Authenticity is definitely at the forefront of what makes Humankind such a compelling experience. Just the thought of mixing cultures and adopting the buildings and ideologies of eras gone by is an anthropologist’s dream. It stumbles in connecting you with each culture, however, as it all blends together into a blur that resembles its world map. It’s a Civilization game for those who have played enough Civilization games and offers you something new to play around with.

“Hoa” means flower in Vietnamese, so it makes sense for the game to be ephemeral, delicate, and yet beautiful all at once. If you strip away its art and music, would be a very boring game. But its art direction and wonderful soundtrack truly turn it into a playable piece of art that you just want to explore. Where it lacks in ingenuity, Hoa makes up for in the mood it creates for you within its short life.

Despite its tiny setting and small but robust cast, Twelve Minutes surprisingly grows into a mystery with a lot of depth and intrigue. It does have a few flaws in how it forces you to figure things out on your own and limits how much you can play around with. However, once you do get past those roadblocks and make progress in your search for the truth, you realize those minutes have turned into hours and the disturbing twist at the end was well worth your time.

Stressful yet relaxing, realistic yet laughably stiff at times – Bus Simulator 21 is full of contradictions some will appreciate and others won’t understand. It succeeds in giving you a faithful recreation of what it’s like to drive around a bus all day and all the ups and downs that come with the job. It also keeps things as safe as possible causing it to be as mundane as, well, driving a bus all day.

If you can forgive a pretty forgettable combat system you’ll have a pretty decent fantasy romp with King’s Bounty II.

No More Heroes III is a strange game, but absolutely worth your time. If you’ve ever watched an anime and wished you could play out the battles yourself, you will love this game. But if you haven’t had that specific experience and just enjoy a story-driven, chaotic hack-and-slash, you’ll have a great time as well.

Here and now, we have another very solid rally simulator that should be considered as a valid option for every enthusiast of this form of racing, who prefers having fun on gravel to extreme, punishing realism. And that's not a sentence you could hear just three years ago. So, will I remember Nacon’s and KT Racing’s WRC with nostalgy? I sure will. Even if I was cursing the publisher’s DLC policy so many times.

Like a weathered axe, Song of Iron needs polish. Its combat needs refinement, its bugs are frustrating, and its ability and item system need to be fleshed out more. Where it shines is in its soundtrack and presentation that showcase the ideas one person had to create the game he envisioned. And with its credits hinting at a sequel, there is no place to go but up.

There is no question Lake is rather ordinary, but it’s precisely that ordinariness that lets it shine despite its flaws. Delivering mail and driving around the same familiar streets can easily get monotonous, and a few design choices ruin some of the relaxation that comes from the job, but it makes up for it in the unique interactions between Meredith and other characters. Their outcomes may not be groundbreaking, but it serves to tell a story about the normalcy of life and the choices we make to find happiness in what we are doing.

I will say the amount of art, voice overs, and unique environments is really impressive. You’ll still have to do plenty of reading but they do a good job of making the world look, feel, and sound unique. Everything feels handmade and it almost makes me think if this developer team remade Fallout I just might make time for that trip back to the wasteland.

In the end, its expert cast, beautiful worlds, and clever writing together tell a very stimulating story of discovery, despite its otherwise quirky exterior.