I’m no Grinch, but will someone please direct me to the good Christmas games?

Let me preface this with a disclaimer: I don’t hate Christmas. Nor am I a Christian. I admit that, in my house, the holiday has slipped into a somewhat gothic reflection of a dust-choked tradition that we like to call Cryptmas, but that doesn’t mean I’m not one for taking part in the festivities. And what better way to get in the mood for roast chestnuts and big, beardy blokes sneezing their way down my chimney than a yuletide gaming session? At least, that’s what I had in mind before my “Best Christmas Games” research hit a distinctly glittery wall.Seriously, why are there no good Christmas games out there? Take a look for yourself – there are countless YouTube videos outlining the so-called best Christmas games, but not a single one captures the true essence of what I want from a Christmas game… that is if you can call most of them Christmas games to begin with.Backlog burning merrily Festive fun If it ’tisn’t the season in gaming, how about watching one of the best Christmas films?First off, the Christmas game landscape is completely awash with platformers (and don’t talk to me about the atrocity that was the Home Alone gasports bettingme series).That’s some real bottom of the barrel energy in the world of game design. Ask any amateur game designer and they’ll have made at least one platformer in their time. What that means is that the bar for Christmas platformers is pretty damn low. Just paste some fir trees in the background, spawn some nutcrackers firing chestnuts for the player to bop on the head, and, if you’re feeling cinnamon spicy, make some of the platforms a little slippery. Boom, you’ve got yourself a Christmas platformer. But it doesn’t really have Christmas at its heart, does it? It’s just a frosty, reskinned clone of Donkey Kong.I appreciate that some of the best games in the history of mankind have had Christmas levels – Banjo-Kazooie’s Freezeezy Peak, for example – but can we really call these Christmas games? They’re just a singular, snow-filled segment in a game that’s otherwise nothing to do with the holidays. You can’t exactly whip it out to play with the family over Christmas when it’s usually locked behind several other levels.I know what you’re thinking. What about games that are set at Christmas like Batman: Arkham Origins or Die Hard? It might be hard for you to stomach, but I’m not entirely sure they count. While I have some fantastic memories of watching my Mum flail around the Christmas tree as John McClane shouting “Chase me, chase me!” and spamming his over-egged jump animation, I have to discount Die Hard. Go ahead and shoot me, but a backdrop and some light references to Christmas just aren’t enough to make them Christmas games. What I’m looking for is that cozy feeling of togetherness and giving that’s so hard to come by in everyday life. A picture-perfect wonderland of genuine compassion and generosity. The true magic of Christmas, wrought in high fidelity across my gaming monitor. But no game has ever come close to capturing it for me.I tried story-based Christmas games like Yuligains: Christmas is Coming, which you play as Santa’s little elf helpers together with your family, passing the controller around. But while it’s actually entirely Christmas themed and tries to gamify the story with RPG-like attributes, I certainly wouldn’t call it the best Christmas game ever.Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

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