Tidebound Tactics

Tidebound Tactics is the kind of strategy game you can play in short bursts or lose an evening to. You control fleets across an island grid, balance supply lines, and set up ambushes with fog of war doing a lot of the tension. It's slow in a good way — every move counts.

The touch controls are clean: tap a unit, see its range highlighted, drag to move. Undo-before-confirm saved me from many dumb decisions. The AI can be predictable once you learn its habits, which is my main complaint.

Because turns pause the action, the game sips battery. I played a full campaign chapter on a train and barely noticed the charge move. Perfect commute game.

What we liked

• Great in short sessions or long ones
• Clear, forgiving touch controls
• Very light on battery