Tideworks

Tideworks is a slow, clever strategy game about holding back the water. You plan settlements, route resources, and decide what to sacrifice when the tide comes in higher than you expected. It's tense in a quiet way — no timers screaming at you, just consequences that stack up.

The interface is dense but fair. Everything you need is a couple of taps away, and once the systems click, you start seeing three moves ahead. We lost a lot of coastlines learning that lesson.

It's demanding, and the difficulty curve is real, but every failure teaches you something. Strategy fans will find a lot to chew on here.

What we liked

• Deep, consequence-driven planning
• Calm but tense pacing
• Rewards long-term thinking