Weirdly enough I always end up playing Resident Evil in the summer, probably why I’m posting about it. Been a thing since I first played it back in the day, it was summertime in I think 1996 and I remember having a wicked headache on the day I rented Resident Evil 1, oddly enough.
And it’s kind of funny because I think the events of 1,2,3 take place in and around summer into fall.
So any game you set aside for a special season? Like Christmas Nights is the perfect winter game.
Metroid Prime in winter. When it came out I had a crappy job that was a 90 minute bus ride from my home (an unfinished basement with a TV, couch, and mattress on the floor), and it was a night shift, so the 2 hour return bus only got me a 30 minute walk away from home. Needless to say, it was unpleasant when temps got below -25°F.
There was a 7-Eleven two thirds of the way home to warm up in, and I bought a tray of nachos and
(CW: FOOD)
cheese sauce
every night. It was halfway frozen when I got home, but I heated it up in the microwave, chowed down, and played Metroid Prime until I passed out.
Resident Evil 1’s majestic full-motion videos were filmed on an extremely muggy summer night so that tracks!!!
I try to replay Lost Planet Extreme Condition when the snow comes on, bit of a vibe game when it comes to environments. Also I played Shaun White Snowboarding long ago on PS3 as a kid, been wanting to try it again as well as a few other xtreeeem sports games. (Pro Skater 2X, Amped)
Pro Skater 2X
best Anthony Hawk Professional Skateboarder. 2 (and X is just a refined version with extras and better UI like the grind balance meter) is like the platonic ideal to me of a sequel improving on its predecessor in every way to me. The whole series was enjoyable to me through AW, but 2 is just so pure and I felt like it got a little too ungrounded after they introduced reverts in 3.
Yeah I saw there’s an Xbox exclusive version of what’s meant to be DA BESS ANHONY HAWK and I had to grab. Reverts do weird things to the gameplay?
They’re kinda fun gameplay wise honestly, but they effect the game design in a weird way because since suddenly every vert air can combo into a revert and manual and continue nearly indefinitely if you’re good enough skill wise and your skater has high stats, some of the high score challenges and combo goals start getting kind of ridiculous to compensate the further into the games you get.
I vaguely remember one the last parts in Underground on sick difficulty has you do like a 2,000,000 point combo while you hit like every gap/obstacle in the New Jersey level where I was just like “haha this is bullshit.” (I know there are really good THPS players that can do 9 figure combos routinely, but it’s a really steep difficulty curve for a broad audience.)
2 has manuals to link street combos, but vert airs are basically reserved for big spin+flip+grab airs and high point special moves, and the high scores are more about creatively navigating the levels with manuals between grinds and getting multipliers from gaps instead of just doing “robot lines” with like 50 reverts anywhere. Some of the later games’ additions like double/triple tap trick modifiers, flat ground tricks, grind modifiers, spine/hip transfers improved elements of the gameplay, but they kinda jumped the shark with Underground imo with on foot sections and gimmick vehicle bits. From a gameplay design standpoint, 2 is the most focused and polished with the least clutter.
spoiler
Sorry for the wall of text lmao, I played a ton of those games growing up and have Opinions™️ about them
Ah I see, huh… that 2mil combo reminds me of the NG+ score challenges in Bomb Rush Cyberpunk, funny
Most of the rest of this tracks with what I hear about THPS though, nifty. Never saw the appeal in Underground, lmao. Thank you for the wall of text though =)
The most recent THPS 1+2 remake is really solid and is much more in line with the first 3 games design wise if that’s your cup of tea. They basically kept all the nice mechanical additions of 3 and 4 and left all the janky shit from Underground onward behind. Plus they added new more recent pros and put Leo Baker in the game who’s
and it made 
mad, which was fun
I live in the tropics so i just replay farcry 3 throughout the year
In January i get a hankering for playing The Long Dark
Lost Planet is my favorite snowy game, even though I mentioned Winter Nights Into Dreams. LP1 just has that snowed in vibe.
I tend to reinstall Frostpunk in the depressing January/February part of winter lol
Usually I play more summer-like games in the winter, or I used to, now that winters around here are more like fall due to climate change I don’t.
I have always had pretty mild winters where I live, but hearing the heater run and putting on more clothes to walk the dog puts me in the dour survival game mood lol.
You should try one of the Boku no Natsuyasumi (My Summer Vacation) games since there’s some English patches now!
The many smells of fall bring memories, so I find myself playing nostalgic games more around that time. Just downloaded Jedi Outcast and I’m gonna mod it until it’s unrecognizable. I remember being so excited for the sequel as a kid that I was actually happy to be suspended from school because even if I now couldn’t play it, I could at least go home and read the manual a few hours earlier. Ah, manual reading. Kids these days don’t know the joy of irritating your dad by reading your new video game manual/comic on the night drive home.
Night in the Woods every fall, self explanatory
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King around Christmas, because my sister and I would do coop mode during our winter breaks growing up. It’s not an every year thing but every few years I’ll pull it out for that and play with my wife
Disco Elysium in late Feb early March to line up with the vibe of the game
I checked the thread to see if anybody else said Night in the Woods, figured somebody would. I also like to play it whenever fall rolls around .
I tend to install Skyrim in December. It feels right in that time.
It came out in a November - pretty comfy time for that game
For a few years now I’ve picked up dominions when the winter blues hit and then play it until I’m sick of that shit in spring with the last of that season’s games wrapping up in the summer.
Stardew valley is autumn game, I don’t make the rules.
Dwarf fortress for winter.
I love little bits like this that people have. When I was younger I used to always play Morrowind in May/June around exam studying time. Was a tradition for a good 4-5 years through high school, and have a couple times since despite not writing an exam for idk how long. Still get the urge to play it around that time every year
Damn, I remember feeling this way about a game in the past but I don’t remember what it was. Tip of my tongue kind of feeling.
Not on purpose exactly, but the week or two before christmas tends to have some of the laziest/comfiest vibes and I wind up breaking out the emulators for perennial favorites like Super Metroid.
I frequently want to replay Banjo-Kazooie around Christmas, at least up until Freezezy Peak but usually end up finishing the whole game over a weekend. Snowboard Kids 2 is another really comfy nostalgic winter game to play around the holidays.
Resi is one I’d break out at least once a year. I play the romhacked True directors cut (puts in the uncensored colour fmvs and a few new modes)
Silent hill I tend to play in the fall
