Best Christmas Games

When it comes to TV specials and films, Christmas fans are given a lot to be entertained by. That isn’t the case for video games. There have not been many games centered on Christmas or even set around the holiday. Most games that do have some Christmas themes only have selective levels.

Kingdom Hearts 2 is a great example as Sora and the gang travel to Christmas Town. It’s a great place to play to get into the holiday spirit, but the whole world should only take a couple of hours at max. Other games with fun Christmas levels include Hitman: Blood Money, Bully, and Persona 5. Are there any games or DLCs out there with full Christmas settings? Let’s find out.

Updated on December 4, 2024, by Mark Sammut: The 2024 holiday season has arrived, and Christmas is just a few weeks away. While featuring heavily in movies, this period does not tend to get as much mileage in video games, especially since the industry tends to slow down its release during the second half of December. Still, games set during Christmas have their place, and some are pretty great. A sequel to a beloved movie has been added as a recommendation, along with galleries for each game.

While a game’s reputation will be taken into account, its Christmas spirit will also impact the ranking.

13 Special Mention: Dead Rising 4

Out Of Season But Still Christmas

Dead Rising 4 technically takes place after Christmas. However, since the city was abandoned around the holiday, all the decorations are still up; consequently, the game has an unmistakable Christmas feel. The juxtaposition between the cheery holiday spirit and Frank West tearing through bloody corpses is great.

Overall, this entry is generally regarded as the weakest in Capcom’s Dead Rising series, and it might prove to be the last considering the lack of discourse surrounding a fifth entry. Nevertheless, the game still offers mindless fun, and while this version of Frank is a steep departure from his earlier incarnation, he still produces a few funny lines.

The Holiday Is Not Relevant To The Story, But It Is Set During Christmas

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake is one of the more forgotten entries in Konami’s series, and it didn’t launch in the West during its original run. Nowadays, the game is available courtesy of a few collections, but it is still utterly overshadowed by its predecessor and the far more popular Metal Gear Solid projects.

It sees the titular Solid Snake travel to Zanzibarland on Christmas Eve to stop a nuclear mech attack once again. Zanzibarland might sound familiar as it is referenced quite often in Metal Gear Solid. Although obviously showing its age, Metal Gear 2 was still a notable release for the stealth genre, and it has very similar gameplay to the first MGS.

11 Bayonetta 2

An Awesome Hack And Slash Game Set Around Christmas, Although The Holiday Is Not Referenced All That Much

Bayonetta 2 takes place sometime around Christmas, although no exact dates are given. The game opens up with Bayonetta buying a bunch of presents and making her servant/sidekick Enzo carry them all. It’s a fun way to introduce Bayonetta 2 but that’s where the Christmas essence of the game stops.

Players could consider the very idea of fighting angels on or around Christmas to be a theme, even if most stories tend to make angels good though. Bayonetta 2, in this way, can be praised for subverting expectations. More importantly, the Nintendo exclusive is a stylish hack-and-slash game that takes its predecessor’s fundamentals and adds a touch of accessibility to the action.

10 Viscera Cleanup Detail: Santa’s Rampage

A Dark Comedy Game About Santa Being Pushed Well Beyond His Breaking Point

Viscera Cleanup Detail is a fun title where players need to clean up the bloody aftermath of battles against aliens and other such lifeforms. The game was a surprise hit and received two DLCs that allowed players to clean up even more gore-filled areas!

One such DLC was called Santa’s Rampage and gives players the task of cleaning up a particularly festive murder carried out by a not-so-jolly man. It’s a ridiculous concept that ends up being a ton of fun to execute, and players who want to get into the spirit of Christmas in a rather eccentric manner should give this game a shot!

9 Shenmue

Set During December And Featuring Some Christmas Spirit

Shenmue is one of the most influential games of all time, with its release on the Sega Dreamcast being a high-profile and expensive affair. This impressive attempt at an open-world game where players can genuinely live out their lives as Ryo is a ton of fun once players get into the unique nature of this title.

For what it’s worth, Shenmue isn’t totally set around Christmas, but the festival itself is captured with such brilliance that it’s well worth experiencing in itself. Just try not to waste too much time reaching this holiday, since the game will forcefully give players a bad ending if they end up faffing about till the middle of April.

8 Daze Before Christmas

Santa Gets A Lot Of Work To Do In A Pretty Hard Classic Platformer

Daze Before Christmas is one of the few games out there that makes Santa a star. Just before he is about to go around the world to deliver Christmas presents, an evil devil version of himself steals them all. The game is a basic platformer from the 90s, so expectations should be kept fairly low for this one.

It’s almost impossible to buy a legitimate copy nowadays, but there might be ways around that. Even though the game isn’t one of the classics, it’s still worth looking into for the novel idea. It would be interesting to see it appear on the retro service for the Switch.

