Overwatch
Overwatch’s Winter Wonderland update has brought a ton of new content to Blizzard’s immensely popular competitive shooter, and fans have been salivating over the festive skins ever since the event was teased. Nutcracker Zenyatta seems to have become the fan favorite, stealing the show from poor Rudolph Roadhog who is clearly superior to everyone else. Obviously.
The main draw of the event isn’t the skins, however. A new game mode, Mei’s Snowball Offensive, offers players a new way to compete in Overwatch. While the mode does suffer from respawn counters that could be a tad shorter, the mode is an entertaining festive take on the classic formula. Snow has also been added to two maps, King’s Row and Hanamura, while Ecopoint Antarctica got a flashy southern lights effect. Various new character unlocks have appeared in the game, as well.
Destiny
Destiny’s The Dawning event is commemorating the holiday season in the console-only shooter. One of the main features here is the return of sparrow racing, which is expanded with two new maps this time around, set on Earth and Mercury, respectively.
Beyond this, there are some new unique bounties and missions in the game, giving you the chance to grab some exclusive loot, including an upgraded version of an old fan-favorite sniper: the Ice Breaker. Call up your friends and get a party together, the holidays are truly a great time for Guardians.
Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars 2 is celebrating its annual Wintersday. Don’t let the name fool you, as this event lasts for a whole lot longer than just a day. Through until January 10, the major cities of Tyria are all fancied up for the festivities. There are exclusive outfits and items on sale, various festive activities have a chance of spawning – protecting herd animals carrying presents is particularly entertaining – and there are opportunities to score some free loot, as well.
A special Christmas-themed dungeon is also available for a limited time, tasking players with ensuring that no delays befall the production of toys. Though unrelated to the festivities, a new PvP season also kicked off alongside the event.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s 12 Days of Winter kicks off on Dec. 21 and lasts through Jan. 1. Players will be given gifts simply for logging in during this period, ranging from the simple salvage and keys to the extravagant festive character customization items and new prototype weapons.
Two maps, one for Infinite Warfare and the other for Modern Warfare Remastered, also seek to catch the holiday spirit with their winter terrains. In order to keep the attention of the players for longer than simply logging in to claim the gifts, Activision also has some other treats, including double XP events. Sure, at first glance this event may not be the heavy hitter that Winter Wonderland is in Overwatch, yet it is the first time a Call of Duty game gave any greater measure of recognition to the holiday season, and they are definitely off to a solid start.
Gears of War 4
Gearsmas, as the event is called, took the character customization bonuses a few steps further than other games this holiday season. The update adds a whopping 28 pieces of festive cosmetic items, including character skins with a very Gears-y take on the ugly Christmas sweater, as well as a motherload of weapon skins coming in the gingerbread, festive tree, snowman, and wrapping-paper flavors.
The main addition, however, is the Snowball Fight game-mode, which is a slightly modified version of team deathmatch. All players are restricted to the new weapon – the snowshot – which fires snowballs. Players begin each match with two snowballs, and need to collect more throughout the map to stay in the fight. Microsoft also has some log-in rewards planned for Christmas proper, which can be claimed by simply logging in between Dec. 24 and 26.
This post was originally written by Aron Gerencser.
