Iron Dominion

Iron Dominion asks you to think in terms of territory. You expand outward from a home base, claim resource nodes and defend chokepoints, and the game constantly nudges you to overextend before you're ready. I lost my first few matches badly until I stopped grabbing everything and started holding a tight, defensible core.

The tech tree is broad without being overwhelming, and matches move at a decent clip so you're never stuck watching a progress bar forever. Playing against the AI on higher settings actually taught me something about pacing.

It's a slower game than most on mobile, and that's the point. If you like a strategy title you can chew on, this one rewards patience.

What we liked

• Meaningful map control
• Broad but readable tech tree
• AI that punishes greed