Best Games for the Holidays

Whether you’ll be visiting friends or will be alone this holiday season, you’ve probably been thinking of fun things to do. Watching movies, trying out new recipes and reading this year’s bestsellers are all great ideas. But if you prefer to play online games, here’s a roundup of the best games to play this holiday season.

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble (1996)

DCK3 has frequently been described as the best Donkey Country Game ever developed, and it’s easy to see why. First off, it had impressive 3D graphics for a game released in the mid-1990s. It’s also explored a different than its predecessors, tasking you to help Dixie and Kiddy rescue their friends from prison.

While in the rescue mission, you’ll have unlimited fun sliding down snowy hills, jump on floating islands and collect bells and presents. The last two items only come in the holiday season. They are activated by inputting the secret code “Merry’ when launching the game.

Secrets of Christmas

Secrets of Christmas is an online slot game designed to put you in the holiday spirit with its heart-warming jingle bells soundtrack. It features five reels and 25 pay lines to help maximize your bets. Beyond the betting features, the game features everything that reminds you of Christmas.

Snow falls down the reels continuously. Santa appears frequently. And being the wild, he can replace all other icons to form winning symbols. Then there are gingerbread houses, bells, snacks and a collection of letters designed from the branches of a Christmas tree.

Being a Netent game, Secrets of Christmas comes with an incredible 96.7% payout rate. But surprisingly, it’s not the best paying slot out there. Some of the best new slots have higher return to player rates. That means these games pay up more frequently than most slot machines, giving you better odds of winning.

Santa Surprise

Playtech’s Santa Surprise is yet another slot machine designed for the holiday season. It stars Santa as the gift that keeps giving, with you being the recipient. It’s a five-reel video slot with high-quality graphics and melodious soundtracks.

Needless to say, the objective of Santa Surprise is to trigger similar symbols on the five reels. Triggering Santa, for example, comes with a reward of 10,000x your stake. If you match scatter symbols, you get free spins to extend your playtime.

If you trigger Santa’s wrapped gifts, they blast open to reveal cash prizes. You might not win thousands of dollars from these gifts, but you could get enough money to buy a decent gift for your friends this festive season.

Secret Santa

If you think being Santa is a fun and easy job, try Secret Santa. This browser game doesn’t boast of having the best graphics. But it has an incredible story, one that might make you feel about Santa’s job differently.

The game’s objective is to help Santa deliver as many gifts as he can within a specific timeframe. To spice things up, you also need to protect Father Christmas from trigger-happy gun owners who are not very welcoming of Santa. There are also bear traps to avoid and bearing the heavy basket consisting of gifts to give out.

After you complete all missions in the browser game, consider playing the card and slot games also called Secret Santa. The two games challenge you to try new things, but they both challenge you to presume the role of Father Christmas.

Overwatch: Winter Wonderland

One of the best multiplayer games in the world also happens to be an excellent holiday game. In Winter Wonderland, Overwatch dresses in-game characters festive clothes; it turns landscapes snowy and introduces two new missions to celebrate the holiday season.

The missions star two mythical creatures: Mei, a female protagonist and Yeti, the mythical creature from Nepal, as the villain. Mei comes with a tremendously dangerous snowball you can use to shoot an enemy instantly. But it’s only one snowball, so you need to use it carefully. She also comes with a super-powerful gun that has an unlimited supply of ammo.

Yeti, on the other hand, stays in his native home of Nepal. In Overwatch, the Yeti Hunter mission involves hunting the mythical mountainous giant with five Mei characters. That makes it a five vs one game with the Yeti having significantly more powerful features.

Jazz Jackrabbit: Holiday Hare

Epic’s Jazz Jackrabbit was one of the best holiday games in the 1990s. It’s still a great game to date. And considering it’s free to download, you can always try it out this festive season. Jazz Jackrabbit initially featured jazz music. But after the addition of Christmas themes, it now features Jingle Bells, Silent Night and The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Being a Christmas game, Jazz Jackrabbit’s missions take place in a snowy landscape. There are lots of Christmas trees, red and white poles and numerous decorations. For better or for worse, the game’s missions aren’t so Christmas-ey. You’ll be helping Jackrabbit kill monkeys, ski turtles, mongrels and devil-like creatures.

Batman: Arkham Origins

As rumours continue to emerge about what will be included in the next Batman game, revisit one of the best Batman games of all time. Set on the day before Christmas, Arkham Origins features curiously ripped characters.

Batman is a wanted man, and there’s a $50 million bounty on his head. Lucky for you, Batman still has all his superpowers intact. As such, it shouldn’t be challenging to fight off the dozens of criminals battling for your head.

At the same time, you need to protect Gotham from criminals who somewhat don’t fear Batman anymore. Also, there are lots of puzzles to solve, gifts to collect a wealth of more side missions that make the game gripping.

The Takeaway

Board games are great for the holiday season. But if you are thinking of sticking to online games, there are still many titles with festive themes to consider. Some of them, like Overwatch, are multiplayer games you could enjoy with your friends. Others are classics bound to invoke nostalgia.