Last updated on February 1st, 2026 at 08:10 am
Subterfuge – Strategy Game Review
Subterfuge is a Strategy/Board game from Game Shovel LLC, first launched in 15th October 2015.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 568+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Subterfuge Stand Out
- Multiplayer Game of the Year 2015 by Pocket Tactics *
- Best Mobile Games of 2015 by CNET *
- 10 Best Mobile Games of 2015 by Red Bull *
Subterfuge is a week-long multiplayer game of strategy and diplomacy that plays out in real time. Gather intelligence, coordinate with other players, issue orders, and influence how the game unfolds. Master both strategy and diplomacy to come out on top.
"One of the best strategy games I've played all year. And it's on my iPhone, of all places." — Polygon
"Subterfuge is the perfect mobile game for someone looking for an in-depth strategy game you can play for 5 minutes at a time or stare at your phone for 45 minutes plotting schemes and executing flawlessly timed maneuvers" — TouchArcade
"In a world of single-serving iPhone distraction, Subterfuge is a remarkable standout, a booming four-course meal of strategy, diplomacy, and damn fine gameplay." — The Daily Dot
"A diplomacy system more dynamic and tense than a Middle East peace talk." — Gamespresso
“The designers, to their credit, have created a truly bottomless puzzle. This app is hypnotizing” — Quintin Smith (Cool Ghosts)
Features unlocked by buying Level 2 Security Clearance IAP:
- Unlimited scheduled orders
- Create private games
- Play in rated games
- Play multiple games simultaneously
- Keep notes about other players
This Strategy game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Subterfuge is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 26th June 2025
Recent improvements include:
Bugfixes
Download & Availability
Subterfuge 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:
You wont be able to sleep comfortably if you are in the midst of the game. You will always be scheduling subs during work, school, and late at night. You become more emotionally invested in your relationship with your allies than your closest friends. You will cry when you are betrayed, scream when you prevail and pray for good specialist hires in your most dire moments. You will anxiously await the sound of notifications alerting you of messages from other players. But most of all, this game will be the only thing you think about while your playing it, morning, day, and night, it will be at the forefront of your thoughts constantly. Play if you so please, but be warned of the vice-like grip this game has on a mans soul, and enter cautiously.
This game is nothing short of an absolute masterpiece (except for the sometimes pesky bugs) but besides that, the community is like no other and if you play a few matches youll come to see exactly that, every game is like walking through a different street in Detroit so you never know what youre gonna get and thats the magical part, you might run into the infamous OliverTwist or maybe even be able to attend the world famous Cramathon always hosted by Richard Cramcram. In terms of gameplay it is stellar, all specs have been thought out amazingly, the game is well balanced and it is a game so obviously designed to prove combat iq, Id say in terms of strategy it easily rivals chess and Id recommend it to anyone who likes games who put the real time in real time strategy. This game allows you to test every single concept in the art of war or the 36 stratagem whatever its called book. Amazing amazing game.
It's sadly abandoned but it's well made no serious bugs if any.
Stripped down graphics, and a mix between diplomacy and axis & Allies. Theres a highly dedicated player base with Thousands of hours of game play. If u think you have what it takes to become the greatest strategist ever born, this is the game for you. Dont be shy, as this game will actually gain you respect and friends when you have become accomplished. We look forward to another 7 years of Subterfuge.
This game is brilliantly executed. We just wish the developers decided to give it more love. New specialists, bug fixes, new game modes, and maybe new deals? Doubt they even read the reviews anymore.
Theres a reason this game has a rabid cult following, and you should believe their unhinged devotion to this brilliant pocket strategy game. The mechanics are relatively simple – send your units – drillers – to as many outposts as possible, or use them to ours below to gain as much gold – Neptunium – as possible. Thats it, literally. The complexities unfold over the course of 7-10 days. Through diplomacy, you will forge a loyal team or you may betray them – or them you. Through specialists, strategies are constantly being tweaked and refined as random abilities are gained or lost throughout the game. With beautifully simple controls combined with the complexities of human nature in diplomacy, you will find yourself immersed in one of the best and possibly most underrated strategy games ever.
Seems like a great game, just doesnt work on ipads at all. The menu is weirdly squashed to one side on our screen, and pressing on one button will either do nothing or open another. Devs, if you happen to see this, please work on it.
This game really impresses us. DONT LET THE VISUAL GRAPHICS FOOL YOU. This game may seem simple initially, but is anything but. The diplomacy and tactics involved are superb and best of all, it happens in a single game that spans across many days! This app can take up as much time as you want it to. You can log in as little as once a day and generally be ok or log in every few hours to see whats new. Ive found the game to be extremely rewarding for not only strategically playing the games mechanics, but also the people around you. That is key in succeeding and we love the game all the more for it.
