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THE WOLF AMONG US (WINDOWS, MAC, XBOX 360, PLAYSTATION 3)

BY TELLTALE GAMES

Bigby Wolf is gruff. He’s gravelly-voiced. And he smokes several packs of Huff & Puffs a day. As the arm hair-laden lawman of Fabletown, he works homicide in a nocturnal fairyland, a neon sin city where Beauty and Beast and maybe Little Red Riding Hood are complicit in the crime. He has questions and he’s not leaving without answers. That or a rawhide treat.

Perfect for: toad interrogation, suspicious princesses, reminding you that you need to shave 

Playtime: 2 hours

POKEMON X/Y (3DS)

BY GAME FREAK / NINTENDO

So there’s this game about capturing fantastical creatures. It’s called Poke-something or other. Looks neat. (Feigned ignorance aside, X & Y bring a host of evolutions to the series, including an all-new look. But deep down it delivers the same rich, core experience we expect. Trainers, your time is now.)

Perfect for: Squirtle apologists, connecting with your niece and nephew, budding veterinarians

Playtime: 30+ hours

CAKE MONSTERS (BROWSER)

BY MATT RIX

Glance at Cake Monsters and see an allegory for our times: Different beasts are forced to eat the same colored pastry while moving in lock-set with each other. Shake off the PolySci 101 and enjoy this clever puzzlescript game with simple, intuitive mechanics that build to confounding complexity. The perfect antidote to a mind-numbing, too-easy-by-half day at the office.

Perfect for: cubicle dragon-slayers, subscribers to Games magazine, Horatio Alger’s great-grandchild

Playtime: A brisk lunch break, or 10-20 minutes