What’s Christmas without a little peril?
Some games are just December games.
When the air turns biting, I hear their siren song in my bones.They Are Billions.Frostpunk.Phoenix Point.Factorio.
None of them are exactly what you would call a Christmas-y game.
In fact, they’re all pretty bleak and threatening in tone.
But they’re also amazingly comforting.
Legions of undead roiling at the gates, trying to break through your cosy little town’s defences.
It’s not a new idea, obviously.
Cosiness and menace go hand in hand.
Nothing is cosier than realising that, oh, no serial killers or eldritch creatures are after you.
Just regular horrors, like the cost of Christmas gifts.
And honestly, what better time than Christmas to invite a little touch of menace into our lives?
As long as it’s just a taste, the barest diaphanous caress of our primal survival instincts.
And then we resurface!
And we’re greeted with the glowing warmth of an upcoming Christmas.
What a perfect time for cosiness with a touch of menace.
I first noticed it with They Are Billions, I think.
From that year onwards, I always associated They Are Billions with Christmas.
I’ve even picked up a couple of new ones this year.Project Zomboidis one of them.
Christmas is the perfect time for it.
I’m not a big player of horror games in the first place.
With horror games, you’re expected to do stuff yourself.
That’s a little too much for my anxiety.
There isn’t room to feel cosy.
But non-horror games with just a touch of horror or threat?
That hits the sweet spot for me.
Maybe it’s just me.
Inoffensive games which just give you a nice, wholesome time befitting of the Christmas season.
I’d perfectly understand that.
So tell me, friends.
