The 7 best snow levels in games

Domagoj Belancic

25/7/2024

Translation: Julia Graham

Turn down the heat. It’s time for a gaming compilation of my seven favourite winter levels.

I can’t take it any more. The temperature in my office is going through the roof. Even my huge fan and ice-cold drinks aren’t cooling me down.

To distract myself from the unbearable heat, I cast my mind back to my favourite winter levels. These seven snow landscapes chilled me to my core and etched themselves in my mind.

7) It Takes Two: Snow Globe

In the co-op game It Takes Two, you play one of the two main characters, May or Cody, along with another gamer. After the birth of their daughter Rose, the couple drifted apart and are about to get divorced.

Rose wants the two of them to get along again and accidentally transforms her parents into small wooden dolls using a magic book. The couple then have to work together, albeit reluctantly, and make their way through various miniature levels in order to reverse the curse.

I really liked the snow globe level in this crazy adventure game. The magic book transports May and Cody into a tacky souvenir they bought on holiday in the mountains.

While in the globe, they remember times they’d spent together in the winter landscape. It’s an important moment in the story that brings May and Cody a significant step closer. With all the snow, winter music and tacky lighting, there’s also a bit of a Christmas feel to the air.

In terms of gameplay, you can expect all kinds of clever cooperative puzzles with magnets, snow and ice, as well as high-speed skating races and wild snowball fights. It’s an all-round successful winter package. In fact, I’d liked to have spent even more time in the magical snow globe.

6) The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Snowpeak Ruins

The fifth dungeon in Twilight Princess wows with its unusual setting. Rather than puzzling and fighting my way through pompous temples or shrines, I venture across a bog-standard villa in the mountains. Although «standard» is perhaps a bit of an understatement.

Two yeti-like creatures who live on this huge estate have been affected by a cursed artefact. A magic mirror lured nasty monsters into the house and made Mrs Yeti seriously ill. In order to rid the house of the monstrous infestation, I have to solve lots of classic Zelda puzzles full of snow and slippery, icy surfaces.

Along the way, I collect ingredients on the estate for Mr Yeti so he can cook his wife a delicious soup. How sweet is that? I love how the game tells a small, heart-warming story of a sweet yeti couple as part of this winter setting.

I also find one of the coolest items in this game within its icy villa – the morning star. Amongst other things, this huge weapon helps me in the boss fight, where I have to defeat the monster version of Mrs Yeti to free her from the curse of the mirror. A crowning conclusion for one of my absolute favourite Zelda dungeons.

5) Metroid Prime: Phendrana Drifts

I love Metroid Prime. Playing as bounty hunter Samus Aran, I roam a strange planet (Tallon IV) full of grotesque aliens and try to find out what happened on this abandoned heavenly body. I feel isolated, lost and alone.

And yet, the hordes of biomes in the game give off an inviting atmosphere. I want to explore every square centimetre of the extensive levels and uncover every secret.

The Phendrana Drifts are particularly stunning. This part of the planet is home to icy ruins, snowstorms and nasty ice monsters. I. Love. This. Level. Not even necessarily because of the concrete game content and puzzles. While they’re excellent, they’re still not significantly better than in the other sections of Tallon IV.

Nope, what sets Phendrana apart from the rest of the game is the freaking music. It’s mysterious. Eerie. Alien. And most of all, cold. It’s as though I’ve opened a huge door to a walk-in freezer. Brrr.

4) Grand Theft Auto V: Bury the Hatchet (mission 56)

The game world of GTA V is actually known for its summery vibe, hardly surprising given the fictional city of Los Santos is based on sunny Los Angeles. However, for two of the missions, the game takes me to a snowy winter landscape in North Yankton.

In the prologue, I witness a bank heist go awry with the two anti-heroes Trevor and Michael. But this was all planned, as the latter is working with the Feds and betrayed his accomplices to escape a life of crime. Most of the gang end up dead. Trevor escapes, while Michael fakes his death and stages his funeral with police in the aftermath of the attack.

