What Exactly Does Star Level Do in 'Clash Royale'? A Whole Lot, and Nothing at Once

When the Clash of Clans spin-off Clash Royale launched in 2016, Supercell couldn't know just how quickly the game would grow into an international phenomenon. Its popularity grew quickly, and the game has spent nearly 10 years wowing fans and drawing in new ones by the year.

But for those who are new to the game, you might have some questions. Such as: what exactly does Star Level do? And while the answer is not "nothing" it's also not as much as one might think. Here's the scoop on Star Level.

Clash Royale is a game that combines a collectible card-type game, tower defenses and builds, and a multiplayer online battle arena which pits players against one another in a real-time quest for the top.

But there are features included with the game that might not make sense if you haven't played too much yet, called Star Points and Star Levels. While they look particularly shiny and interesting, but they don't do much.

Star Points function as a currency, allowing players to unlock visual enhancements including effects, golden glows, and other items that upgrade the visuals of your game.

And Star Levels are similar. They enhance the way the game looks, but don't actually change the mechanics or the strengths of your cards (via The Gamer).

It's a purely cosmetic feature.

Of course, none of it would exist without the original game that started it all: Clash of Clans. Clash of Clans first released on iOS devices in 2012, and quickly grew to encompass other devices and a world of fans that spent an extraordinary amount of time in the game building their world and collecting powerful cards.

Supercell, the company which dreamed up Clash of Clans and its spin-offs, like Clash Royale, is marketed cheekily for players to "Answer the call of the mustache! Join the international fray that is Clash of Clans and the Clash® universe. Customize your village, build an army, and crush your opponents. Like using friendship to strike fear into your enemies?" The game entreats, "Join a Clan, or establish a Clashing legacy by creating your own. The choice is yours in this millions-strong community of Barbarians."

From there, a number of spin-off games followed, including not only Clash Royale, but also Clash Quest, Clash Mini, and Clash Heroes. All of the games include the same kind of playable dynamics, and more than a few nods to the originals.

In the Play Store, Clash of Clans boasts well over 500 million downloads and a whopping 55 million reviews, making it one of the app store's most enduring games.

Which just goes to show that you don't necessarily need realistic graphics and a lot of flashy gimmicks to make a game not only fun but enduring.

And apparently, you can even offer purely cosmetic upgrades that take time to earn and don't do anything useful. As long as you've got a solid base, like the Supercell games do.