Lake: Season’s Greetings [PC] | REVIEW

I absolutely LOVED Lake, with the idyllic town of Providence Oaks still standing out as one of my favourite locations in all of gaming. Spending time delivering post there as Meredith Weiss was both peaceful and addictive, whilst involving myself with the trials and tribulations of the townsfolk kept me fully invested in my stay. And the soundtrack? I still find myself singing the chorus to ‘Witchcraft’ over a year on from my playthrough.

I also just so happen to love Christmas, so getting to re-visit the town all over again but with added festivities in the newly released Season’s Greetings DLC has somehow made the experience even more wonderful.

Check out some screenshots down below:

Lake: Season’s Greetings takes place a year before Meredith’s visit to Providence Oaks, with players stepping into the shoes of her father Thomas Weiss as he performs his daily postman duties. Naturally, Thomas has a greater rapport with the townsfolk given how long he’s lived there, but age has made him somewhat cynical about his job and situation – something that was explored in his phone calls with Meredith the last time around. Still, it doesn’t stop him from joining in on the festivities in the town, and with both new and familiar faces to meet along the way, Lake: Season’s Greetings feels like a Christmas treat that plays on the strengths of the main game.

From a gameplay perspective, you’re going to find yourself doing a lot of the same sort of tasks that you did the last time around. You’ll still be driving across the town, delivering parcels, and completing the occasional odd job for those who need your help, whilst the story is pushed forward through interactions with characters where you’ll get to make choices that bring with them varied responses. You’ll get to dive into some activities outside of your working hours too, with Thomas’ social life arguably busier than Meredith’s. The game hasn’t re-invented itself with this DLC, so if you weren’t a fan of the somewhat ordinary role that you played the first time around, you won’t find your opinion changed here. But why fix what isn’t broken?

“I absolutely love Christmas, so getting to see Providence Oaks covered in snow and with Christmas decorations and lights displayed across homes was an absolute delight.”

Luckily, I was a BIG fan of the gameplay loop, whilst seeing the town from a different perspective as Thomas ensures that the experience felt refreshing. Whilst there are similarities between Thomas and Meredith (they are father and daughter after all), they have a different mindset when it comes to the situations that they find themselves in. It helps make the interactions with familiar characters all the more interesting (and you might even learn more about their personalities that didn’t shine through the last time around), whilst the new faces offer some memorable interactions. It can be comical, it can be emotional, and it can be peculiar, but it’s always believable, with the game’s cast still standing out as a bunch of somewhat ordinary folks that are just trying to live their best lives in Providence Oaks. The gameplay perfectly complements the story progression, with the peaceful nature of your daily tasks making Lake: Season’s Greetings all the more engrossing to play.

Much like the main game, you’ll also get different endings based upon the choices you make when playing, so don’t be surprised to find yourself going through multiple times to see everything. It’s a shorter experience than the last time around (this takes place over nine days instead of fourteen) so it’s an easier ask – given how interesting the narrative-driven aspects of the game are and how satisfying it is to simply deliver packages, it doesn’t feel like a chore anyway. I haven’t managed to see everything just yet though… I’m saving my second playthrough for a little closer to Christmas.

Check out some screenshots down below:

Want to know my favourite thing about Lake: Season’s Greetings? The festivity. Like I said, I absolutely love Christmas, so getting to see Providence Oaks covered in snow and with Christmas decorations and lights displayed across homes was an absolute delight. It’s already a picturesque town that’s full of wonderful sights, but when you add all of the Christmas cheer to the mix? You won’t ever want to leave.

And sure, the game still has some little flaws like the slow movement speed, the occasional graphical glitch, and the odd bug here and there (my audio cut out at one point when playing but fixed itself by the time I finished my deliveries), but there’s nothing that’ll ruin your experience.

Developer: Gamious
Publisher: Whitehorn Games
Platform(s): PC (Reviewed), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One
Website: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2450860/Lake__Seasons_Greetings/