Years later, Trevor and Michael meet again in Los Santos. After his initial joy about the reunion, Trevor becomes more sceptical. What really happened that night in North Yankton? In one of the later missions in the game, Trevor flies to North Yankton to find out who’s really buried in Michael’s grave. The latter follows him to «his» grave and the situation in the cemetery escalates.

It’s one of the few moments where the game really takes its story seriously. No exaggerated violence, satire or «silly» humour. It just got real. A cemetery covered in snow in the dead of night. Two former friends who could potentially kill each other. What a great contrast to the sunny and laid-back atmosphere in Los Santos. I’d have liked to have completed a few more missions in the gloomy winter world of North Yankton.

3) Uncharted 2: A Rock and a Hard Place (chapter 1)

What an incredible start to a game. As well as being one of the best snow levels, the first chapter of Uncharted 2 is also one of the best intro levels of all time.

Treasure hunter Nathan Drake wakes up in a wrecked train. He’s sitting disoriented in a compartment. Where is he? How did he get here? He looks down. His upper body is bloodstained. «That’s a lot of blood,» he whispers with his face contorted in pain. Nathan gazes outside onto a landscape that looks weird, somehow. Literally. Something’s not quite right here.

Suddenly, loose objects fall backwards through the train. Nathan’s seat slackens and he’s also thrown towards the back door. By a whisker, he manages to hold on to a railing. The camera zooms out and reveals the train’s hanging over a cliff.

How on earth did this happen? There’s no time to think. Nathan only has a few minutes to somehow get up and away to safety. Although this section «only» really acts as a tutorial, it’s so well staged my heart races while playing.

Once Drake makes it onto the cliff, there’s a short flashback to somewhere tropical. The contrast couldn’t be greater. This cutscene raises more questions than it answers. After the flashback, I’m transported back to the snowy landscape, having to punch and shoot through the freezing cold with a visibly battered hero.

At the end of the sequence, Nathan finds treasure and collapses in the snow, gravely injured. I only find out what happens next after a few hours of playing time, as we don’t come back to the snow level again until chapter 15 (of 25). Hats off to Naughty Dog for this brilliant kick-off to the game. It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with the Uncharted series and its studio in general.

2) The Last of Us: Lakeside Resort

Winter. A word that gives The Last of Us fans goosebumps. It’s one of those gaming moments that’ll stay in my memory forever.

After fighting my way through the post-apocalyptic world of The Last of Us for nine or ten hours as Joel, I suddenly have to control the small, petite Ellie for this game section. The reason being? Joel is dying from a life-threatening injury.

Ellie chases rabbits and deer in the forest to get food and meets cannibal David. He promises Ellie he can get medicine for Joel. After they fend off a horde of mushroom zombies together, she begins to trust him. The next morning, however, she realises that David and his gang have traced her back to Joel because of tracks in the snow.

From that moment on, Ellie has to fight for survival against a group of grown men. She’s not as strong as Joel. I have to hide well and take out any enemies. The difference in physical strength between Ellie and David’s men is nerve-wracking. Eventually, Ellie is captured.

The brilliant finale of the winter level takes place in the cannibals’ village and is one of the most intense I’ve ever played. Ellie tries to escape. Joel stumbles about and looks for her. The relentless snowstorm really hinders my vision and makes the stealth gameplay even more nerve-wracking. By the end of this emotional roller coaster ride, I’m sitting sobbing in front of the TV.

1) Super Mario 64: Cool, Cool Mountain

Right off the bat, I knew which winter level had to take first place. Cool, Cool Mountain in Super Mario 64 is one of the most iconic video game levels ever.

There’s so much to discover on the snowy mountain. I probably spent most of my childhood on the ice rink slide. I’m not exactly sure what fascinated me about it, but I slid down the same route over and over again. I also loved racing the penguin.

Obviously, the mission where I have to bring a lost baby penguin back to its mum is also legendary. Come on. Admit it! You’ve thrown the baby off the cliff too.

I’m fascinated by the verticality of the design across the board. The winter level really feels like a mountain to climb. One you can fall down very quickly if you’re not careful because of slippery surfaces and narrow paths.

And then there’s the music. Oh my God, this music. Listening to the soundtrack is like stepping into an ice-cold time machine.

Domagoj Belancic

Senior Editor

Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.ch

My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.

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