7 Yakuza

While Not 100% Consistent, Quite A Few Yakua Games Are Set Around Christmas

While not always emphasized, several Yakuza games are set around Christmas, a time period that oddly fits the franchise’s slightly cheesy but always awesome style of storytelling. The holiday season is little more than a backdrop in games like Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami, but that is not the case in every entry.

Yakuza 5 has a substory that sees Saejima dress up as Santa to take on a group of thugs who specialize in hunting the jolly character, and this is hardly the only side quest that references Christmas directly. Sega’s franchise is not synonymous with Christmas since the games basically do not bring it up in their central plots, but Yakuza is still a great fit for the festive season.

6 Saints Row 4: How The Saints Save Christmas

A Silly Christmas Romp With The Saints

Saints Row 4 is one of the best open-world games around in terms of sheer fun factor. Messing around with superpowers is a blast in the base game, and this gameplay loop receives a festive touch with the How the Saints Save Christmas DLC.

The idea of saving Santa from a simulation while mustering the Christmas cheer required to make this holiday fun again is a ridiculous concept that only Saints Row 4 could pull off. The DLC is a short and sweet experience with its fair share of memorable moments.

5 The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge

Jack Skellington Has To Save Christmas

The Nightmare Before Christmas is an all-time classic movie and a staple of both Halloween and Christmas. 2005’s Oogie’s Revenge effectively acts as a sequel to the original release, delivering a new story that sees Jack Skellington having to (once again) stop Oogie Boogie from taking over Halloween Town and a bunch of holidays, with Christmas taking center stage.

Developed by Capcom, Oogie’s Revenge does not hide its inspiration. The game takes more than a few pages from Devil May Cry‘s playbook, which is a fairly surprising direction to take a project set in this universe. That said, this release is delightful enough as an introductory hack-and-slash title featuring recognizable characters. The combat can seem a bit half-baked at times, but it is generally enjoyable; meanwhile, the setting is the star of the show.

4 Tom Clancy’s The Division

Hey, Not Every Christmas Game Needs To Be Cheery

Tom Clancy’s The Division has a similar setting to Dead Rising 4. Everyone was gearing up for the holidays after Thanksgiving, aka Black Friday, when a virus broke out in New York City. The government tried to contain it as best as possible, but the city eventually became a lawless zone.

Players are sent in as an elite special ops force, The Division, around the holidays to bring back order. It may not technically be Christmas, but the decorations are still there and the snowy city is as inviting as ever, even if it is infested with a deadly disease. Nowadays, The Division is hard to recommend due to the existence of its superior sequel; however, the game holds up well enough as a third-person shooter with a cool setting.

3 Batman: Arkham Origins

Gotham Gets A Christmas Makeover

Batman: Arkham Origins reuses the same map as Arkham City, albeit with a Christmas-themed makeover and a few tweaks that fit the prequel’s setting. These seemingly minor changes actually make a notable difference, and they give the spin-off game a charming and eerie atmosphere that sets it apart from the mainline entries. On Christmas Eve, Gotham City becomes a war zone as eight assassins are hired by Black Mask to take out Batman, who is still a rookie hero by this point in his career.

Generally regarded as the black sheep of the proper console entries, Arkham Origins is still a very good action-adventure game by most metrics, even if it does not quite reach the same heights as Arkham Asylum or Arkham City. The story is fine, and Gotham City only looks better in Arkham Knight​​​​​​.

2 Parasite Eve

Darkness Falls Over Christmas

Parasite Eve takes place around Christmas Eve. It’s one of the best RPGs from the 90s that combines the best parts of Final Fantasy and Resident Evil together. Players assume the role of detective Aya Brea.

She attends the opera one night only to find everyone, except her, erupting in flames. Now she has to find the source, kill the mutations, and save Christmas. It takes place in New York City, which is an all-time classic place for a Christmas setting, even for a horror RPG.

1 Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Spider-Man Does Not Take Holidays Off

Spider-Man: Miles Morales is another superhero game that takes place around Christmas. It’s also set in New York City, just like Parasite Eve. The story centers on Miles making his way home from school to spend time with friends and family over the holidays. Unfortunately, evil has another plan for the new spider-hero.

Miles has to protect his home turf alone as Peter is away dealing with other issues. This game serves as a good introduction to Miles in general, not only establishing his backstory but also setting him apart from Peter Parker. It’s a shorter campaign next to Marvel’s Spider-Man, and it reuses a lot of assets, but it is still an outstanding experience. The spin-off also improves the combat and traversal mechanics ever so slightly, to the point of eclipsing its meatier predecessor in a few key areas. Any players looking to play Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 should not skip this spin-off.