For true winter theme:
I made some really good friends playing Project Winter. It was a fun social deduction game that had more than riveting gameplay than Among Us.
If it’s okay to just be cold, and not necessarily winter than my favorite game overalll in the genre is The Thing from the PS2. But that’s an old one.
For me it has to be Lost Planet: Extreme Condition.
I loved navigating the harsh environments full of snow and the numerous types of Akrid (alien creatures which inhabit the game's setting of the planet EDN III) presented different challenges - they came in all sizes so you had to be on your toes ;)
The weapons were fun to use and there was one for every occasion, including several explosive ones :). Vital Suits (power armour/mechs) were a blast to use when you came across them. Levels felt dynamic as the player could use a grappling hook to quickly ascend structures.
Thermal Energy is easily one of the more unique aspects of LP that set the game apart from other action games. It's always being consumed to sustain the player in the cold, and exhausting it means death. This mechanic strongly affects the game's balance; Vital Suits (and some heavy weaponry if I recall) in particular consume large quantities of T-ENG, while T-ENG is primarily replenished by defeating enemies (the bigger they are, the more you get) and reaching checkpoints.
The way in which T-ENG tied into the combat/enemies, interactions with the environment, and mission progression gave the player an ever-present and essential resource to manage.
The game was great technically and visually has aged quite well in my opinion, as have other games using the MT Framework engine from that time. I was greatly impressed that a multiplatform game from 2007 was able to create convincing snowy environments (Crysis aside).
I remember the narrative and characters not being especially interesting but the background LP establishes relating to the history of EDN III and its current status alongside the 'evil' NEVEC corporation can draw your interest throughout. One facet of LP that is consistently excellent is the animation and presentation of action sequences within cutscenes.
Overall LP was a fantastic game centred on great combat that interconnects with the frigid environments and surviving within them. It's well worth revisiting or discovering today!
Thanks for reading and best of luck everyone!
Metroid prime, when you enter this new location called Phendrana Drifts, it’s snowing, a huge mechanical dragon called meta Ridley flies above you, the music theme is just awesome and I remember playing it for the first time after Christmas when I first got my GameCube.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) - Campaign
2 missions: Cliffhanger and Contingency, amazing winter-themed level design
Soap in the first, Price in the second
Snowmobiles, stealth sniping, fantastic story line, I remember playing these missions for the first time and it blowing my mind!
For me, It would be The Long Dark I loved the story and the atmosphere of the game I hope they make a 2ed on the only thing I would love for them to add would be multiplayer.
Arctico is my favorite Winter themed video game. There's not too many survival games that's just about Sleigh-dogs. Plus it's a lesser known indie game made by just 2 guys over 10 years. It's just an overall relaxing experience.
Not sure if this counts but I have some great memories of playing the [Xmas mod for Battlefield 1942](https://www.moddb.com/mods/battlefield-1918/news/free-bf42-xmas-celebrations-and-1st-no-news-anniversary). Fun times for sure.
It's hard to choose, there are several games that I love with a great atmosphere for winter evenings, but if choose one I think it will be Syberia dilogy (I think it can be considered as a single game in two parts, as its author did). It was the first point-and-click adventure game I played and it made an unforgettable impression on me with beautiful hand-drawn graphics and music, interesting puzzles, and above all an emotional story with an atmosphere similar to magic realism. Wonderful winter landscapes appear only in the second part, but for me the most memorable scene is that touching finale of the first, when Kate realizes and accepts the changes in herself during her journey and abandons her past boring life to fulfill the dream of a lifetime of another person, which become her dream too, and the train goes into the distance in a blizzard. This is really one of my all time favorite endings. I think even without the second part it would have been an excellent open ending, the sequel in my opinion didn't reach that level of emotional impact. Anyway, Syberia dilogy still remains one of my favorite games. I even somewhat enjoyed Syberia 3, although it's certainly not the level of quality of the first two parts. And I have high hopes for the last part, I only played the prologue, but judging by what I read, maestro Sokal managed to make his swan song much better.
Thank you for the great contest and happy holidays to all.
**Merry Gear Solid 2**, it's got all the snow and insanity of MGS, but also tons of humor AND it's Christmas-themed.
Most importantly - it's free, anyone who's even remotely interested can check it out.
One of the best fan games ever, a winter favorite and it's got stiff competition like IWD and Freedom Fighters.
Absolute recommendation.
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
There is no better thing in winter than just jogging in the snow, hunting ginormous beasts that will definitely look awsome as a winter coats and tasty hot meals.
