Emberfall Saga

Emberfall Saga is the kind of RPG that respects your time even though it clearly wants a lot of it. You build a party of four from a roster of misfits, each with their own reasons for chasing a dying flame across a fractured kingdom. The writing is above average for mobile — actual jokes, actual grief — and the voice acting on the main scenes is a nice touch.

Combat is turn-based and reads well on a small screen. Abilities sit in a clean bottom bar, targeting is a single tap, and you can queue actions so a fight never feels fiddly. The gear system is where I lost hours; swapping runes between characters to counter specific bosses gives it a puzzle-box quality.

Our only complaint is that longer battles heat the phone up and the story cutscenes can't be sped past on a second playthrough. But if you want a proper RPG that isn't watered down for touchscreens, this is one of the best around.

What we liked

• Genuinely good writing and characters
• Clean, readable turn-based combat
• Deep rune and gear customisation