Tideborne Dominion

Tideborne Dominion is a strategy game with a clock ticking in the background: the water keeps creeping up, so every harbour and warehouse you place is a bet on where the coastline will be in ten turns. You manage a chain of islands, route ships between them, and decide what to abandon when a storm season hits.

The touch interface is thoughtful. You draw trade routes by dragging a finger between ports, and the game snaps to sensible paths instead of fighting you. There's a lot to track, but the UI layers it well, so you rarely feel buried.

It asks for more focus than most mobile games, and that's the appeal. A match runs about forty minutes and genuinely tests your planning. The soundtrack is calm enough that you can think, which I appreciated during the tense late game.

What we liked

• Finger-drawn trade routes feel natural
• Rising-sea pressure makes every choice count
• Clean UI that layers complexity well