Tideborne Legions

Tideborne Legions asks you to juggle a lot: fleet composition, island defenses, and a slow economy that punishes greedy expansion. It's a proper strategy game, not a tap-to-win one, and the early campaign does a good job teaching each system before layering on the next.

Battles play out on a grid where positioning matters as much as raw numbers. I lost a few skirmishes just because I anchored my fleet badly. Once it clicks, though, planning a pincer around an enemy hold is deeply satisfying.

The one downside is the pacing of the mid campaign, which drags a little. But if you enjoy thinking a few turns ahead, there's a lot of depth here.

What we liked

• Genuine grid-based tactics
• Economy that punishes reckless expansion
• Solid campaign tutorial that never patronizes