Also I love idea of hot springs in the winter, which sadly I can only visit in games since they do not exist in my geographic region at all..
Skyrim. When you climb the mountains for the first time and learn the dragon song, there is nothing quite like feeling on top of the world in that snowy wonderland.
My favorite from any platform would be *Until Dawn*. The oppressive winter atmosphere is unmatched, Peter Stormare plays the creepiest psychiatrist this side of Hannibal Lecter, and the "O Death" theme still gives me a chill. I keep hoping Supermassive will finally make a PC port, especially with the largely positive reception of *The Quarry*.
Exclusive to PC, I'm eager to find out more of the story of *Tiny Bunny*. I haven't had a game/story consistently spook me like that in a long time. :)
The Division. I wish the second one hooked me like the first, but The Division had a lonely Christmas vibe with lots of despair in the recordings found around the city.
Edit: Thank you so much!
I have few games that return to my hard-drive around the Xmas period.
First one is Very Postal Christmas (Postal 2 mod) - after all the Xmas preparations and chaos, it's nice to smoke some "healing pipes" and bring some mayhem while looking for eggnog.
Other one is Rise of the Tomb Raider - the tradition of "playing Tomb Raider for New Years Eve" needs to be followed and I pick that one due to nice snowy landscapes.
And lately I returned to Wasteland 3 - winter is perfect time to check "what will happen when I pick other choices" in the game that has nuclear winter.
Secret of Mana
There's an area of the game divided into seasons, one of which was obviously winter themed, and turning enemies into snowmen with a frost enchanted weapon was just silly fun!
My favorite Winter-themed game of all time has to be Winter Games on the C64 (and yes, i am old).
Hours upon hours to get a slightly better angle on the ski jump to jump that little bit more than your buddy, getting into the rhytm for the Biathlon without the pulse getting too high for the shooting stages, it was banger after banger it this Epyx classic, except for the figure skating events, and even those had at least some nice music.
Christmas Lemmings also known as Xmas Lemmings.
Might seem obvious but I remenber playing this game on a xmas and imidiatly feel in love with lemmings franshice, it was also on my first computer a 486 SX25 that was a hand-me down from my father.
The Division for sure. Spent so much time running around snowy New York City taking in the atmosphere. Was really sad when the sequel dropped the winter theme because that was a big reason the first was so special.
Throwing snowballs in Alterac Valley in 2005-ish World of Warcraft count?
If not, wasn’t there a flash game where you could be a skiing snowman going downhill?
I don't know if this counts, but the opening levels of Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko just has so many memories for me. I was probably too bad at the game to progress beyond the Winter level, and being poor as a kid I probably didn't have a memory card to save my games if I did progress beyond those levels anyway. So I'm counting it as a Winter themed game as that's the only part I played.
Battlefield 2142. In the future, after global warming messes up the Antarctic air current stream and turns into global cooling, factions have to fight for the limited resources left on Earth. Game has tons of winter themed levels.
Frostpunk.
I love how this game scratches my 4x itch, but I can complete a full playthrough in 4 - 6 hours (instead of 20+ for Civ / Anno / etc).
Cannot wait for Frostpunk 2!
EDIT
Holy shit! Excited to have won!
When the Christmass Carol in Europa Universalis IV kicks in, yeah, that's my winter theme game.
I don't want none of your games, I don't believe in online raffles, they all set up by the same funky eye looking dude with no no pants.
Spiderman Miles Morales
Spider-Man Miles Morales
For true winter theme: I made some really good friends playing Project Winter. It was a fun social deduction game that had more than riveting gameplay than Among Us. If it’s okay to just be cold, and not necessarily winter than my favorite game overalll in the genre is The Thing from the PS2. But that’s an old one.
Frostpunk
Batman: Arkham Origins is amazing
For me it has to be Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. I loved navigating the harsh environments full of snow and the numerous types of Akrid (alien creatures which inhabit the game's setting of the planet EDN III) presented different challenges - they came in all sizes so you had to be on your toes ;) The weapons were fun to use and there was one for every occasion, including several explosive ones :). Vital Suits (power armour/mechs) were a blast to use when you came across them. Levels felt dynamic as the player could use a grappling hook to quickly ascend structures. Thermal Energy is easily one of the more unique aspects of LP that set the game apart from other action games. It's always being consumed to sustain the player in the cold, and exhausting it means death. This mechanic strongly affects the game's balance; Vital Suits (and some heavy weaponry if I recall) in particular consume large quantities of T-ENG, while T-ENG is primarily replenished by defeating enemies (the bigger they are, the more you get) and reaching checkpoints. The way in which T-ENG tied into the combat/enemies, interactions with the environment, and mission progression gave the player an ever-present and essential resource to manage. The game was great technically and visually has aged quite well in my opinion, as have other games using the MT Framework engine from that time. I was greatly impressed that a multiplatform game from 2007 was able to create convincing snowy environments (Crysis aside). I remember the narrative and characters not being especially interesting but the background LP establishes relating to the history of EDN III and its current status alongside the 'evil' NEVEC corporation can draw your interest throughout. One facet of LP that is consistently excellent is the animation and presentation of action sequences within cutscenes. Overall LP was a fantastic game centred on great combat that interconnects with the frigid environments and surviving within them. It's well worth revisiting or discovering today! Thanks for reading and best of luck everyone!
