Iron Frontier

Iron Frontier scratches the base-building itch without ever needing the internet. You start with a handful of workers and a patch of land, then slowly turn it into a fortified town while planning around limited food and ore. The pacing is thoughtful rather than frantic, so it suits people who like to plan a few moves ahead.

Raids come in waves, and figuring out how to route your defenses around your economy is the real puzzle. I lost my first two towns badly and enjoyed every mistake. The tutorial is short but clear, and after that the game trusts you to experiment.

Menus can feel a little dense on smaller phones, and pinch-zoom on the map is finicky. But the AI is fair and the offline save system is rock solid.

What we liked

• Deep offline base building
• Fair, readable enemy waves
• Solid local save system