Winter Wonderlands
Five wintery games and stages that capture the highlights of Winter.
I like Christmas. I like the decorations, the music, the absurd amounts of food, and I like the warm cozy feeling that permeates the entire season of winter. Even though I hate the cold, I love the aesthetics of snow illuminated by street lamps and window lights, and I love being warm and cozy as I observe the beauty of nature from a climate-controlled environment supplemented by blankets and mugs of hot chocolate.
In honor of the Winter season, and to kick off the new year, I’ve compiled a list of five games and stages that capture some of those wintery highlights so you too can enjoy the season; either year round or without having to trek through freezing winds and slippery streets.
5. Freezeezy Peak – Banjo-Kazooie
Image Credit: IGN.com
I wanted the items on this list to encompass two things, winter holidays and the enjoyable parts of winter; and no map in all of gaming nails it quite like Freezeezy Peak. Possibly the most well-known Christmas themed stage in all of gaming featuring a tree lighting, giant snowmen, tobogganing, present collecting, and a cozy winter village.
The fifth world in the hit Nintendo 64 platformer “Banjo-Kazooie” brings the festive charm before you even set foot in it. The entrance to the stage itself is a gigantic advent calendar featuring the bear and bird duo, lifting spirits after the previous two levels; an industrial themed water level and a grungy swamp. A theme park style stage full of some of the most iconic set-pieces in all of gaming.
Of course, the question is, “If this hits all your check boxes and is one of the most iconic Christmas/Winter stages of all time, why is it number 5?” The answer to that very valid question is simple: Everyone who has spent more than an hour on the gaming side of Youtube knows about this stage. It IS the most iconic wintery wonderland in all of gaming barring games like The Grinch on Playstation, so putting it at number one would just be too obvious and too basic.
4. Snow Maps – Cities: Skylines
City builders as a genre are pretty relaxing and cozy games. Especially series like SimCity where the only concern is raising a village to a thriving metropolis without having to worry about things like war or roving tribes of bandits. Cities: Skylines embody this feeling especially, letting players who’ve put the time in to learn things like road hierarchy and basic civic planning enjoy gorgeous dioramas in a variety of maps that encourage creative zoning placement and a wary eye towards water sources.
Accidentally flooding yourself aside however; while there are many maps that feature rolling hills, vast rivers, and barren deserts the map type I always find myself returning to whenever I start a new game are the snow maps released in the “Snowfall” dlc. In addition to adding a heating mechanic and tram cars to the game, Snowfall started out three frozen playing fields for aspiring urban planners to play around in. Perpetually snowy, the maps add a little bit of extra challenge by introducing the need for snow plows to clear roads and heating pipes to keep buildings warm.
The emphasis though should be on “little bit” for the challenge though. Snowy roads don’t cause accidents or destroy roads like in real life, they just slow down vehicles and degrade the road quality slightly faster; and providing heating to your city isn’t anywhere near as vital as providing it with electricity, water, or services. Play the game more or less like you normally would, and you’ll be treated eventually to a sprawling snow covered paradise, emanating that warm and inviting light that makes the cold bearable (without having to actually go out in the cold).
3. Holiday Broadcasting – Gex 3
Gex is one of those Nintendo 64 collect-a-thon platformers that came out back in the heyday of Mario and Banjo-Kazooie. Aside from getting re-released recently on Steam and GOG as “Gex Trilogy”, the series doesn’t get much attention or recognition despite being an actually decent member of its genre. That being said though, this list is about wintery fun and not underappreciated platformers, so I wouldn’t bring up the lizard with a Playboy bunny girlfriend unless he was somehow related to the subject.
All three games are love letters to TV and movies, with levels consisting of a mashup of tropes from various genres of both. So it should surprise no one that eventually, one of the games in the trilogy would have a winter wonderland type level themed around some of the most violently Christmas themed stage gimmicks in recent history (outside of any game directly related to the holiday of course). Bouncing on giant presents, jumping down chimneys to scour the stage for collectibles, snowboarding down a hill hunting down evil elves who taunt you with the second most annoying voice in the game (1st place, unsurprisingly for those familiar, is reserved forever for Gex himself). There’s even a boss fight against Santa himself involving snowballs.