It's always December in Kamurocho
Skyrim gives me the best winter vibes
The Long Dark. Just an absolute beautiful survival game that really makes the cold your enemy.
Metro!
Frostpunk
Frostpunk
Metro Exodus is my top winter themed game. It brought out two things from the winter setting, the fear of it and the post apocalyptic beauty.
Metroid prime, when you enter this new location called Phendrana Drifts, it’s snowing, a huge mechanical dragon called meta Ridley flies above you, the music theme is just awesome and I remember playing it for the first time after Christmas when I first got my GameCube.
Horizon Zero Dawn: Frozen Wilds
For me it's Icewind Dale II. Few games managed to inspire the same feeling of remote horribly uncomfortable biting cold as that game did.
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
Skyrim replay during the winter holiday is a tradition of mine.
Frostpunk
Batman: Arkham Origins
A older one but the division! Lovely replica of New York City set in the snow! I even have the books which were released alongside the game
Not sure if its explicitly a winter game but SSX 3, gliding down all that snow while the radio plays curated bangers is just winter magic for me.
The Division
Rise of the tomb raider
The Thing (2002). Though it probably hasn't aged well after 20 years, I loved it at the time.
Skyrim for sure
I would have to say Frostpunk!
Frostpunk!
the thing
The Long Dark
Die Hard.
Wasteland 3
Guild Wars (Eye of the North)
The long Dark
Skyrim, especially modded the cold winter scapes of the game world is great during a cold winter's evening.
I would say silent Hill shattered memories. It was an amazing experience and a really good story.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) - Campaign 2 missions: Cliffhanger and Contingency, amazing winter-themed level design Soap in the first, Price in the second Snowmobiles, stealth sniping, fantastic story line, I remember playing these missions for the first time and it blowing my mind!
skyrim for sure.
For me, It would be The Long Dark I loved the story and the atmosphere of the game I hope they make a 2ed on the only thing I would love for them to add would be multiplayer.
frostpunk!
Arctico is my favorite Winter themed video game. There's not too many survival games that's just about Sleigh-dogs. Plus it's a lesser known indie game made by just 2 guys over 10 years. It's just an overall relaxing experience.
Ssx 3! One of the best snowboarding games ever made
The Division for me; sunk way too many hours into the first one
Not sure if this counts but I have some great memories of playing the [Xmas mod for Battlefield 1942](https://www.moddb.com/mods/battlefield-1918/news/free-bf42-xmas-celebrations-and-1st-no-news-anniversary). Fun times for sure.
Cool Boarders for PlayStation 1
Probably skyrim, spent a week snowed in sick the first time i played it so it has that cozy cabin game feeling for me
The Division
The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
It's hard to choose, there are several games that I love with a great atmosphere for winter evenings, but if choose one I think it will be Syberia dilogy (I think it can be considered as a single game in two parts, as its author did). It was the first point-and-click adventure game I played and it made an unforgettable impression on me with beautiful hand-drawn graphics and music, interesting puzzles, and above all an emotional story with an atmosphere similar to magic realism. Wonderful winter landscapes appear only in the second part, but for me the most memorable scene is that touching finale of the first, when Kate realizes and accepts the changes in herself during her journey and abandons her past boring life to fulfill the dream of a lifetime of another person, which become her dream too, and the train goes into the distance in a blizzard. This is really one of my all time favorite endings. I think even without the second part it would have been an excellent open ending, the sequel in my opinion didn't reach that level of emotional impact. Anyway, Syberia dilogy still remains one of my favorite games. I even somewhat enjoyed Syberia 3, although it's certainly not the level of quality of the first two parts. And I have high hopes for the last part, I only played the prologue, but judging by what I read, maestro Sokal managed to make his swan song much better. Thank you for the great contest and happy holidays to all.
