Since it's now officially the winter season, people are enjoying the chilly weather and waiting for possible snowy landscapes. Even if someone lives in a warmer climate or doesn't like going outside in the cold, they will likely still celebrate these months by watching seasonal movies or even playing seasonal games.
While there aren't as many winter-based video games as there are m0vies, there are some good ones that will definitely carry people through the cold months. With these games, players can enjoy winter wonderlands and freezing temperatures while safe and warm in their own homes.
Shiver
Released in 2019, Shiver is a free Itch.io indie point-and-click horror game where the player gets trapped in the abandoned Windy Oaks National Park after crashing their car during a snow storm. As the player explores the park and tries to find a way to call for help, they slowly uncover some sinister secrets about the park and the mining company who donated it.
This game is a re-imagining of indie horror game Cozy, which this developer made for the 2016 Pixel Horror Jam. Although Shiver is only about an hour long, it manages to create a creepy atmosphere where players feel the danger of the situation, but also want to discover the truth hidden in the park.
Alto's Adventure
Alto's Adventure is a 2015 2D side-scrolling endless runner snowboarding game where the player-character, originally the titular character Alto, is trying to rescue the llamas that escaped from the home at the top of the mountain. Since the game is procedurally generated, the player continuously snowboards down an endless snowy mountain while trying to collect the running llamas and avoid various obstacles.
Even though the game is technically endless, it is not just a mindless runner. Instead, the player has to complete certain objectives during each run, and the player can unlock other player-characters and buy upgrades. With a gorgeous landscape that changes over time, this game will make players want to keep going for another run down the slope.
A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build
Released in 2015, A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build is a puzzle game where the player helps a cute monster build snowmen in a large hedge-maze. Like other Sokoban styled games, the player must use the limited amount of space and limited amount of snow in each in-game room to create the snowmen.
Whenever a player completes a room in the maze, other rooms unlock with more snowmen-making puzzles to solve. Although the gameplay is fun, the main draw of this experience is the cute art-style which will make players want to hug the cute monster.
I Am Setsuna
Created as a tribute to the retro JRPGs of the 1990s, I Am Setsuna is a 2016 JRPG set in a snow-filled land struggling with monsters. Every few years, a woman is sent to be sacrificed so that the monsters are appeased. The silent protagonist is the mercenary Endir who decides to accompany a young woman named Setsuna on her journey to become the next sacrifice. As they travel, they encounter several other heroes who join their party, and they eventually discover the truth behind the sacrifices.
While I am Setsuna has some unique gameplay mechanics, the main draw of the game is how it encapsulates all the best aspects of iconic 1990s JRPGs. With an interesting cast of characters, beautiful music, and a gorgeous art-style, the game has an incredible atmosphere that fully brings players into the story.
Year Walk
Based on Swedish folklore, Year Walk is a 2013 horror puzzle adventure game set in 19th century Sweden where the protagonist, Daniel Svensson, decides to attempt the ancient tradition of "year walking," which allows a person to see the future. Even though his love interest, Stina, tells him not to do this because it is dangerous, Daniel does it anyway so that he can see a glimpse of his future with her.
As Daniel explores the snow-covered forest, he solves puzzles, encounters various supernatural creatures from Swedish folklore, and soon discovers the true dangers of year walking. Meanwhile, in the present day, a man who specializes in Swedish Folklore writes a journal about these events and decides to warn Daniel about the future. Besides the interesting puzzles, this game shines because of its beautiful art-style and its incorporation of folklore.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Created as a re-imagining of the original Silent Hill game and possibly one of the best Wii games, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is a 2009 survival horror game that follows a young man named Harry Mason as he searches through the town of Silent Hill for his daughter Cheryl. From an over-the-shoulder view, the player controls Harry as he solves puzzles, finds items, navigates through snowy streets, and meets various characters.
While exploring, the player will sometimes find themself in an alternate icy dimension where Harry will have to run from monsters and find an escape. Meanwhile, the player also has periodical talks with a therapist in the first-person, and the answers the player gives in these sections influence the gameplay and lead to one of several different endings.
Until Dawn
The therapist sections in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories became a major inspiration for the award-winning interactive drama survival horror Until Dawn. Released in 2015, the game revolves around a group of young adults who must survive a night on Blackwood Mountain until they are rescued at dawn. The player switches between each of the main characters as they try to solve the mysteries of the mountain and avoid getting killed.
Based on the player's choices, all of the main characters can either live or die, and their personality stats and relationships with other characters can change as well. The branching narrative and interesting characters make this game a wild and entertaining ride from start to finish.
Pokémon Platinum
In the recent remake Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, one of the outfits the player can wear is the "Platinum Style," which they can only obtain if they get the game before Feb. 21, 2022. This style is based on the outfits Lucas and Dawn wear in Pokémon Platinum. Released in 2008, this JRPG is an enhanced version of the original Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.
The reason the protagonists are wearing winter outfits in Pokémon Platinum is because this game takes place in the winter, which is demonstrated by all the snow on the ground that wasn't there in the original games. Besides that, this version also has plenty of gameplay and plot changes that make this version worth a playthrough even if the player has already gone through the originals.
Steep
With its DLC Steep: Road To The Olympics being one of the highest-rated Olympics sports video games on Metacritic, it is no surprise that the full game is one of the best winter sports video games. Released in 2016, Steep is an open-world extreme sports game primarily set in the Alps. The main activities in this game include skiing, snowboarding, paragliding, and wingsuit flying, and more locations and activities were added in various DLCs.
With incredible graphics that have the most realistic-looking snow in any video game and fun gameplay, fans still wonder when this game will be brought back. The only issue with the original game was that it required players to be online for most of it, which developers have slowly realized doesn't work so well.
Batman: Arkham City
Immediately after releasing Batman: Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady Studios began working on a game that would later go on to win many awards and be considered one of the best superhero games ever made: the 2011 action-adventure Batman: Arkham City. After Bruce Wayne is imprisoned in the recently created super-prison known as Arkham City, the warden, Hugo Strange, reveals his true identity as Batman to all the inmates, and Batman must fight his way through the large facility to uncover the truth behind the mysterious "Protocol 10" plan.
This game takes the foundations of its predecessor and creates something even better by having a larger cast, a stronger narrative, and a gigantic map. As the player glides across rooftops with snow in the air, the game shows itself to be a masterpiece.