Hollowtide Saga

Hollowtide Saga surprised us with how much it leans on its writing. The world is a drowned coastline full of small ruined towns, and the quests tend to be personal rather than save-the-world grand. We ended up invested in a side character's fishing-village problem far more than the main plot, which says something good.

Combat is turn-based and tactical, with a timing element on attacks that keeps you tapping at the right moment. Party building has real flexibility, and respeccing is cheap enough that experimenting never feels punishing. Battles scale well so you're rarely overlevelled.

The only drag is some backtracking in the middle chapters. Everything else held up over a long stretch of play, and the touch menus never got in the way of a fight.

What we liked

• Strong character writing
• Flexible party building
• Timing-based turn combat