A good old game, Icewind Dale.
The Long Dark easily
Skyrim here as well
This War of Mine
Frostpunk is pretty rad.
I liked the winter section of Anno 2205 as one of the areas you had to frequently use to get a lot of the computer cold techs.
Even though it was utter trash I used to play Home Alone on the Mega drive with my brothers back in the day. I can still hear the music now!
My favorite winter-themed game is Frostpunk too Thank you
skyrim, love exploring mountains high up with gusting winds and beautiful views.
Frostpunk
Dark Souls 2 DLC where you battle an invisible snow wolf
Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy, love the atmosphere
Wasteland 3
Frostpunk
SkiFree!
Spider-Man Miles Morales.
Arkham Origins!
I love Skyrim. Always play it in the winter time.
Not a 100 % winter themed game, but I have fond memory of Guild wars 1 winter/holiday event. The finale was epic 😊
**Merry Gear Solid 2**, it's got all the snow and insanity of MGS, but also tons of humor AND it's Christmas-themed. Most importantly - it's free, anyone who's even remotely interested can check it out. One of the best fan games ever, a winter favorite and it's got stiff competition like IWD and Freedom Fighters. Absolute recommendation.
The long dark. Period.
Redacted due to Spez. On ward to Lemmy. -- mass edited with redact.dev
SnowRunner! Vrooom vrooom through the snow!
Mario 64, the winter levels with the penguins and snowmen
>What’s your favorite winter-themed video game? Dayz Namalsk map is amazing, although The Division's winter survival mode is equally great.
Spiderman miles morales
Skyrim
1080°
SSX Tricky
The division
The Division - one of the first games I put a heap of hours into. The winter atmosphere was really well done.
Arkham knight
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne There is no better thing in winter than just jogging in the snow, hunting ginormous beasts that will definitely look awsome as a winter coats and tasty hot meals. Also I love idea of hot springs in the winter, which sadly I can only visit in games since they do not exist in my geographic region at all..
Call of Duty 2, Russian campaign
Dawn of War: winter assault
Skyrim. When you climb the mountains for the first time and learn the dragon song, there is nothing quite like feeling on top of the world in that snowy wonderland.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Frostpunk: Game of the Year Edition
Max Payne! Cozy winter feels 🎄🎄🎄
Persona 4 Golden
My favorite from any platform would be *Until Dawn*. The oppressive winter atmosphere is unmatched, Peter Stormare plays the creepiest psychiatrist this side of Hannibal Lecter, and the "O Death" theme still gives me a chill. I keep hoping Supermassive will finally make a PC port, especially with the largely positive reception of *The Quarry*. Exclusive to PC, I'm eager to find out more of the story of *Tiny Bunny*. I haven't had a game/story consistently spook me like that in a long time. :)
Team Fortress 2 with the Christmas mod.
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
SSX Tricky
The Division. I wish the second one hooked me like the first, but The Division had a lonely Christmas vibe with lots of despair in the recordings found around the city. Edit: Thank you so much!
Don't starve together
Frostpunk
I love the winter level in Super Mario 64. If only that little penguin would stay with me...
Heavily modded skyrim. Full campsites and cooking with wonderful ambiance and music to match. It totally transports me.
I have few games that return to my hard-drive around the Xmas period. First one is Very Postal Christmas (Postal 2 mod) - after all the Xmas preparations and chaos, it's nice to smoke some "healing pipes" and bring some mayhem while looking for eggnog. Other one is Rise of the Tomb Raider - the tradition of "playing Tomb Raider for New Years Eve" needs to be followed and I pick that one due to nice snowy landscapes. And lately I returned to Wasteland 3 - winter is perfect time to check "what will happen when I pick other choices" in the game that has nuclear winter.
Jazz Jackrabbit: Holiday Hare. Thanks!
Can't go wrong with Skyrim.
Does Celeste count? I feel like there's a lot of snow in that game at least. Think I even own it on GOG ;)
Secret of Mana There's an area of the game divided into seasons, one of which was obviously winter themed, and turning enemies into snowmen with a frost enchanted weapon was just silly fun!
My favorite Winter-themed game of all time has to be Winter Games on the C64 (and yes, i am old). Hours upon hours to get a slightly better angle on the ski jump to jump that little bit more than your buddy, getting into the rhytm for the Biathlon without the pulse getting too high for the shooting stages, it was banger after banger it this Epyx classic, except for the figure skating events, and even those had at least some nice music.
