Winter Games

Winter is here!  Well, at least if you happen to live in the northern hemisphere...and that statement is doubly true if you reside in North America or Europe.  So, for those of you who are entombed under a mound of heavy snowfall, what better way to celebrate the season that with some winter-themed video games?  Here's three, in which not freezing to death is a key aspect of the game.    

Survival-strategy is an incredibly rare subgenre of which Frostpunk is the only recent entry.  Taking place in an alternative version of Victorian England, the player is tasked with keeping a band of refugees alive as the world around them is slowly swallowed up by an apocalyptic super-blizzard.  It's a grim game filled with difficult moral decisions that require a tricky balancing act between pragmatism and empathy.  On top of this the player has to gather and manage resources such as food, timber and coal; all while building a city radially outward from a massive central furnace.  This towering construct is the heart of the game because it supplies much needed warmth which is actually Frostpunk's most basic and vital resource.  

The Long Dark was successfully kickstarted in 2013 and subsequently released in early access on Steam in 2014, before ultimately hitting version 1.0 in 2017.  Since then, it has gotten more updates and content in the form of DLC.  The game takes place in the Canadian wilderness with players assuming the role of a marooned bush pilot.  The story goes he crashed his plane after a massive geomagnetic storm and now is simply trying to survive.  Despite the somewhat sci-fi premise, the actual game is firmly grounded in reality.  There are no zombies or other supernatural threats.  Hungry wolves and bears, on the other hand, pose a serious danger (as does the harsh climate), but at it's heart The Long Dark is a streamlined resource management and survival game.  Finding shelter from the cold and scavenging for supplies in an open-world setting is what this game is all about.

Not to be confused with Frostpunk, this final entry is simply entitled Frost.  It's an odd little indie game about a small tribe of Neolithic wanderers trying to survive an approaching ice age.  The gameplay is centered around a deckbuilding card game of sorts.  The art is simple, but evocative.  Cards the player has at their disposal are typically tools and resources which are used to overcome challenges.  These obstacles often take the form of imposing terrain features or hostile wildlife.  The music is pretty neat as well because it's entirely made with vocalizations.  The best way I can describe it is stone age beatbox.  Overall, the game is quite difficult (even on the easier settings).  There are several kinds of character archetypes to choose from as well (each with their own style of play).  Regardless of the individual though the goal is the same - don't let the cold get you.