Maneater - Try & Buy

ActionGoogle PlayApp Store

7.0~~/10~~

Our score

★ 3.8·500K+ installs

Reviewed by Editorial Team, ScoredApps editorial · updated 2026-09-21

Screenshots

A bull shark cruising a green bayou with bass and a boat above

A shark leaping onto a crowded beach beside striped umbrellas

The shark rearing out of the water before a city skyline

A close-up of the shark in blue open water

A dark orca-patterned shark gliding over a reef

A bone-armoured shark at dusk near a dockside town

About Maneater - Try & Buy

Maneater is Tripwire's 2020 shark RPG — a pup dismembered by a fisherman eating her way up the ecosystem to apex-predator revenge, narrated by Chris Parnell — ported by HandyGames and THQ Nordic to iOS and Android in December 2025 as a Try & Buy: the Fawtick Bayou free, the full game for $10.99. No ads. It needs an A17 Pro or Android 11 and drains a battery; reviews want a controller and, on iPhone, saves that stick.

Game information

DeveloperTHQ Nordic Mobile GmbH

Version1.4.4 (Android) · 1.4.5 (iOS)

Size1.32 GB (Android) · 2.9 GB (iOS)

Price / In-appFree

Contains adsNo

In-app purchasesYes

Content rating18+

Requires (Android)Android 11+

Requires (iOS)iOS 18.0+

Offline modeYes — single-player after purchase and data download

Interface languagesEN, FR, DE, IT, JA, KO + 7 more

Store rating3.8 from 65 ratings

Installs500K+

Updated by developer2026-08-21

Data checked2026-09-21

Specs come from the official store listings and were last checked on 2026-09-21. Developers change pricing and requirements — check the store page before installing.

Maneater Review: The Shark RPG on a Phone, $10.99 After the Bayou, Pad Advised

Eat, Explore, Evolve — the ShaRkPG, Whole

The premise still sells itself: you are a bull shark pup cut from your mother by a cruel fisherman, and the game is an open-world action RPG about eating everything until you are big enough to eat him — fish, gators, other apex predators, swimmers, hunters and finally the Coast Guard — while resources feed evolutions that turn you into something bone-plated, electric or shadow-black. Chris Parnell narrates it as a reality show. The mobile version is the full campaign after a free first region, the Fawtick Bayou, and the reviews from console veterans confirm it: a December 16, 2025 Play four-star with 71 votes says it plays just like the PlayStation version; a December 24 App Store five-star logged almost ten hours and found no purchases beyond the upgrade; a January 2 review completed the whole game. Controller support is there — a January 7 review used a GameSir — though summer reviews still ask for Backbone support. Rated 18+ and Mature 17+, in 13 languages.

A Battery Drain, a Performance Preset, Two App Icons and Saves That Vanish

The port is heavy and it shows. A December 15 Play four-star with 39 votes praises the realistic graphics and cutscenes and says the game drains battery immensely fast; a December 16 four-star with 16 votes runs it on a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and says only the Performance preset at 60 fps is smooth, Balanced and Quality dropping frames. The 71-vote review finds touch alone two steps forward and one back and wants a controller; a July 28 App Store two-star who owns it on three platforms calls the touch controls too clunky. The iOS complaints are worse than clunky: a June 1 iPhone 17 Pro Max review and a January 4 review both lose progress after paying, the grotto refusing to save; July 28 and August 2 reviews cannot open the app on an iPhone 17e — fixed in version 1.4.5 on August 21. Ratings: 3.4 from 4,690 on Play with 500,000-plus installs, 3.8 from 65 on the App Store.

Free Bayou, $10.99 for the Rest, iPhone 15 Pro or Newer

The model is a demo and a price: the download is free and covers the Fawtick Bayou without the later evolutions, and Buy the Full Game costs $10.99 on the App Store — Google Play lists $0.99 to $99.99 by region, with the 71-vote reviewer quoting $9.99 — with no ads, no currency and no loot-box flag. Apple lists no tracking; Google's data-safety card declares nothing collected or shared. The hardware bar is the real price: iOS 18 and an A17 Pro or later — iPhone 15 Pro and newer — with a 2.9 GB download plus 1.3 GB more on first launch, and Android 11 or newer with a flagship-class chip for anything above the Performance preset. A DLC is not included, per a January reviewer who hopes for it. Prices are regional.

Pros

The full console shark RPG, story and evolutions intact, after a free region
Plays just like the PlayStation version, per a 71-vote review
One $10.99 purchase, no ads, no currency, nothing collected
Controller support that turns touch clunkiness into the console game
Realistic graphics and cutscenes, per a 39-vote review

Cons

Battery drain and frame drops above the Performance preset, per December reviews
Saves that vanish after purchase on iPhones, per January and June reviews
An iPhone 15 Pro or newer required, and 4 GB of downloads
Touch controls too clunky without a pad, per owners on three platforms

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Verdict

A 7.0 for a genuinely fun console game brought whole to phones that can barely hold it — a demo that costs nothing, a $10.99 unlock that some buyers say lost their saves, and touch controls that owners of three versions call clumsy. Take it if you have an iPhone 15 Pro or a flagship Android, a controller and a charger nearby. Skip it on anything less, or until the save bug is confirmed fixed.

Gameplay8The eat-and-evolve loop that made Maneater a cult hit, uncut.

Controls5Clumsy on touch, per console veterans; a GameSir works, Backbone support requested.

Replay value6Ten-plus hours to apex, collectables and evolutions to finish; no DLC yet.

Graphics & sound7Console-grade water and Parnell's narration, at a battery cost reviewers call immense.

Monetisation8A free region and one $10.99 unlock — undermined by saves lost after paying.

7.0out of 10 · weighted average of the five scores above

Frequently asked questions

Can you play Maneater offline?

Yes, once the 1.3 GB of extra data has downloaded and the purchase is verified — it is a single-player game with no ads, no online features and nothing collected. Saves are local to the grotto system, and January and June 2026 iPhone reviewers found them failing to persist, so watch that before a long session.

Is Maneater free?

The Fawtick Bayou is — the opening region, without the later evolutions. The rest is one in-app purchase, Buy the Full Game at $10.99 on the App Store and about $9.99 on Google Play, per a December 2025 reviewer. No ads, no currency. A separate premium app exists too; buy inside whichever you installed. Prices vary by region.

What phone do you need for Maneater?

On iOS, 18 or newer and an A17 Pro or later — iPhone 15 Pro and up — with about 4 GB free after the extra download. On Android, 11 or newer, and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 owner needed the Performance preset for smooth 60 fps. Expect heavy battery drain either way, and bring a controller.

Can you play Maneater with friends?

No. It is single-player on every platform — one shark, one revenge — with no co-op, multiplayer or leaderboards on the store pages. The reality-show framing has an audience, but it is not you and a friend.

How long is Maneater?

Around ten hours to reach apex and finish the story, per a December 2025 App Store reviewer with almost that logged, and longer to eat every collectable and unlock every evolution. The free Bayou is the first hour or two. Loading is slow at start-up, per a December review that waited through the extra download and long loads.