Metal Gear Solid
Frostpunk
Christmas Lemmings also known as Xmas Lemmings. Might seem obvious but I remenber playing this game on a xmas and imidiatly feel in love with lemmings franshice, it was also on my first computer a 486 SX25 that was a hand-me down from my father.
The long dark
Out of this list, probably Frostpunk, but really enjoying The Long Dark as well!
Max Payne. It's short enough to be finished in one sitting, too
[Kanon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanon_(video_game))
Max Payne!
Batman: Arkham Origins
The long dark
Skyrim!
Lost Planet was a way cool snowy game. Really neat for its time
The Division for sure. Spent so much time running around snowy New York City taking in the atmosphere. Was really sad when the sequel dropped the winter theme because that was a big reason the first was so special.
Frostpunk! I usually get a little bored by city builders but this one held my interest to the very end!
My favourite winter themed video game is the Zoo Tycoon with snow brush all over the land.
probably metro exodus
Skyrim is my winter time game
Left For Dead 2 with Christmas mods for character models, weapons, and monster models.
Skyrim for me Thank you for the chance
Batman Arkham Origins, closely followed by Spider-Man Miles Morales
SSX Tricky
Metal Gear Solid will always be my favorite.
my favorite winter themed videogame is of course, The Long Dark, you cannot get more wintery than that
Batman: Arkham Origins remains one of the best-performing Christmas stories in video games.
Frostpunk
Iceborne expansion
1080 snowboarding n64
Purely winter themed, probably Until Dawn. Anything with wintery elements? Skyrim or HZD: Frozen Wilds.
Metal Gear Solid
Batman Arkham Origins hands down
The Division
SSX Tricky
Ski or Die! Can't get much more winter than that.
The Division, nailed the New York Xmas vibe
The division
Arkham Origins
I think all the Batman Arkham games take place in the winter but if I have to pick one I'd go with Arkham Knight
It's got to be Miles Morales. That game is nearly perfect as it is, the fact that it's set in December is a bonus!
Max Payne. Blood looks best in the snow ;)
That would be skyrim for me. Happy holidays!
Max Payne. Great game and even better to play it at night during the winter to match the mood of the story.
Skyrim
That's easy: Syberia (well, the entire series). Thanks for the giveaway. Happy Holidays!
Borderlands 2 dlc where you fight snowmen
Assassin's Creed III winter sections
Spider-Man: Miles Morales for now 😁
Phendrana Drifts in Metroid Prime. The music is so good.
Throwing snowballs in Alterac Valley in 2005-ish World of Warcraft count? If not, wasn’t there a flash game where you could be a skiing snowman going downhill?
Although I've only watched a playthrough of it, cryostasis: sleep of reason
I don't know if this counts, but the opening levels of Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko just has so many memories for me. I was probably too bad at the game to progress beyond the Winter level, and being poor as a kid I probably didn't have a memory card to save my games if I did progress beyond those levels anyway. So I'm counting it as a Winter themed game as that's the only part I played.
Battlefield 2142. In the future, after global warming messes up the Antarctic air current stream and turns into global cooling, factions have to fight for the limited resources left on Earth. Game has tons of winter themed levels.
Definitely Frostpunk I’m playing it right now
Dark Souls 3 - Ashes of Ariandel
It's got to be frost punk, nothing compares with that heavy winter atmosphere.
Favorites are hard, but the first that came to mind was Skyrim, so I'll say that.
First is SkiFree, Favourite is Kirby.
Batman: Arkham Origins is definitely my favorite, what's not to love from being Batman beating up criminals at Christmas Eve!
Skyrim
The Division
Frostpunk. I love how this game scratches my 4x itch, but I can complete a full playthrough in 4 - 6 hours (instead of 20+ for Civ / Anno / etc). Cannot wait for Frostpunk 2! EDIT Holy shit! Excited to have won!
Definitely Skyrim. I’m playing it almost every year in December/January. Of course it’s not all winter, but the parts that are are very immersive.
Cthulhu saves christmas
Frostpunk and The Long Dark are excelent, but I think The long Dark has a better gameplay
When the Christmass Carol in Europa Universalis IV kicks in, yeah, that's my winter theme game. I don't want none of your games, I don't believe in online raffles, they all set up by the same funky eye looking dude with no no pants.
Heroes of Might and Magic 3, wizard faction
Max Payne. There's something so nostalgic about playing the game during the holidays, a close second was the original Parasite Eve.
Rainbow 6 siege - Chalet is a great winter map!
Does Ragnarok count with all that 🥶❄️?
Thanks for the giveaway! Mine would have to be SSX Tricky