Ember Throne Saga

Ember Throne Saga surprised me by treating its writing seriously. Choices you make early on actually echo back hours later, and a couple of times I regretted a decision in the best possible way. The turn-based battles are tactical without being punishing — positioning and elemental matchups matter more than raw stats.

The party system lets you swap characters between fights, and each one plays differently enough that experimenting is worth it. My biggest tip: don't ignore the support-focused character early on, because the mid-game bosses will eat you alive without healing.

It respects your time, too. Battles can be sped up, and there's an auto-resolve for trash fights once you've cleared an area. It knows you're playing on a phone.

What we liked

• Choices that genuinely branch the story
• Tactical, fair combat
• Fast-forward options for grinding