I'm a big Christmas guy, and I always wish I could find more seasonal gaming for the time. Halloween is easy because we've got Costume Quest and a myriad of horror games, but Christmas hasn't always lended itself well to gaming. I've got Christmas NiGHTS and I like playing the snowy levels in Diddy Kong Racing, but I haven't found much else even after searching. Are there any cool Christmas/holiday motifs in other games that I'm not aware of?

Blue Stinger is a Christmas classic.

One of the missions in Hitman Blood Money is set during a Christmas party, complete with a drunk Santa.

Jazz Jackrabbit: Holiday Hare 1995 I liked it when I was 6, so you might like it now!

Tyrian 2000 has a special treat if you play on christmas day, or if you know, you change your clock to christmas.

Well Outlaw Golf 9 More Holes of X-Mas of course. Seriously though, I think Parasite Eve is set around Christmas. Check out the Holiday Themes or Christmas concept pages here on the site and you'll find a few.

I remember playing a ton of Lemmings that was a Christmas version. Loved it.

Overblood 2 is the definitive christmas classic of gaming. Just ask Dan.

Shenmue. Nothing like driving a forklift to celebrate the holiday season.

Gone Home with Good Ol' Christmas Duck.

Batman: Arkham Origins is set on Christmas Day if I recall correctly. I also think that is a way better game than people give it credit for.

Also, the next edition of Danny's favourite video-game series comes out today, and I can safely claim that it captures the essence of the holidays in a way that (hopefully) nobody asked for.

One of the more popular discussions on the steam community hub for the game is titled "It was a bad idea to watch the trailer for this while high", and boy, does that one go places. Copy-pasted below for posterity's sake.

Edit: I regret not making a whole new thread for this.

Saints Row 4 How the Saints save xmas dlc

Didn't Costume Quest have a Christmas DLC?

Hunter: the Reckoning: Redeemer on Xbox has a story centered around Xmas IIRC.

I've made a tradition of playing the first torchlight every Christmas Day

Viscera Cleanup Detail Santa's Rampage is always good

The first third of Die Hard Trilogy

I agree. Really enjoyed Origins, might be fun playing it at Christmas.

I've always been a fan of Merry Gear Solid 1+2.

Parasite Eve is set on Christmas Eve I believe. And Costume Quest had a christmas themed expansion called Grubbins on Ice or something like that.

Fable 2 isn't exactly wintery apart from the opening, but it has that whimsical, cozy atmosphere that causes me to associate it with Christmas.

EDIT: And Sint Nicolaas is pretty dope.

The Game Informer guys have a habit of picking games that take place on/near Christmas for their Super Replays ( I see a few people in the comments are already well acquainted with that), so I would check out some of those if you haven't and see if anything tickles your hohoho-bone that you would want to play.

Raw Danger for the PS2 is pretty festive at times. Also this there very website has a list of some games that have Christmas moments in the game.
Ho-ho-ho, who wouldn't click?

@zeushbien said:

That's correct I was going to mention it myself, Parasite Eve I is set up on Christmas Eve, a good chunk of the game happens at a Zoo where you can see the Christmas decor and I also think it was used by Eve, the villain, as some sort of metaphor. Great game.

Deathsmiles II X is heavily Christmas-themed. I don't think it's a particularly amazing game, but hey.

That's the one at the not-Playboy Mansion, right? That's a great mission.

It is and it really is.

You should play Fallout 4 tomorrow.

Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams... fuck NiGHTS so don't play that.

The Grinch don't play that either.

Santa Claus Saves the Earth don't play this either.

Bully, you get ALL the seasons! It does them all so well and integrates the seasons into the gameplay and what you do as well.

In fact I'm reinstalling Bully.

I dunno I was playing Yakuza 5 earlier and a store had Christmas music coming out of it one time.

Wow, a lot of great suggestions here, thank you guys! I also discovered that James Pond 2: Codename: RoboCod also takes place during Christmas and looks pretty festive at times.

@asko25: I saw the title and this is the game that I came along to recommend! Definetly worth a play around this time of year!

That winter level in Banjo-Kazooie is the most Christmasy thing I can think of.