough.
It surprise us how this game is still getting updates after all these years.
We keep coming back to this game. Tons of fun with mounting difficulty, super-stable (no crashes or other problems for us), and lots of replayability based on the build as you go deeper. Highly recommended.
Easy to learn, hard to master. Minimalist UI and simple controls. Dozens of different upgrades and literally thousands of challenges to surmount. One of the best values in turn-based strategy games.
Thanks for the update! We still play this years after purchasing it. Fun and entertaining, especially during flights. Make every move count.
The recent update changed the size of the hex grid to about 2/3 of its former size. The touch targets are now too small to use. Cant find a way to fix/adjust. Please correct.
The game is unplayable since the last update.
Currently playing on a 12 mini, and the newest update ruined the compatability with it. The actually game board now is much smaller than before, making it harder to see/play, and the back button now overlaps with the home button bar, so you have to tap it a bunch until you get lucky and it registers, or you accidentally Home Screen. Played this game for years, across multiple iPhones, all worked great until this update.
Take a Greek hoplite with his little spear and shield down 16 floors to grab the fleece and exit the warp portal to win. Sounds easy? Its not. Along the way youll have to avoid or kill 4 different enemy types and some randomly placed lava tiles. Each enemy has its own way of attacking and range, but all are killed in a single hit. You can visit the magic shrine found on (most) every floor and choose from several different prayers which in turn give your hoplite different active and passive skills. The skills are great and pretty varied. It seems so simple but there is just a ton of emergent gameplay strategy from just a handful of enemy types and a mostly barren hex map. We definitely wasnt expecting this to take up nearly all our free time over the past week or so but here we are.
We started playing this game again after a couple years and it is still so good! A timeless masterpiece. So well crafted.
Really fun turn based game and there are achievements you can chase after to gain additional abilities.
Our absolute favorite mobile game hands down. Brilliant.
This game is simplified, solid gameplay. Its hard to beat.
This game is great. Ive played at least 6 hours in 3 days, and we enjoy it more now than when we first started. Its a real rogue like that is designed perfectly, and intentionally for mobile.
We keep coming back to this game. Tons of fun with mounting difficulty, super-stable (no crashes or other problems for us), and lots of replayability based on the build as you go deeper. Highly recommended.
This game is an absolute beauty. We love the look and play style. Ive had this game for years and love playing it on our free time at work. The only thing we wish was different, is if you could customize the character. Such as getting so far or completing challenges you get new armor or weapon skins permanently where after each death and start of a new round/game, youd still have that armor set or weapon that appeals to you. We fell like customization of the character would really top the cake on this one. Other than that, the game is almost flawless/perfect.
Been playing this game for years. Excellent! Thanks for updating.
Thanks for the update! We still play this home years later. Fun and entertaining, especially during flights.
Although we stopped playing games that didnt have widescreen support, we couldnt bear to delete this one so it languished in our Purgatory folder with a (very) few other gems from yesteryear. But no more! We have moved it out of our folder of exile and placed it back on page 2 with the rest of our mostest favoritest games EVAR! Look on his works, ye mighty, and despair.
Good, but just isnt much to play for after level 16 so its a very short game. They should continue to allow you to obtain abilities. Enemy unit types could use more variety as well. Some of the rules dont seem to function quite properly with the upgrades, e.g. Cant backstab using Winged Sandles extra space.
Love this game, but the Agility upgrade doesnt work. After we get 3 kills, our next action isnt free, the enemies get to fire back immediately.
Ive played this game off and on for 4 years. Many long droughts during that period, but this is one of the few games that Ive never deleted from our iPhone. Roguelike nature, simple and fair mechanics, plays well on small devices (iPhone 5S). Love it, just wish there was more like it.
Perfect combination of strategy, simplicity, and replayability.
Easy to learn but very challenging. Lots of fun even when you lose. Works great on an XS Max. We really like that you can close the app at any time and it saves, so you can play in short spurts and pick it up again later. Thats great for busy people. Great job, and we appreciate a fair price with no IAP.
This is a simple game with deep strategy. Im a huge fan of this game! Id love more games like this.
Fantastic, elegant design. The games challenge modes have us returning to the game for years now.
Simple, strategic, hexagonal, turn-based goodness.
This game is really good! Love the gesture controls and roguelike structure.
Ive been looking for A replacement, but we have yet to find anything that combines the simplicity, strategy, portrait mode, and straight up goodness of this game.
This is everything you want in mobile entertainment.
Love the game, but it doesnt open anymore since the latest update. Crashes on launch.
Too short. Please make a followup.
Ive had this game for years now and its still fun to open up every so often.
Great if you like roguelikes in the simplest way possible.
Ive played and loved this game for years now. Anything the developer makes will be a must-buy for us.
Still updating, and recently the change back to not muting our podcasts or music while playing the game spurred us to review. Gameplay is deceptively simple, but strategy is inherent and going for achievements can widen the range of your ability possibilities, a challenging progression scheme. Highly recommended.
So glad they fixed music being muted while playing! Now Ill play this a lot more thanks.
Love this game, originally found it when we were using an Android and recently moved to iPhone. If this had support for modern iPhones it would be a 10/10 best game available.
We play this all the time when Im bored and looking for a challenge. A constant on our phone for over 2 years.
Ive been playing this since it came out 4 years ago. Its still great.
Many games have come and gone on our phone over the years, but Hoplite remains forever. We sometimes will go months without playing it, but we inevitably come back to it and get re-addicted every time. Our personal record is floor 73 and we've unlocked every achievement. This game is close to perfect.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 2.8.65
- Size: 38.90 MB
- iOS: 8.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory: Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
- Developer: [Douglas Cowley]()
Last updated: 22nd October 2025 | Genre: Strategy, Puzzle | Developer: Douglas Cowley