As that Yuletide time of year comes creping back from the depths of Winter, we the gamers, often find ourselves adorned with digital gifts to get us in the festive spirit. Whether it is a special Xmas weapon, or a full game mode, we will often find developers making an effort to bring the Christmas season to their games. Here is a list of some of the best Christmas events. For the sake of this collection, only events that change the games environment, character models and skins, game mechanics, or playstyle count. DLC Santa hats, and Elf Costumes do not count as an in game event.

Battlefield 4

As a new contender, Battlefield 4 does a pretty good job of creating festive cheer, with Snowmobiles with Reindeer Antlers, health and ammo boxes all wrapped up nice with a bow, and of course giant baubles hanging from the evergreens.

As well as character models, weapon skins and snowmen, the map also has changed lighting to set he mood right for Christmas. To find this holiday based mayhem, you must play on the Community Test Environment of Battlefield 4.

Wurm Online

Wurm Online is a great settler themed building MMO. With terraforming allowing you to landscape, building that allows you to make yourself a home, and creatures that to fight you must train for weeks prior. Wurm is another title that loves to remind you that Christmas is near. During the winter season, Snow fall will blanket the floors of the forests and beaches that you dwell on.

With recent changes to the game, the seasons in Wurm are now actually sped up, meaning that snow will fall a lot more often, but as the game was a few years ago, A Santa type  man would appear in the market and would give presents to players who had been playing for a while. If you were new though, Santa would deem you worthy of the naughty list and you would not receive any gifts.  To add to all these, you could make yourself a Christmas tree, eat from a Smorgasbord (which makes the whole hunting and foraging for food aspect a lot easier) and the design on the player built houses would be covered with wreaths and other decorations.

Animal Crossing

I sort of feel like this is cheating, but any Animal Crossing game should definitely go in the list due to its strong attempts to match seasonal holidays. Any who play Animal Crossing will know that seasonal changes in game are all part of the fun, and most holidays are accommodated for in some degree, but the Christmas time festivities certainly bring about a cheerful mood. Whether you are rolling snowballs to make them big enough for your snowman, or just giving presents to your villagers, there is loads of Winter fun to be had. Designing your house is a huge part of Animal Crossing, so when decorations appear for your abode, it’s an easy way of sprucing up your pad in the theme of Christmas.

World Of Warcraft

As many MMOs usually follow the trend of seasonal changes and events, it feels sort of unfair to single out WoW alone, but it certainly knows how to handle the season in its own way. The Feast of The Winter Veil is WoWs answer to Christmas, and will have its players running around doing side quests, talking to their own take on Santa, Greatfather Winter, and checking under trees for presents. With plenty of snow covered locations, it is easy to set yourself up for Christmas in WoW.

GTA Online

Snow In Lost Santos is a  real rare treat. Making snowballs and throwing them at players and civilians is another rare treat. With the second year of GTA Onlines Xmas events now here, it’s the best time to join your friends for some Yuletide fun. With special crate drops that are festively themed too, it’s almost as fun as tearing open presents in real life. A huge amount of GTA Onlines content has been released over time, and these events are part of what keeps the game alive. The fact that they utilise these seasonal events as a way of adding more content is great, and with so many options available already, it makes Christmas in Lost Santos feel even more special. Especially since If you log in on Christmas Day you will find a gift.

Upon researching this topic, I found countless games that either have Festive Easter Eggs, or that embrace the holiday spirit in some other way, so let us know what Christmas Events are your favourite.