Ashen Crown Saga

Ashen Crown Saga is the kind of mobile RPG that actually respects your attention. The story follows a disgraced knight rebuilding a broken order, and the writing has enough bite that I found myself skipping fewer dialogue boxes than usual. Choices matter in small ways — a companion you're rude to might leave a fight early later on.

Combat is turn-based and readable, with a nice tension between positioning and cooldowns. The progression is generous without being mindless: you earn skill points at a steady clip and the branching trees let you build characters your way. I ran a healer-turned-glass-cannon and it worked, which tells you the systems have some flexibility.

There's a fair bit of grinding in the back third, but the story kept pulling me through. For anyone who wants a proper campaign on their phone, this is one of the better ones I've played this year.

What we liked

• Genuinely well-written main story
• Flexible skill trees that reward experimentation
• Turn-based combat that stays clear and tactical