Mech Arena review

This Mech Arena review is based on official sources and player reviews, not on our own play time. Plarium's free PvP mech shooter runs on iOS and Android, and on Windows and Mac through the Plarium Play launcher, with cross-platform play. Modes include 5v5 Control Point Clash and Deathmatch, 2v2 Deathmatch and Free-For-All. Money buys A-Coins for mechs, weapons, pilots and upgrades, plus a Gold Battle Pass and crates.

What is Mech Arena?

Mech Arena is a free-to-play PvP mech shooter from Plarium Global Ltd. It first came to the App Store on July 10, 2020. You build a hangar of mechs, arm them and take them into short online matches against players worldwide.

Plarium's official page lists more than 30 mechs, over 140 weapons, more than 1,000 skins, over 30 pilots and more than 45 maps. Modes include 5v5 Control Point Clash, 5v5 Deathmatch, 2v2 Deathmatch, Free-For-All and Onslaught, a PvE mode. Custom Match lets you pick the map, mode and players, and weekly tournaments and themed events run alongside.

Each mech has a special ability, such as jump jets, energy shields, repair fields or targeting jammers. Per Plarium's support site, a pilot raises a mech's damage and HP for one weapon type, and implants on pilots raise weapon and ability stats further. Squad Power, the sum of your mechs' Power Ratings, grows as you upgrade mechs, weapons, pilots and implants.

Is Mech Arena free to play?

Yes. Mech Arena is free on the App Store and Google Play, and the desktop version is a free download through Plarium Play. Google Play notes that the app contains ads and in-app purchases.

Plarium's support site lists many free sources for both currencies. A-Coins, the premium currency, also come from the Progress Path, tournaments, crates, Fortune Vaults, daily and weekly objectives, event milestones, the Battle Pass, referrals and achievements. Credits come from the Daily Login Program, objectives, tournaments, crates, events and sponsored videos. Rare pilots cost Credits, while Epic and Legendary pilots cost A-Coins or come from offers, the Battle Pass and events.

The Battle Pass has a free Silver track for everyone. Fortune Vaults, the main source of skins, open with Fortune Keys earned in tournaments, achievements and weekly objectives, or bought in the shop.

Is Mech Arena pay to win? What money buys

The US App Store lists in-app purchases from $0.99 to $19.99, all named Special Offer, as of October 30, 2026. Per Plarium's support site, A-Coins buy mechs, weapons and pilots, rank-ups for mechs and weapons, Credits, crates, Combat Point Boosters, Blueprints and implants, and they can cover missing Credits or Blueprints during upgrades. Those upgrades raise Squad Power in a PvP game.

The Gold Pass is a paid Battle Pass upgrade with extra skins, a Seasonal Credit Stash that matches the Credits you earn in the season, XP Boosters and custom reward picks; Level Finishers skip five pass levels at once. The Pilots' Club awards points for objectives, Plarium Play sessions and Premium Store packs, with a Legendary mech and a Legendary weapon as milestone rewards. Crates and Fortune Vaults are random. Plarium says their drop chances appear in the game behind an info button, but its website does not list them.

Based on what the official stores sell, we rate it as strongly pay to win; we will check this again when we play it ourselves.

Mech Arena on PC, Mac, consoles and mobile

Mech Arena started on phones: the App Store version needs iOS 15.0 or later, and Plarium's support site lists Android 5.0 or later with at least 2 GB of RAM.

On PC and Mac, the official client is Plarium Play, Plarium's desktop launcher. The official system requirements cover Windows 10 (version 21H1 or newer), Windows 11 and macOS Monterey 12 or later. To move a mobile account to the desktop, you link it to a Plarium ID in the game's Connection tab and sign in with the same ID in Plarium Play. Plarium lists cross-platform play between mobile and desktop.

There is no console version. The Steam game named Mech Arena (app 1809860, by Scarlet Whale) is a different product, so check the developer name before buying or installing anything under that title.

Mech Arena system requirements

Plarium's official page and support site list these desktop requirements.

Minimum: Windows 10 version 21H1 or Windows 11 21H2, or macOS Monterey 12 or later; an Intel Core i3 or AMD Athlon; Intel, AMD Radeon or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 graphics; 5 GB of RAM; DirectX 11; and 6 GB of storage.

Recommended: Windows 10 21H1 or newer (64-bit), Windows 11 21H2 or newer (including Arm64), or macOS Monterey 12 or later; an Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5; a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti class GPU; 8 GB of RAM; DirectX 11; and 8 GB of storage.

On mobile, the minimum is any device with iOS 15 or later (iPhone 8 or newer) or Android 5.0 or later with 2 GB of RAM. For high settings, Plarium suggests an iPhone 11 Pro, an iPad Air (2022) or a Samsung Galaxy S23 or equivalent. The iOS download is about 326 MB.

Games like Mech Arena

These vehicle shooters from our catalog are also free to play:

Crossout: Targem Games' vehicle combat game, published by Gaijin, where you build armored vehicles from parts and fight in online PvP, brawls and clan wars; on Windows, Xbox and PlayStation.

World of Tanks: HEAT: Wargaming's hero-based tank shooter with 5v5 and 10v10 PvP modes, released on May 26, 2026, on Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

ExoTanks: Digital Universe's futuristic online tank shooter, on Windows through Steam since December 20, 2020.

Unlike Mech Arena, all three run on PC or consoles rather than phones, and none of them has an official Mac client.

• Crossout
• World of Tanks: HEAT
• ExoTanks