The holiday season can mean only one thing in gaming… the arrival of festive holiday-themed game modes and content for some of our favourite games. Here are some you might not want to miss this year…
GEAR 5 - GEARSMAS 2020
Gearsmas looks set to bring a bunch of fun limited-time game modes to Gears 5. First up in week 1 are the One Shot, One Kill and Jingle Juvies modes with a Showball fight promised for week 2.
Although One Shot, One Kill is a fairly stock game mode with no festive theming added to it, Jungle Juvies is a special 20 Wave Horde mode on the Icebound level. Fight off waves of antler-wearing juvies and some of their friends. All while wearing rather fetching Santa Claus hats.
A series of Gearsmas tour objectives have also been added. Complete all of them to unlock a Father Christmas Marcus Fenix. Or there are plenty of other skins and other cosmetics to purchase from the store.
Overwatch - WINTER WONDERLAND 2020
Overwatch’s Winter Wonderland has become a mainstay of the holiday gaming events over the last few years and all of last year’s limited-time game modes are returning again this year, so Yeti Hunt, Mei’s Snowball Offensive and Snowball Deathmatch all make an appearance.
Plus there is one new addition in the form of Freezethaw Elimination – a new 4 vs 4 game mode where eliminated players become frozen. Frozen players can be thawed out to return to the action by team mates but if all team members become frozen, the round is over.
And, of course, there is the usual plethora of new skins, emotes and voicelines to unlock, although 3 of the skins are available for 1 week only and need to be unlocked by winning games that week.
ROCKET LEAGUE - Frost FEST
Yet another returning holiday event, Frost Fest is now into its fourth year and brings with it event challenges to be completed in order to unlock various festive items. You also might even find the odd free item appearing in the Item Shop.
Three limited-time game modes will be appearing throughout the event. Winter Breakaway, a brand new mode, will be the first to appear. Players will need to master the art of scoring one-timer and wraparound goals in an arena that resembles a hockey rink.
In subsequent weeks, Spike Rush and then Heatseeker will also be returning from previous years.
DESTINY 2 - THE DAWNING
Continuing the theme of annual events that are back for another year, The Dawning is back again. This year, Guardians need to raise everyone’s spirits by earning Dawning Spirit. If the community earn enough Dawning Spirit, festive rewards await.
Eva Levante will be back at The Tower to offer players the Holiday Oven, which they can use to bake ingredients collected by defeating enemies to make holiday cookies. The more holiday cookies delivered, the more Dawning Spirit will be generated. Complete weekly and daily bounties to earn even more Dawning Spirit.
HYPER SCAPE - WINTER FESTIVAL
No new game modes have been added for Hyper Scape’s Winter Festive event. Instead, the Hyper Scape Hub and the city of Neo-Arcadia have received a festive and wintery make-over.
A range of seasonal cosmetics, such as outfits, weapon skins and emotes, have been added so you can look suitably festive while battling for the crown.
MineCRAFT DUNGEONS - CHILLS AND THRILLS
The Chills and Thrills seasonal event will add a range of new trials. Complete the series of unique challenges in exchange for exclusive rewards. One such reward will be a new Arctic Fox armor but there will surely be many other new items and gear.
Apex LEGENDS - HOLO-BASH DAY
Holo-Day Bash returns for a second year. No new game modes have been added this time around but last year’s Winter Express has received some tweaks to reduce the long respawn times that players could experience last time round.
For the uninitiated, Winter Expresss is a round-based game mode that sees 3 squads of 3 battle for control of the titular train as it makes its way across the map. There is no loot to grab as each Legend starts with their own persoanlised loadout.
New for this year, each squad will respawn on their own supply ship at the beginning of each round, while the squad to have just captured the train will get to stay aboard. Also a new station hs been added along the trains journey to make some of the distances a little more manageable.
On top of Winter Express, player’s can also look forward to range of new winter-themed cosmetics and unlockables.
FORTNITE - OPERATION SNOWDOWN
No list of seasonal events would be complete without an appearance by Fortnite. In the past they have had the 14 Days of Fortnite Winterfest but it was looking like this year was going to be a little more low-key with us having to settle for the new limited-time mode, The Spy Within, which is based off the popular Werewolves game and requires the 8 agents to try and learn the identies of the 2 spies trying to eliminate them, all set within a suitably festively decorated mall.
Then Epic dropped the Operation Snowdown event on us, which brings back a number of previous limited-time modes, such as Air Royale and Tilted Taxis, as well as one brand new mode, Shockwave, which sees players compete to knock each other into the (extra-strong) Storm as it shrinks.
Beyond that, there is the usual abundance of wintery-themed skins and items that you would expect Epic to bring to the party. Plus Snowmando will offer a series of Operation Snowdown quest that will reward players with festive items upon completion. Unlock the Snowmando himself by completing all of them.