Iron Dominion

Iron Dominion asks you to build, defend, and expand a settlement while managing resources that never quite feel plentiful. The tension between growing fast and staying defended is the whole game, and it kept us coming back to tweak our layout.

Combat is planned rather than twitchy. You set up defenses, scout enemy positions, and commit your forces at the right moment. We appreciated that a clever defensive setup could hold off a much larger attack, which made every base redesign feel worthwhile.

There's an online layer with alliances, but the solo campaign is substantial enough on its own. Progression can slow down in the mid-game, so our advice is to focus one branch of upgrades at a time instead of spreading thin.

What we liked

• Satisfying base-building with real trade-offs
• Defensive strategy actually matters
• Solid solo campaign alongside optional co-op