Tide and Tower

Tide and Tower drops you on a stretch of shifting shoreline and asks you to build something that survives the water. The clever hook is that the tide rises and falls in real cycles, so a warehouse that's fine at low tide can flood if you weren't thinking ahead.

It rewards planning over speed. We lost our first two towns learning that lesson, then spent a very satisfying evening laying out drainage and sea walls that actually held. The economy is tight but never cruel.

The interface is clean, which is rare for the genre on phones. Dragging structures and rotating layouts feels precise, and you can zoom out to see the whole coast when you need to think.

What we liked

• Tide mechanic changes every decision
• Clean touch controls for a builder
• Rewards patience, not tapping