There are three things I really enjoy about the Holiday season: doing Christmas things with loved ones, the Granville Island Brewing Company’s Lions Winter Ale and the ability to have a few days off to just wrap myself up in a toasty blanket and play some video games.
While any type of video game is a good time, there are certain genres and titles that I feel are ideal for this sort of situation. Long, free-form open world games with a ton of collectibles tend to be my go-to; something that I can just wander around in doing what I please. Skyrim was the perfect game for this a couple of years ago, doubly so because it had the wintery atmosphere to go with it.
I also like a good first-person shooter multiplayer with a ton of unlocks and progression for when I need something a bit more action oriented. What about you guys? When the weather gets colder and you have a few days off, what are the types of games that you like to play? Go!
Dragon Age: Origins
Nick took my answer.
For me, when I was a kid, a new Zelda or Final Fantasy for Xmas was always the best.
Any Legend of Zelda Game.
I have to say Minecraft or its ‘roided-out doppelganger Feed the Beast are good holiday games. It’s calm and hardly intense, something you can play while socializing or relaxing, and full of fun people to build and do stuff with.
Fallout 3, Deus Ex, Mafia
Any Bethesda game perfectly serves this, however I agree that a good multiplayer game can do this as well (I intend to do this with BF4 this year). Although I will also say having a couple of games that all have attainable, non-multiplayer achievements are ripe for a good time for me. Last year I had Dishonored and Hitman, which both had challenging yet rewarding achievement lists that I ended up 100%-ing before the end of the holidays.
For me my tradition is usually on the run up to Christmas to play a traditional RPG. In recent years this has been Final Fantasy V/IX, Chrono Cross, On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness 3. Last month I even finished the first Phantasy Star which was inspired by the series of articles on this site.