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HATOFUL BOYFRIEND (PC, MAC, LINUX)

BY HATO MOA

As the only human student at the renowned St. PigeoNation’s Institute, you must find love among a steamy lineup of your avian classmates. I don’t know what else to say here, really. It’s a visual novel (read: lots of text + talking heads) dating sim where you get hot and heavy with pigeons. You already know if you want this, right?

Perfect for: Bird lovers, bird watchers, birds

Playtime: It’s a really big school.

ALONE (iOS, ANDROID)

BY LASER DOG

Somber as ALONE seems, this sucker moves. The capsule you guide through space picks up speed the longer it’s alive, plummeting over, under, and sometimes through asteroids and debris. You’ll occasionally get glimpses of details and mysterious structures in the beautiful, vectored background, but look for a second and you’re dead. ALONE‘s color palette leans toward browns and greys, but its gameplay is nothing less than red-hot panic.

Perfect for: Score-chasers, endless runners, lone wolves

Playtime: Until your phone loses battery.

MOTORSPORT MANAGER (iOS)

BY CHRISTIAN WEST

Racing is just driving and turning, right? Motorsport Manager knows that it’s not. It knows about tire strategy, research and development, choosing drivers, and setting up your cars just right so that they have the perfect balance of speed, acceleration, and cornering. It knows how to win races too, so it never feels like a drive down a country lane. But what it really knows is user interface: simple, effective, and elegant.

Perfect for: Gearheads, micro-managers, public transportation tinkerers

Playtime: A few minutes per race adds up to hours of playtime.