Seasonal Gamer: 10 Games to Play in the Colder Months

Not sure what games to play over your Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Winter break? Want to catch up on some older titles you may not have played through when they were contemporary? Do you need a very particular and abstract reason to play a game? If so, who are you and what enjoyment do you get out of video games?
I doubt I'm the only one who is apt to play more games when the cold months come around. In fact I hold a special kind of nostalgia for games during the holiday/winter months. Whether it was getting a specific title for Christmas or working through the final boss over college winter breaks, there are certain games that seem inseparable from the late fall to winter months; so much so that sometimes it just feels wrong playing them any other time of the year.
Being that it is now November, and that, for my part of the world, the landscape has turned rather brown and the morning air now threatens the first dusting of snow, I thought it might be fun to look at a list of games that seem right for the season. Let's not call them holiday games but...let's call them the Brown-White games, for the respective October to February months it would be most appropriate playing them.

Final Fantasy IX

You could accuse me for stretching the criteria for this one, and perhaps it's just about when I first played it, but Final Fantasy IX always feels like Autumn to me. Granted, the very opening scenes of the game don't scream anything that feels particularly cold weather, but very soon you do arrive to the Evil Forest and are introduced to a very important plot device: the Mist. And this particular forest, and eventually the Mist Continent by extension, strikes some similarities to my own surroundings with its dismal, gray and overcast skies.

I first delved into this game my freshman year of college, community college to be exact, and I had a rather hefty, early morning commute through a rural upstate New York. Many mornings I would depart from home before the sun had risen to watch it rise as I neared school to foggy, overcast, and, as the semester wore on, quite frosty mornings. For most mornings my thoughts were occupied with my previous late nights of playing this game as I commuted through this landscape. There was certainly a kind of synergy working on me that I think I was rather ignorant of until I've had some retrospect to think upon the game and this particular time of my life in which I first played it. Would I have liked this game still if I had played it some other time? Probably, but who's to say if the nostalgia would stick me as good as it does?

Final Fantasy VI

Being that we're talking about Final Fantasy, there is another one that needs added to the list. Final Fantasy VI has one of the most beloved intros of the series and is namely the reason for its inclusion within this list. The cold, blustery opening coupled with the mesmerizing intro theme, that served as a prelude to the even more haunting Terra's Theme, burrow their way into one's psyche and refuse to let go, a testament to the masterful artistry that once worked on this series.

However it is not just the wintry introduction into Narshe with snow-laden streets, howling wind, and hot burning coal stoves that wins the game a spot on the list, at least for me. But this, together with my first memory of playing this game, created a perfect storm of nostalgia. It was February sometime, and I had picked up a Playstation copy of the game wanting to catch up on the older FFs I hadn't played yet. Having spent nearly a whole day indoors with a cousin merely playing video games I decided I should exercise the lad a bit and opted for a walk outdoors. We talked of video games of course but also onto other imaginative topics while we walked on through the woods as snow crunched under our feet. So yeah, I think this is a good cold weather game.

Drakan: The Ancients' Gates

So what's there to say about his game? Well I certainly enjoyed playing it; I know that at least. In fact my largest memories of playing this were over a winter break in the dead cold of January, my each foot squeezed into three pairs of socks in attempt to cling to my extremities' warmth despite not moving out of my chair for hours on end. But what this game has to offer are landscapes that will certainly make you wish you had more socks on as well, whether it's traversing through a cold cavern by foot as Rynn, or hearing the wind whoosh by as you dive bomb mountain valleys atop Arokh. Under yet more dismal, gray skies this game's varying climes offer everything your traditional euro-medieval-based fantasy has that makes you think cold, ranging from harsh, driving rains to the cold northern-reaching land of Ravenshold, where hardy citizens stand watch over bonfires warning of Yetis.

Yet there is also something else at work here that I do not think the developers necessarily intended. The smattering of civilization you come across in this adventure have relatively few citizens about, something the then fledgling PS2 could no doubt only afford (masses of people was something reserved for the later generation of consoles). But to me as I played the game it actually gave me a sense that not only was the outdoors riddled with danger, Wartoks, and Grells, but it just seemed like it was cold and everyone was staying inside. Go ahead give this classic PS2 gem a try, you'll see what I mean before you can yell “Arokh, I need you!”

World of Warcraft: Dun Morogh

It's no doubt if you're any sort of a gamer you've probably already played the crap out of WoW. But I'm willing to bet that it's been some ages since you've walked the homeland of the Dwarves and Gnomes of Dun Morogh. Go on, sit for hours playing through and see how cold your mouse hand gets. You'll soon wish you had a thick Dwarven beard and would just as soon sit in the nearest inn next to a roaring fire while drinking Dwarven Stout. While you're at it, collect as many Rabbit Handler Gloves as you can and give 'em out to your friends for Christmas.
While I really can't recommend all of WoW for this list, nor in general, as the developers at Blizzard (whoa, even the company's name earns it a place on the list!) have turned the game's paradigm into something akin to a fast food restaurant, I can say there are lots of other areas in the game that require those rabbit gloves. So while you're reminiscing brown and white give another visit to Loch Modan, the Arathi Highlands, Eversong Woods, Silverpine Forest, the Alterac-Hillsbrad area, Winterspring, and of course, Northrend, among so many others.