Ive had this game since release. Been on and off with it and it still manages to be one of our favorites. Its a shame Ron and Noel abandoned the game; they couldve taken it so far. We hope that there still is a future for Subterfuge, because it still has plenty of potential. If it didnt, there wouldnt be any people still playing it today.
This game is awesome, ton of fun.
Best game but dead developers we love this game and want pay this but developers need back this game and add some update for this game Thanks.
This game has always been great. Its really sad to see the player base dwindling over the years. We wish the developers would come back, or at least hand it off to someone else.
Great game, sad to see the devs leave it.
This is the greatest Mobil game of all-time. Its a thinking mans game that takes sometimes over a week to complete, but absolutely worth it. Do yourself a favor and get the L2 license. We promise you wont regret it.
If your looking for a pvp game thats 0% p2w this is it.
Ive played this game since 2015 and Ive enjoyed it extremely. Much strategy diplomacy, and tactics are needed. This isnt a game for the lighthearted who put in minimal effort. Our only critique is it seems the game developers seem to not pay luv just attention to the game anymore. There are bugs and issues but for the most part the game runs smoothly. The developers also dont seem to enforce the rules much. So people can get away with cheating, most players do enforce them themselves. Overall one of our favorite games ever.
This game has the best gameplay mechanics of any idle strategy game Ive seen. Its brilliant in its simplicity, yet dynamic enough to allow for a broad range of strategies, and it doesnt consume all of your time. We look and look and cant find anything that comes close. Right now, Im looking for a game like this in a persistent MMO world with tradable resources. We would play that.
Our absolute favorite strategy game. We grew up loving Risk and Ive played many table-top games. This has the complexity and polish of a $60 board game and takes advantage of the technology needed to yield an experience like no other. The developers clearly poured themselves into this. We have only found two tiny issues since recently redownloading the game after being away for sometime. The main issue we found is understandable since it is a 5 year old game that lost money for the devs: the ad network no longer loads for rewarded video.
Hasnt been updated in 2 yrs? Also developers fell off the grid. No support for gameplay issues whatsoever. Even online forums have been forgotten. Too bad best game on App Store. Also you were able to watch a short AD for 2 hours of in game moves but even that does work.
Subterfuge is arguably one of best and most original strategy games featured on the app store despite its dated release. The developers need to return to this gem and reignite the app restoring it and bringing in new players to the base.
Over 3k playing this game and only 300 have reviewed it?? Shame..This game needs much more attention. If you dont like slow paced thought provoking games with a heavy diplomacy aspect we would avoid this game. Otherwise this game is for you. 5 stars best war/chess like/ diplomacy game in the store.
Free and very unique. Download it and try the game out.
Definitely one of the most fun and engaging strategy games we have ever played. It is also one of the most ruthless, and one wrong move can cost you a weeks worth of hard work. Diplomacy is one of the most important aspects to winning, as you must pick your allies and your targets wisely.
This game is one of the best strategy games on the mobile platform. Its unique time shifting mechanisms keep you engaged and always guessing what might happen next. The specialist used can be overpowered and some luck is involved in getting the best ones early. There is however different viable strategies that can be used in order to succeed. All of those, however, means nothing without the use of diplomacy. In short this game revolves around talking, lots and lots of talking. Youll need to communicate with multiple people, making strategic decisions and compromises in order to advance your own gain. The best moments lie inside this chat window. The Fun of this game is creating plans and seeing them play out, or backfire. Manipulate is often used and truth early sees play. TLDR; Game has simple yet effective mechanics. The real game is in talking to other people. If you like mind games this is a Golden example.
This game is amazing. Diplomacy, strategy, and fun all wrapped into one. It makes us sad though to see that the game hasnt been touched by developers for 2+ years. Still highly recommend.
Best strategy game, in our opinion. Despite not receiving an update in 2 years, the game is bug free and the UI experience is remains great. We hope the developers update this game and add new features, but given their track record that is not likely. Hopefully, other game studios develop their own version of this great strategy game and more feature to it.
We really love this game, we like everything about it. Through if they added more specialists and different game modes, it would be even better.
Its a bit sad that the developers arent adding that much content and rarely work on big fixes but its still an amazing game. We highly recommend it for any people who like strategy, diplomacy, and a little challenge.
Ive had this game for many years and form time to time we love to engage in a game or two. The premise for the game is really good in encouraging strategic planning and cunning. Ill probably hold on to this game for a long time to come as it holds a special place for us (we also paid for the L2). Our friends and we would play it at school and host tournaments and such. Unfortunately, it also pains us to see that this game has had very few updates as of late and we hope the devs can revive the community in some way or another. This game still has lots of potential and is still one of our personal favorites.
