Ember Covenant

Ember Covenant is the kind of RPG that trusts you to read. Dialogue choices actually steer the relationships between your four heroes, and those relationships decide which combo skills open up in battle. It's a smart hook that gives combat a reason to care about the story, which so many mobile RPGs forget.

Combat is turn-based with a positioning layer, so you're nudging characters around a small grid between attacks. On a phone the touch targets are big enough that you rarely misclick, and there's an auto-battle for the grind that you can toggle off the moment a boss shows up. The menus are a little busy, but the settings let you shrink the HUD and that helped a lot on a smaller screen.

Expect a slow burn. The first couple of hours are mostly setup, and the payoff only lands once the party chemistry starts mattering. If you stick with it, the writing earns its place.

What we liked

• Relationship choices affect combat skills
• Generous accessibility and HUD options
• Strong writing once it gets going