The only thing preventing this from being higher on the list, is the fact that the fun of being in a playable Christmas Special is marred by just how annoying the stage is overall. The music is chaotic and loud, fitting the game but being rather unpleasant on top of being an earworm. Even writing this, I haven’t touched the game before in years but I can still hear the music in my head near perfectly. The collectibles are spread across a fairly large stage with plenty of hiding places and poorly explained gimmicks that will make first time players frustrated wondering where the last few tokens are, and the enemies as stated before are severely annoying. I recognize and appreciate that they’re intended to be, to make hunting them down for a remote control worthwhile, but succeeding in creating an annoying character does not negate the fact they are annoying.
2. Easy Delivery Co. – Steam version
Imagecredit: Affection, steam screenshot
Easy Delivery Co. is a game that hits a lot of the currently popular tropes beat-for-beat. It’s a PS1 graphics simulator game with Animal Crossing style characters. It’s also one of the most original and enjoyable games I’ve played in the last five years. You drive a kei truck (those small Japanese pickup trucks) as you work for a delivery company. Accepting orders, you drive from one part of town to the other while making shit pay and while absolutely nothing happens (according to the Steam page).
The world of Easy Delivery Co. takes place entirely within a series of nearby mountain towns connected by tunnels and rickety bridges to each other in a perpetual state of winter. Sometimes it’s snowing, sometimes it’s not but always it’s gray and foggy out on the mountain. Despite the gloomy atmosphere though, there’s a cozy factor to the game that’s hard to describe. You’re forced to pay exorbitant gas prices and staying outside your car for too long kills you due to how cold it is; but also it’s a game about delivering packages on a scenic drive while listening to lo-fi music. The world is cold and miserable, but much like you the player your character can be detached from it momentarily and enjoy things at their own pace.
Balancing this all out is the fact the game does also give you appropriately cozy ways to deal with the killer cold. You start out pounding energy drinks to stay awake early game, but it’s not too long after starting that you get access to powerful upgrades like tea and instant coffee; the latter of which gives you temporary immunity the cold which is essential for some of the tasks you’ll find yourself doing. Later deliveries ramp up the distance, packages, and weight (which will shoot your trucks handling to hell) but as long as at least one package survives the journey the game is pretty forgiving about how reckless your driving is. Altogether, it paints a world that seems harsh at first glance, until you start immersing yourself in it and enjoying the ride.
1. Winter – Stardew Valley
Image credit: DeborahBenn on Reddit
As stated previously part of what I enjoy about the holidays is the festivities. Enjoying time with loved ones while being surrounded by pretty lights and ingesting enough sugar to kill an elephant is a wonderful thing; and one of my favorite games to really capture this feeling is Stardew Valley during its’ winter season.
In other farming sims Winter is usually something of a down period for players. Your crop pool becomes limited and usually there’s not much to do aside from take care of your animals (if you have any) and catch up with other aspects of the game you might’ve been neglecting, like befriending villagers in Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. Stardew’s winter, however, is decidedly different. Aside from the standard Christmas reference in the form of the Feast of the Winter Star the season is host to two other major festivals, keeping the interest going through to the new year.
Further each festival is distinct, no repeats here. The festival of ice celebrates, as the name implies, all things icy; with snowmen, igloos, and ice sculptures galore. The main event is an ice fishing tournament with some fun rewards to enhance the nightmarish fishing minigame. The Night market that follows is a gorgeous dockside market featuring exclusive vendors and the opportunity to go deep sea fishing in a submarine. The gorgeous view of the docks lined with exotic ships and a sea full of lights though are eventually replaced by the aforementioned feast of the winter star. Candy canes, red and green colors, a giant decorated tree in town square with a secret santa gift exchange as the main event for the festival. The feast of the winter star takes place on the 25th of Winter in game, and if you ship goods the night before on the 24th there’s a chance that Santa will even fly across the screen during your profit summary.
But in all of these festivals, the real fun is in seeing the town come together. It feels genuine, like these people are all really engaged in the holiday spirit and excited to have you along for the ride; demonstrating the quality of writing and design that went into creating a game like Stardew Valley. Other games like Animal Crossing might decorate your town for the season, and games like the Harvest Moon series might have similar festivals, but none of those can compare to the feeling of winter cheer provided by Stardew Valley.