Guys and gals this is it. Nothing else out there feels like this. It will be the last thing you at night and the first thing you do in the morning. Truly stunning.
After playing many other mobile games for years and growing tired of their frequent tendency to impose their in-game timer schedules on your life, Subterfuge has been a welcomed change of pace. In this game, you can scroll time forward and see what is set to happen, given your current amount of imperfect information, and queue up moves. Really need to launch an attack in the middle of the night? Queue it up and sleep soundly! Aside from that, the game is pretty well-balanced and extremely fun. Some significant RNG is either fun or annoying, depending on your tastes. Overall, our favorite mobile strategy game to date.
We love how the game can have countless scenarios, where everything is different every game. Plus, the small intricacies of the underwater world is a very nice touch.
Its the game Ive spent the most time on in iOS every and Ive had iOS for ten years or whatever. Play it a few rounds and then buy it.
Subterfuge is an intricate game in which you manage troops (drillers) across your controlled territory. It has gameplay reminiscent of Risk, but at the same time takes advantage of the power of technology to enhance the game in a variety of ways. With infinite replayability, an amazing player base and a fantastic visual design, we will always consider this game to be the best thing we have ever found on the app store.
Wish development was continued. Thankful that the servers are still supported.
This we love this game. If this is your kind if game you should install and never, ever delete. It doesnt matter if your friends play, just play! Kudos.
The game is fun, our only issue is it really needs to be updated to fit the iPhone X. The black bars on the bottom and top of the screen is slightly obnoxious.
Incredible game; it feels like a real-time combination of Chess-like tactics, and Diplomacy-esque mindset. Complex war-puzzles to solve, specialized troops to experiment with, and endless surprises delivered by the creativity of other players. There's nothing quite like it out there. Ron and Noel put a lot of love and attention into this thing, and it never found the audience it deserved, but it's still a much beloved cult classic, and has been for years now. Thanks guys.
We wish there was a way to make shorter games! This is easily the best strategy game on mobile, and doesnt take up a ton of time, just takes a long time to finish. Very fun if youre actually looking to play a great strategy game though.
We think you should be able to stack speed in this game.
Its pretty good but you need some patience and good strategy to play good.
This game is great but it need an update to fix some bugs and maybe some marketing to keep the game going.
First, this is an amazing game, possibly the best on the App Store. The 9.99 purchase is completely unnecessary but we got it to support the developers on making a GREAT game. But we would like some more specialists and more modes. Otherwise, this is a fantastic game and we highly recommend it.
This is an excellent game. It has a great mix of strategy and diplomacy. Be warned though, it can be quite addicting and sleeping can be scary… A lot can happen over night.
This game has been more than we expected. Its a very long term strategy game that requires diplomacy, which is really neat.
Simple mechanics, but the blend of specialists, simplicity of diplomacy (literally simple chatboxes), and availability of the time machine to set moves hours in advance make this game a true masterpiece among strategy games. Every game is unique, challenging, and actually requires you to be strategic. Its sad that this is becoming an older game and the fan base has begun dwindling. Get it now before its too late to enjoy this gem. The alternative is pay-to-win resource farming garbage that fills the App Store strategy section.
This Subterfuge reminds us a bit of the board game Riskbut with submarines and special hires that can completely change the way the game is played at any given moment. We played the free version before choosing to support the app designers for creating such an addicting, enjoyable game! The free version is great, but we recommend paying for the game due to the fact that it makes planning your moves in advance easierand theres no limitations to how many moves you can plan ahead of time. To the creators: we enjoy your game very much! Well done.
This is perhaps the best mobile game that exists. Addictive games that last over a few days and require strategic thinking, alliances and thinking ahead. The only negative aspect is there are a few bugs and the developer is not doing updates for the game. Wish another game developer or company would buy the game and maintain it and maybe even make a web version.
We really like this game but there are some glitches but they are ok except for one when it says someone's factories will stop producing drillers when they're not. Awesome game though.
Subterfuge is great for those of us that need a quick strategy game fix. It's easy to set down when one is sleeping, but can quickly ramp up as allies and opponents start intermingling. Be prepared to get you butt handed to you the first few times you play. Diplomacy is definitely key here, couldnt imagine playing this without push notifications on. Dont make that amateur mistake.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 10275
- Size: 109.37 MB
- iOS: 13.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: Game Shovel LLC
Last updated: 26th June 2025 | Genre: Strategy, Board | Developer: Game Shovel LLC