Looking for a game to celebrate the winter holidays with a cosy vibe and a festive atmosphere taking place in a rural lil’ US town? We have one for you, with the new Lake Season’s Greetings DLC. After the highly successful Lake, released back in September 2021, fans have been begging for a sequel. Well, the Season’s Greetings DLC might indeed fill up that void. Let’s get behind the wheel and see what makes this game stand out.

First and foremost, while it’s not necessary to play the base Lake game before the DLC, it will definitely improve the experience. You’ll be more familiar with characters and their backstories, and be able to better understand their relationships. While Lake takes place in late 1986, Season’s Greetings begins on December 23, 1985. The DLC features Lake’s main character, Meredith, father, Thomas Weiss, spending his winter holidays in snowy and festive Providence Oaks.

The story itself is easy-going and shows Thomas delivering mail all around town, plus various unique interactions with all the characters. With a variation of humorous, blunt, sarcastic, and empathetic dialogue options, you’re free to interact with each NPC in the way you want. You’re free to support and talk more with characters you like and keep conversations short with those you don’t. Also, without spoiling anything, you have various dialogue options available that allow you to alter how the story progresses and get different endings. Another important thing to consider is duration. Lake: Season’s Greetings takes about 5 hours to beat, quite close to the base game.

As for the gameplay, you’ll mostly be driving the mail van around town and delivering mail. What makes the game shine is that driving is very relaxing; then again you’re in a rural town, there’s no traffic, and you can park anywhere. The best part is that there’s amazing snowy scenery all around you to gaze at while driving, as well as a radio station with various unique festive tunes.

The gameplay is slow, simple, and easy-going, so you can mostly relax while behind the wheel. Something to avoid in real life, for sure. The vibe is similar to the base game, thus if you enjoyed Lake, you’re bound to enjoy the Season’s Greetings DLC. The goal of Season’s Greetings is to create the ultimate stress-free atmosphere while also adding the winter holiday vibe.

Content-wise, the game doesn’t go very deep. There’s one game mode and it takes about 5 hours to beat. It has some replayability since there are different endings you can pursue based on your current dialogue options. Additionally, it can be fun to explore how you can alter your relationship with each character.

What makes the game stand out is the variety of characters. Many fan-favorite characters return from the previous game, such as Angie, Kay, and Maureen while also having some new additions like Connor Price, Gabe, and Ilsa. Every character feels unique and has a distinctive personality, while you also get the chance to understand and even affect the various relationships between them.

Graphically, the game provides the image of a picturesque winter wonderland. Snow everywhere, festive decorations on each house and store, and a fireplace burning in every house serve to create the perfect winter atmosphere. Even as you’re driving around, everything feels so peaceful and quiet in this vast and amazing landscape. In terms of performance, the games ran smoothly during my playthrough, with no FPS drops or other issues.

Audio is also a stand-out, with voices fitting the characters perfectly, and the radio filled with various festive tunes to listen to while driving. Also no, no Mariah, luckily, she hadn’t yet unleashed that beast. If you prefer, you can turn the radio off and enjoy the ambiance in total quiet, with only the tires of your car and the wind as companions. The only issue is that occasionally while playing the Lake Season’s Greetings DLC review copy, the audio was cut off due to a bug and either the music or some dialogue went completely silent for a few seconds.

Overall, if you enjoyed the base game or simply want an overall relaxing winter holiday experience, Lake: Season’s Greetings is a must-try. The scenery is beautiful, the characters are unique, and while you will meet everyone, you’re free to interact more with the ones you like. With the small exception of the audio bug I’ve faced, the game feels flawless video and audio-wise.

Lastly, the only thing to keep in mind is that this simple, relaxing, and easy-going story and gameplay might not be for everyone. It can definitely feel too slow if you’re not in the mood, although that wasn’t an issue for me. After all, this Lake Season’s Greetings DLC review is, to some extent, objective. If you’re looking for something with more content, check out our My Time at Sandrock review. This game has over 100 hours of gameplay and is a must-try for life-sim fans.

To wrap this up, if you’re looking for a relaxing experience to spend a few hours in a cosy and relaxing winter wonderland, this game is a must-try and I highly recommend trying it out. This is especially true if you enjoyed the base game, since they share many of the best features.

Our Lake: Season’s Greetings DLC review was made possible with a Steam key provided by Whitehorn Games. Lake: Season’s Greetings is available on Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X|S.