Ashfall Wardens

Ashfall Wardens is the kind of RPG I didn't expect to lose a weekend to. You build a party of four, each with their own skill trees, and fight through a scarred fantasy world in turn-based battles. The writing is above average for a phone game, with side characters who actually stick in your memory.

The touch controls handle the tactical grid well. Tapping to move and dragging to aim abilities felt natural after the first battle, and there's a handy auto-battle for grinding you don't want to babysit. On the settings side, you can drop the effects quality, which helps a lot on older hardware and keeps the phone from getting warm.

My one gripe is the energy system that gates how much you can play in a sitting, but the story kept pulling me back anyway. If you like measured, thoughtful combat over button-mashing, this is an easy recommendation.

What we liked

• Deep skill trees
• Solid tactical combat
• Story that respects your time