10 snowy video games to make you feel that December chill

If you’re in the mood for some seasonal chill but there’s no snow falling outside your window, here are ten snow games to get you into that winter spirit.

Here in Kansas, it’s December, it’s winter, but it doesn’t look like it. Temperature and weather have swayed gently back and forth between a gentle 50-degree, sunny afternoon to a mildly obnoxious, frosty 30 for the last several weeks, and I’m fed up. It’s almost Christmas, and while my larger panic over what this means about global warming persists, I also just wish it would snow. I want to put on some fuzzy boots, wrap a scarf around my head, and crunch about in a wintery wonderland like an Animal Crossing character, dangit.

But I can’t, so I’m stuck grumbling inside, not nearly chilly enough and with a dreary brown landscape outside my window. The only solution is to play a video game: a snow game that lets me pretend that what I see inside matches what’s outside. Most video games have snow levels, but I want a full snow experience right from the get-go. I want characters wrapped up in parkas who leave slowly disappearing footprints behind them as they tromp through drifts several feet tall. Or something to that effect.

So I found ten snow games chock full of the stuff. This is what I’m playing, right now, in December, because there’s not enough snow outside. You can play them too if you, like me, are trapped in an endless hell of dead grass and dry winter air. Light up a cozy fire, make some hot chocolate with big, fat marshmallows, and get gaming:

I Am Setsuna

When this came out, everyone (including me) complained that there was just too much snow, darnit. After a while, the white landscapes and snowy piano music started to grate on people’s nerves. We wanted more variety, but I Am Setsuna opted for symbolism instead. Over a year later and in the month of December with no snow, I’m suddenly warming up to the landscapes of I Am Setsuna. I’ve had the soundtrack on repeat for the last several days because the rolling piano melodies are perfect for people sitting inside looking at snowfall through a frosty window, and if I close my eyes while listening to it I can almost imagine it. Then I open them again, and I Am Setsuna is playing on the TV in front of me, and all is well.

I Am Setsuna is a wonderful, reminiscent game stuffed with Chrono Trigger throwbacks. Its atmosphere can lull one to sleep after awhile due to its repetitive, gentle aesthetic, but it’s nonetheless an excellent RPG and one of our favorite releases on the Nintendo Switch. Snow or no, I recommend a playthrough, especially before Tokyo RPG Factory drops Lost Sphear in January 2018.