Ember of Vael

Ember of Vael is the kind of RPG that respects your time without dumbing itself down. You build a party of four, each with their own skill trees, and work through a hand-drawn world that slowly opens up as the story moves. The writing is surprisingly sharp for a mobile title — I cared about where the characters ended up.

Combat is turn-based and plays out on a small grid, so touch controls never feel cramped. You tap a hero, drag to position, tap again to fire off a skill. There's an auto-battle for the easy fights, which I appreciated after a long day.

It does lean on a lot of menus, and the first hour throws tutorials at you relentlessly. Push through that and you've got maybe thirty hours of a genuinely good campaign. Battery sits in the middle of the pack — the animated backgrounds are pretty but they ask something of your phone.

What we liked

• Writing you'll actually read
• Grid combat that fits a touchscreen
• Optional auto-battle for grinding