Have You Ever Had a Holiday Game Day?

[scare_crow]

So, Christmas was a little weird for me last year for a few reasons. Not a ton of that good old Christmas spirit to be found. This year, I'm leaning in hard and doing as much as I can to have a fun season. I'll be taking off all of Christmas week and as a part of that, I'm planning a video game day where I buy a new game just for the day, get comfy, and just dive in. You know -- have some cookies at some point, hot chocolate, a hot toddy or two (or three)... that kind of thing.

Has anyone done something similar as part of your holiday celebrations (whatever you may celebrate or not celebrate)? What game did you choose? What do you remember most about it? And, selfishly, do you have any recommendations for a new-ish game that would fit a holiday video game day well?

 

[Noppie]

That's every year, usually some Zelda.

 

[scare_crow]

That's every year, usually some Zelda.

Click to shrink...

Nice. What's the most recent Zelda you played during the holidays? I have some seriously warm and fuzzy memories from playing Ocarina back in 98 during the holiday season.

 

[Duffking]

Quite often especially during covid.

Hell this year I have booked off work from the 9th December through January 4th.

Much gaming will get done.

 

[Transistor]

I'm looking very forward to one of those this year.

 

[Yuntu]

I played through Trails in the Sky FC and SC in like two weeks over ... uhm I think 2018 Christmas.

It was crazy cozy and I guess I ate cookies on the 24 while jamming the games.

 

[striderno9]

In 2018 my Holiday game weekend was spent playing Night in the Woods.

 

[Fleet of Foot]

The only time I've ever done something like this wasn't a holiday, it was a weekend when my wife was out of town and I had nothing to do. I decided I'd buy and play through the entirety of Killzone 3 in one day. This was right when Killzone 3 had just come out.

It didn't end up happening. I got through about 80% of the game on that Saturday, and then woke up on Sunday to finish it. I ended up absolutely hating the game. I couldn't make myself get through it in one day. I forced myself to get up Sunday morning and get it done, and then I never put it in my PS3 again.

It was too much, all at once. That game wasn't great to begin with, so filling a whole day with it only made its shortcomings more apparent.

 

[SwampBastard]

For Christmas '96 I received a copy of The Pandora Directive and spent pretty much the entire day playing it, only stopping for bathroom breaks and meals. It was great.

Man, now I want to play some Tex Murphy games.

 

[Cal]

I think I'm basically planning a week at this point just to accommodate Cyberpunk. Haven't actually played a game I'm looking this forward to on launch day in a long, long time.

 

[Se_7_eN]

I just had a Game Day with Demon's Souls on PS5... Relaxed in my Christmas decorated room with some pizza, pepsi and my tiny little dog all day killing demons.

Felt great!

 

[Jacknapes]

Usually plan a couple of days over Christmas to get some gaming in. Last year i focused on Assassin's Creed Odyssey, this year will most likely be Valhalla

 

[Redcrayon]

Haven't done it for a while, but I used to in my 20s. I always associate it with the games I played in the winter, Zelda or Skyrim usually.

 

[Kyrios]

My cousins and I always have a tradition of playing Mario Kart Double Dash every Christmas, obviously not happening this year though. Maybe we can try and get something going on MK8 Deluxe online.

As far as general game days I do that all the time lol Took some extra days off from work to just sit down with Yakuza 7 and Trails of Cold Steel IV over the Thanksgiving break. For this Christmas it's going to be Crash Bandicoot 4 which reminds me of when I got Crash 2 for Christmas way back when lol

 

[shaneo632]

I don't really do full-day gaming sessions anymore, it makes me feel tired after like 3 hours or so.

But I do love days where I just alternate between movies, games, TV, maybe go for a walk, have some nice food, a few beers etc. Got 11 days off for Xmas so it will be happening :)

 

[Agamon]

Usually, I go home for Christmas, and while not a single day or by myself, my brother and I pick a co-op or vs game and play it through the week. Smash Ultimate, Overcooked 1 & 2, and Human Fall Flat over the past few years.

Unfortunately, that's not happening this year. We just started playing Sea of Thieves though, so maybe we'll get some gaming done remotely this year.

 

[hydruxo]

That's pretty much what I do every Christmas Day. Just chill out and game most of the day.

 

[TylerDurden4321]

I tried to have a tradition to buy and play through one game on New Years Eve every year.

I played through Inside and Event[0] so far, but I left out 2 years already.
This year I planned for Man of Medan. Let's see how it'll go.

 

[Serpens007]

2011 christsmas my brother gifted me MGS HD Collection for PS3. First time playing Peace Walker.

2008 Guitar Hero for PS2 with the guitar

2017 Pokemon Ultra Sun

Those are the ones that stick the most in my memory, I usually don't get these holiday game day anymore, but because of the pandemic I might do it this time

 

[Nabbit]

I really enjoy doing this for Christmas, too. One year it was The Lion King (Genesis) and Ori, that is a really special pair of games and I have fond memories of playing them. Last year we played Monster Boy over the holidays. I'd definitely strongly recommend any of those 3 scare_crow if you're looking for a holiday game to bring cheer. Alternately if there's a Zelda, Mario or Kirby game you haven't played those always have a holiday feel to me. Kirby's Epic Yarn in particular has cozy Christmas vibes, and that one is surprisingly challenging if you go for all gems/100%.

 

[Aswitch]

Every year me and my brother would play GTA Online and Halo every Christmas for the most part.

 

[mgrimble2]

Christmas break is such an awesome time for family and gaming.

3 years ago (I think) I picked up a SNES Mini and brought it over to my in-laws place. My brother in law and I were sitting on the floor and playing Donkey Kong Country all day while drinking beers and my mother in law brought us snacks. It was so much fun.

Fast forward a couple years and my wife and I had Christmas at our place. This time we booted up the Switch and played some Mario Party. We even got both sets of parents (Ages 65-70) involved in some games and they were having fun with all the motion control mini games.

Sucks this year is going to be different with the stupid COVID Pandemic. I don't even know if we will be getting together at all. On the bright side, I have a 6 month old so that will be fun to have her first Christmas and each Christmas after will get better and better.

 

[Midnight_Chomper]

Don't have a Holiday Game Day scheduled this year (too busy with work/kids), but would love to have one if I could. Will probably just fit in some playing at night or something.
I will share my tradition as a kid though when holidays came around. My cousin and I would hook up our Genesis and go through all the sports games we had:

Pat Riley Basketball
Joe Montana Football
Tommy Lasorda Baseball
NHL '94

Sometimes if we had time, we'd throw in Fifa 96 or the one Tennis game they had on Genesis.
Such good times.