Can real strategy fit a 20-minute commute?

Strategy games and phones have an awkward relationship. The genre wants your full attention and long sessions; the phone offers neither. So I was sceptical of anything promising deep tactics in bite-sized form.

Tideborn Tactics changed my mind. Its missions are short — a single commute each — but the rising-tide mechanic makes every one a genuine puzzle. The flooding water reshapes the map between turns, so there's always something to think about.

The key is that each battle is hand-designed. There's no grind, no farming the same map for upgrades, so every session you sit down to something fresh. That's what makes it survive the stop-start rhythm of a commute.

It gets properly hard in the middle chapters, and I replayed a few fights. But finishing one on the walk from the station is a small, specific joy I didn't know I was missing.