Becoming Saint brings a 14th-century strategy roguelike to iOS and Android
Preach and recruit!
- Real-time strategy roguelike set in 14th-century Italy
- Sixteen unit types shaped by your evolving doctrine choices
- Mobile launch follows last summer’s Steam debut
Roguelikes aren’t hard to find on mobile anymore. Most chase that familiar loop of better loot, faster runs, bigger chaos. Becoming Saint goes in a stranger direction. After launching on Steam last summer, it’s now on iOS and Android, and instead of dungeon crawling, it hands you 14th-century Italy and asks you to become a saint before you die.
You won’t be doing that through quiet prayer. You’re preaching, converting city-states, and building enough momentum to turn faith into political power. It’s not about chasing personal enlightenment; you're trying to see if your doctrine can actually survive contact with rival movements.
Under the hood, this is a real-time strategy roguelike. Your creed determines which of the 16 unit types you can recruit, and they’re distinct enough that composition matters. Some are built for straight fights, others for holding ground or countering specific threats. Terrain and positioning can swing a battle, and you can jump in to manually steer units when things start to wobble.
The bigger hook, though, is in the decisions between fights. The way you shape your belief system has tangible effects. Stricter rules might keep followers loyal, but shrink your appeal. Looser interpretations can spread faster, but cohesion becomes a problem. Those trade-offs ripple into your economy and recruitment options, so each run develops its own personality.
And yes, you will fail. A lot. Progress isn’t wiped entirely, but you’re clearly expected to learn from each attempt and refine your approach. Sainthood, it turns out, requires good timing as much as good intentions.
Our editor-in-chief Dann enjoyed his go at it, though he did flag the difficulty. So, if you’re after strategy with a historical twist and don’t mind being humbled a few times, Becoming Saint might be worth a look.
And for something similar, our list of the top strategy games on iOS has plenty more to browse.