Any Lord of the Rings Game

I think you'd be hard-pressed to argue that anything Lord of the Rings related doesn't fit the Brown-White description and feel more appropriate for colder weather. Whether because Tolkien wrote the bulk of Frodo's early journey to take place in the Autumn (and his descriptions of the landscapes were just so damned beautiful weren't they?), because memory brings to mind holiday movie releases (along with a slew of other merchandise and media), or because no place in Middle-earth makes one feel particularly warm save perhaps for Mordor itself, there is a connection between Middle-earth and the colder seasons that is inextricable. So perhaps you might enjoy these games with your sweater on:

The Two Towers

Yeah, you could call me lame for touting a movie tie-in game, and the Return of the King game is probably the better of the two movie adaptions, but Two Towers has the stages that make you say “cold weather” (though not five times fast). From the golden-leafed woods of Amon Hen to the windswept and brown plains of the Rohan stages chances are you'll be reliving some kind of cold weather nostalgia since the game's original release was in October of '02.

 The Fellowship of the Ring

Hailing from Surreal Software, the same studio that brought us the Drakan games, this little charmer of a game was meant to be taken straight from the pages of the book; no movie adaption here. Because of such, there are a few places of interest the player can explore including the Shire and Bag-end, the Old Forest, and the Barrow-downs; the latter two of which will make any hobbit feel they must wrap their cloak about them all the tighter.

War in the North

Right from the get go you'll be wishing you had your jacketses precious. The heroic trio begin their quest in a rain-drenched Bree and soon make their way into some very autumnal ruins at Fornost. All the while you'll be glad to have your real Elvish cloak on. Bonus points go to the dude or dudette who makes it a point to tell people in multiplayer you're wearing one, and to repeatedly ask them if they can find you...IRL!

 Fable II

Really it was a toss up between the first and second Fable; Fable III really only brought to mind memories of lots of green places. Here's why Fable II wins the series a spot on the list: the introduction. Feeling like it was torn right out of the pages of a Charles Dickens novel, Rose and little Sparrow's quest to stay warm while dreaming of living in Castle Fairfax makes you feel right down cold and dirty with them. Light snowflakes drift lazily down Bowerstone's alleyways as the children try to sleep the night before destiny awaits them. Later on as you develop your hero the seasons change, finally ending up with some brown-crested trees in a perpetual state of autumn everywhere you go. So make sure you take extra care your hero's wardrobe has something on hand with long sleeves. 

And if you're feeling particularly thirsty for fall and winter-type Fable, it is worth revisiting the meandering paths of Greatwood or the harbor at Hook Coast in the first game.

Shadow of the Colossus

Part of the contrast between the colder months and the warmer months is the sound. Imagine yourself sitting outside on a day in May, close your eyes and what do you hear? Now imagine it is November, what do you hear now? A lot less I'd imagine. Except for the howl of the wind (yes, wind has become an important feature in this list), and the occasional crow calling out, there is a deep silence when the chill rolls in. Such is the sound scape to the barren, open Forbidden Land in which the protagonist, Wander, rides atop his horse in search of the Colossi. The long stretches of silence, and the sense that the land was forever sleeping, to me, speak of the similarity between the colder months and SotC. Much has been said of the artistry of this game, about the intentional stretches of quiet between thunderous battles. And it is within the austerity that we find the beauty; one just needs to stop and and take a moment to observe it.

Skyrim

Of course, right? The Granddaddy of the list, this one takes the ticket in almost every way. I hardly need to tell you of the quiet, golden woodlands, the long stretching tundras with frost trolls and mammoths, or the cold mountain peaks where snow squalls can blow up in an instant. With an initial release on 11-11-11 there's no denying this game was intentionally released during that time of year when people are digging out their hats, gloves, ice scrapers, and Light Imperial Armor from their hall closets. Have you tried playing this game in the middle of summer? It feels...just weird, doesn't it? Save perhaps, Shadow of Colossus, I don't believe any other game has been presented to us with a setting so lovingly crafted, and purposefully designed to impart an impression on its audience. Best part is, Bethesda has made sure to give us an infinity of reasons to keep going back and sniffing out every little nook and cranny of Tamriel's northernmost province. Something tells me, like a favorite holiday tv-special, this is one I'll want to revisit at that certain time every year. Heck, I wanna go play it right now.

Like any film, novel, or tv series, a game's setting can carry its weight like any major character. Whether the player is pitted directly against it, or it serves as the ambient backdrop, all complete with howling gusts of wind or snow-capped mountains, to dig into the audience's minds. I might even argue that the setting is more important in games than it is in any other medium. In a game the player might just like to explore it, take a break from the beaten path the designers have constructed, to go and see what lies on the other side of that mountain. That's how some games are meant to be played. Yes story is great, but if you're robbed of the sense that you can go where you please, and have some control of your character's destiny you might as well be watching a movie or reading a book. We like these things, sure, but that is not necessarily why we put a controller in our hands.

Your thoughts? Any games you feel should be added to the list? I'd love to hear them. Maybe you could even tell me of a few titles I haven't tried yet...