Honestly amazed no one answered Disco Elysium

disco elysium

i first played it maybe 3 winter breaks from college ago, and by the time the next break rolls around im always like, "im bored with nothing to play, i kinda forget everything about disco elysium so ill replay it really quick" and at this point i might as well do it every year

Dark souls remastered

In the winter of 2002 I was working a shit ass job across town that ended after midnight, and buses only ran to a bit under two miles away from my place. Temperatures went down to about -30°F pretty regularly, and the sidewalks were never cleared, so the walk home was absolute hell. BUT, there was a 7-11 halfway home where the staff didn't give a shit, so I could get like a cup of cheese sauce free with my buck fifty nacho tray, and it warmed me up enough to get home.

Then I'd get home, crank a space heater to max, huddle under a blanket mountain, and play Metroid Prime or Animal Crossing until the morning. I do that every winter now.

I really like playing the Long Dark, I love the atmosphere. The crunchy snow, the northern lights, the wind howling outside when you're in a shelter... it is also my favourite survival game mechanically and has a good story mode

Fallout new vegas because patrolling the mojave...

Stardew Valley is my obvious go-to, get cooped up and cozy and wistful. But for real deep winter, I'll even sometimes want a more original Harvest Moon, the NES/GBA versions were janky, but I just remember them getting the Winter vibe so on-point, and played them so much while covered in blankets.

The perfect vibes of cold and still and calm and a little magical.

Grim Fandango for the halloween season, then maybe something like the Thief or original Fallout games once the snow starts.

i usually do a run of Super Metroid around this time of year

Does rewatching Twin Peaks over and over and spiraling mountains as a video game? Cause I do that every winter.

I recently played through Easy Delivery Co. and that sets out to be a cozy game and it is

Guild Wars 2 winter holiday event is the only winter specific thing i can remember playing every christmas for multiple years in a row

SSX Tricky

The cozy winter vibes in the original Animal Crossing are hard to beat.

Either one of the Elder Scrolls, one of the Fallouts, Cyberpunk or some Rockstar game. Currently waiting on a modlist for FNV to update so I can play that again.

not really winter themed, but i usually play digimon world around this time of year

RDR2 for every season.

If anyone is into visual novels and is looking for something to play on Christmas, try VA-11 Hall-A. It's a cozy game about being a bartender in a cyberpunk city during Christmas, and it has some actual gameplay too, you have to listen to what your customers want and make the drinks in a simple mini-game.

Try out Vintage Story

Portal, pretty much for the same reason as you but starting at a much more recent year.

I tend to replay either horror games around this time of year, or Max Payne, usually the second. Last year, i'm pretty sure I went through The Thing, since it was re-released on pc with a bunch of bugfixes and graphic updates. That was awesome. I also always wait until the first single-digit temp night of the year to rewatch The Thing. its just a ritual I have.

if i'm with my bros around the holidays we also usually try to bust out an old multiplayer classic, like goldeneye 64 or bomberman 64. something we can scream at each other about all night

A friend and I have a yearly ritual of Factorio when he goes on winter break. We talk about it all year and share all the new content to look forward to. We're going to play the new expansion pack this year and I'm excited.

Command And Conquer: Tiberian Sun. I've always liked its dark, grungy, industrial future aesthetic. Also very relatable in that, like the characters in the game, I feel like I have to cover every inch of exposed skin just to step outside.

any crash bandicoot

just staying in with a nice colorful 3d platformer

I usually end up in a Frostpunk mood when the weather starts getting cold. Still haven't played the second one lol

Funny Furries 2: Xmas

I like replaying my favorite immersive sims: Prey, Dishonored and Deus Ex. Replaying these games annually is pretty awesome because of how detailed the environments are and the amount of secrets to find. There's always stuff to find that you've missed in previous runs.

I distinctly remember spending one christmas vacation from college at home and playing Persona 4 on PCSX2 for the first time and I loved it

The Division (1)

I understand it's incredibly problematic for a lot of reasons, but the gameplay and ambiance was nice.

Team Fortress 2 during Smissmass feels great, but only when the maps don't suck

So my Christmas games are usually Paradox games, since they get a ton of updates throughout the year. But in the period between Christmas and mid January, they are basically frozen in time. So, its a perfect time to play my map painters. This year, well play EU5 and return to Vicky 3.

Mind you I play these games all throughout the year but Christmas time is a focused effort for me cause I have like 20 days off.

Celeste

All the pre-2003 ones.