Iron Tide Command

Iron Tide Command asks you to hold a chain of islands against waves of raiders using whatever you can scrape together. It is real-time, but there is a pause-and-plan option that makes it playable with one hand, which I ended up using constantly during the harder maps.

The clever part is scarcity. You never have enough of anything, so every decision about where to build a watchtower or reroute your ships carries weight. Some missions I replayed three or four times, and losing never felt cheap — it always came down to a choice I could have made better.

The tutorial is a touch too long, but once you are through it the campaign opens up nicely. Great for players who like their strategy thoughtful rather than frantic.

What we liked

• Meaningful resource pressure
• Pause-and-plan mode for phones
• Replayable missions