Our Picks For The Top 5 Games With Holiday Events in 2020

With the holidays about to wrap up for the 2020 season, we thought it would be a good time to take a look and revisit some of the top games that allow players to celebrate the holidays within the game with their very own in-game holiday events! Some of these games may not be the most popular right now, but they’ve definitely got a lot of holiday spirit and that makes them top games in my book! With the increasing popularity of these holiday events, I’m sure we’ll start to see even more of them in the near future. Maybe we’ll eventually get a holiday event for Cyberpunk 2077 if the game is ever able to fully recover from its horrendous launch; though I don’t think we should get too ahead of ourselves. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at our top 5 games with holiday events in 2020!

5. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Celebrate Yuletide in true viking style from Thursday, 17 December 2020 to Thursday, 7 January 2021 with the Yule Festival Event!”

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla released earlier this year in November and already it’s brought us some new and festive content! The Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Yule Festival allows players to participate in several events such as the Braun’s Folly, Twirling Targets, and Yule Brawl events, as well as seasonal quests, all at their in-game settlement! You can even redeem Yule tokens – earned by completing seasonal events and quests – to obtain festive items including:

• Mōdraniht Ceremonial Shield
• Mōdraniht Ceremonial Seax
• Mōdraniht Ceremonial Robe
• Mōdraniht Ceremonial Trousers
• Mōdraniht Ceremonial Cape
• Mōdraniht Ceremonial Headress
• Mōdraniht Ceremonial Bracers

You can also pick up some unique Settlement Ornaments like the:

• Cozy Fire Pit
• Ritual Tree Ornaments
• Sacrificial Altar
• Traditional Yule Garland
• Yule Beech Tree

If you’re into tattoos, there are also 4 new tattoo schemes available including the Mōdraniht tattoo scheme for head, chest, back, and arms! Be sure to grab your Yule Festival rewards before this in-game holiday event ends on January 7, 2021!

4. Sea of Thieves

 The Outpost taverns have been dressed in jolly decorations – it’s time for the season of giving! Mysterious gifts of unknown origin have appeared throughout the Sea of Thieves, and Stitcher Jim has tasked crews with retrieving them.”

A surprising entry to be sure, but a welcome one! Sea of Thieves brings players a brand new content update for the holiday season with the Festival of Giving update! So let’s take a look at what the game has to offer now!

• Gift Seeker Voyages: Skeleton crews have begun to seek out the scattered gifts and hoard them at Skeleton Forts. Stitcher Jim offers players Gift Seeker Voyages to investigate the Forts and retrieve these gifts, but beware – rumors tell of the vicious Mutinous Helmsman protecting the hoard…
  • All Gift Seeker Voyages are available only for the duration of the Festival of Giving update
• Gift Seeker of Legend Voyages: Pirate Legend crews are tasked with a more deadly Voyage to retrieve guaranteed high-value gifts. While the stakes are higher, Legends must prepare to face off against a harder encounter with both the Two-Faced Scoundrel and The Duchess defending their hoards
  • The Gift Seeker of Legend Voyage is available only for the duration of the Festival of Giving update
• Washed-Up Gifts: Players will not find both Humble and Generous Gifts washed up around the world!
• Mercenary Commendations and Rewards: A range of Mercenary Commendations are available to unlock by participating in the Gift Seeker Voyages offered by Jim, earning players Doubloons to spend in the Black Market.
  • All Mercenary Voyage Commendations, Doubloons, and Title are available only for the duration of the Festival of Giving update
• Ashen Skeleton Forts: Crews warn of ominous Red Skull Clouds appearing on the horizon. By engaging with these Skeleton Forts, crews will fight through enemy waves and encounter Ashen Key Masters or Ashen Guardians before finally facing a Skeleton Lord! Upon their defeat, Skeleton Lords will not only drop the Fort Key but a set of Skeleton Orders leading to a stash hidden somewhere nearby. In addition to regular Fort rewards, crews will find guaranteed Ashen Chests along with gifts to be returned to The Reaper’s Hideout!
  • Ashen Skeleton Forts will still be available after the Festival of Giving update, allowing players to take on the challenge at any time!
• Ashen Guardian and Ashen Key Master Sightings: Stitcher Jim and the Outpost stores both have new stocks of Ashen cosmetics, rewarding players for collecting the next volume of Ashen Tomes hidden inside recovered Ashen Chests. In the Festival of Giving update, players can recover Tomes of Power, allowing access to new Commendations and cosmetics including items from the clothing, weapon, item, and ship sets. Players will continue to find Tomes of Curses to allow access to previous Ashen cosmetics.
• Ashen Treasures Commendations and Rewards: Volume 2: Stitcher Jim and the Outpost stores both have new stocks of Ashen cosmetics, rewarding players for collecting the next volume of Ashen Tomes hidden inside recovered Ashen Chests.
  • All Ashen Treasure Commendations and rewards will become a permanent addition to the Outpost shops after the Festival of Giving update.
• Ashen Treasures Achievements: A range of Xbox achievements have been added for unlocking in-game Commendations. A total of 35 gamerscore is available to earn from this update, and these achievements will persist in the game for future updates. You can find a list of the achievements and their gamerscore amount here!

3. Pokemon GO

Pokemon GO has a holiday event for just about every holiday you can think of and more! This year is no different with the brand new Pokemon GO New Year’s Event will allow you to catch and evolve several holiday-themed Pokemon including Slowpoke, Slowbro, Pichu, Pikachu, Raichu, Raticate, Wobbuffet, and Wurmple! Fun fact: if you evolve a Slowpoke wearing 2020 glasses, he will evolve into a Slowbro wearing 2021 glasses!

2. Destiny 2

This one may be a bit controversial as there’s been quite a lot of unrest in the Destiny community in regards to The Dawning, the annual Winter event in Destiny 2. This year, there’s still more of the same: collect ingredients for cookies, bake said cookies in a holiday oven given to you by Eva Levante (aka “Space Grandma”), deliver said cookies to vendors across the system, obtain sub-par rewards from those vendors, rinse, repeat. This time around, Bungie has implemented a community event that requires players to bake cookies for specific vendors and generate an insane amount of “Dawning Spirit.” Dawning Spirit is generated by completing various chores and bounties throughout the game. All you really need to do is grab those bounties and play the game as you typically would, though for a while it looked like players were set to fail this year’s event until Bungie stepped in and tripled the progress on Dawning Spirit generation. Thanks, Bungie! There’s some pretty cool cosmetics and triumphs that are worth grinding for if you’re a completionist! Plus you can throw snowballs at your friends in the Tower and annoy the heck out of them!

1. Fortnite

Coming in at #1, we’ve got Fortnite and its Winter holiday event – Operation Snowdown. Fortnite has been arguably the biggest game of the last couple of years and its incredibly unique limited-time game modes definitely attribute to its success. Operation Snowdown is no exception as it introduces plenty of new skins, some fan-favorite skins return, and covers the entire map in snow! There’s also a load of new challenges that come with the event that allow players to earn winter-themed cosmetics! Definitely not one to miss out on if you’re a fan of Fortnite!

Image Credits: Epic Games, Ubisoft, We Play Mobile