Happy holidays, and welcome to geek First. Side Quest, your weekly stop
for video game news, reviews, rankings, and more. You're in the
geek First podcast network. I'm your host, the interloper Dell Musk, and
I have with me the ice Cold kirklem Patzer. How's it going with my
friend? It's going very good. Yeah, no, it's going very good.
Just December's here, it's already almost I guess we're still within the first
week. Whenever it like starts in the month, at the end of a
week, starting the next week. I just feel like I'm already two weeks
in. But I'm sure I'm gonna blink be blinking, and then it's gonna
be Christmas right around the corner. But yeah, no, I'm doing Yeah,
you're shattering the fourth wall because for the you know, free feed,
the audio listeners, the Spotify listeners, this is gonna be dropping like almost
likely on Christmas Day. I think the side Quest Tuesday falls like on Christmas
Day, so it'll really rely on that time. But of course, if
you support us over on Patreon, you could have got this episode, as
Kirkle has mentioned, like a good twenty days early. But yeah, this
is gonna be a fun episode here where we're just doing a ranking of ranking
the best snow levels in video games, the best winter levels, the best
snow levels, whatever you want to call it there, but this should be
pretty fun. We've been doing a lot of rankings recently. I mean,
me and Taylor did a ranking of all the Mario Kart courses, and then
before that, me and you did a ranking of the best video game titles
of all time. So I'm liking doing more of these rankings and I plan
to keep that going. Obviously to the arcane rankings. The game of the
year stuff's were releasing this month, so tons of ranking stuff recently, so
hopefully people are into that. I think it's you know, rankings are always
easily digestible, good fun content, and this is this is a fun topic
we have here, so I think we should just get right into it.
Because, as I said, we're pre recording this well in events, so
I don't know, I don't know what's going on in the world when this
episode's going out, but yeah, here we are. We're gonna be talking
about our favorite the best winter levels, snow levels. And right before we
started recording, you kind of mentioned that you know, going through a lot
of these, like a lot of them kind of have that holiday, that
Christmas vibe. Maybe a lot of like levels tend to have kind of more
sleigh bells in the soundtrack things like that, so it puts you in that
vibe. And so I think it's interesting looking at this because there is kind
of these For me, there's kind of the two sides of it. There's
that where it's like the cozy Christmas vibes of a snow level, and then
there's also just like the cold, cold, kind of calculated aesthetic of it.
You know, it's kind of more a simple color palette usually, and
when whatever there is in a level that like stands out more because of just
the rest levels all white or you know, obviously this is maybe more of
a wholesome thing generally, but also like a lot of games that have violence
and like blood, like oh blood on snow that's like prime right there,
that lights up like Christmas warden right there. So yeah, I know that
that's kind of the way I was looking at I feel like most of my
kind of either following these two separate camps, but I think there's all sorts
of things in between those but yeah, when you were going through this list,
like, was there a bunch of things that immediately came to your mind?
Did you have to do some research? How did you go about making
your kind of short list here? Yeah, I had just like quick fire
off the top of my head, like just certain ones that I've always just
thought of when I think of a snow map and not necessarily like a festive
one. And looking at my list now, I feel like majority of them
aren't aren't like they don't have anything to do with with a festive theme or
anything like that, but they just feel cold. They feel very atmospheric,
maybe like when I'm playing them, I just feel like my character is frozen
in those moments. And that's That's not necessarily true for all of the list,
but that's I would say like the underlining factor for the vast majority of
them is just really encompass what it feels like to be cold. And Yeah,
so unfortunately, no major I don't. I can't really think of too
many like festive games actually that like I could have pulled from. Maybe there's
something, Yeah, I feel like a lot of games that are very seasonal
based might have like a a Christmas event you know, like even in like
Marvel Snap they have like a bunch of Christmas variants, or like Overwatch,
I feel like always used to do that where they would, right, I
don't know if they would do snow variants on their maps or just like all
the characters have their like stumes, and I'm sure road Hog is like Santa
or something like that. It's actually remember that one. It's a weird Columbo
there, But yeah, I feel like that's kind of where things happen.
But there isn't too many like just strictly Christmas y games. I mean,
I'm sure there's a few out there, but in the way that like there
maybe isn't a ton of Halloween games, but there's a ton of horror games,
so they kind of are one and the same. I think that's kind
of where these snow levels come in. And and just to open it up
here, we're not just talking about like a specific like level from a Mario
game or something like. We were kind of going pretty vague with this.
So there are a lot of like open world games on my list, but
I think the goal for me and for you as well should be just like
try to be very specific if we're talking about a big open world game that
is mostly snow. Then we're like, we're trying to zoom in. We're
trying to zoom that scope in and get like one specific section or area down.
Uh, So we can talk about that as we as we go through
it. But yeah, any any other preamble, anything that you want to
I guess the how we're doing this is we're kind of doing in a similar
format to how we did the video game titles one, where we're both gonna
just keep lobbing out suggestions. We don't have a limit like we did for
that where we all did we both had to stick to fifteen. I have
twenty five on my list and a few honorable mentions. I think I'll mention
all of them. Will see, I might might skip a couple, but
I think a lot of them might be just kind of quick mentions. And
then we're gonna once again, once we have that big list of stuff,
then we're gonna shrink it down to a top ten and then and then a
rank it. And I gotta say too for me on the ranking side of
things like this list of twenty five whatever games, I really have no idea
which ones are gonna be top or bottom for me here and the way that
we came into that titles one and there was a couple that I'm like,
there's no way, SPLUNKI it's not making in the top ten. Like I
will not end the broadcast until I convinced Kirkland to put that well on there.
I don't think I have that for this. I don't know what are
my like easy slam dunk ones and which ones I need to deliberate on.
So I think it'll be a fun, way to fun one to go through.
I actually have twenty three on my list, so we okay, similar
numbers, so that's kind. I'm sure we'll have some overlap as well.
Yeah, so this is this is very exciting. But yeah, you wanna
you want to start us off? You want you throw it, I'll start
us off. Where do I want to go? Okay, this is one
that immediately I just knew it was gonna be on the list. I'm taking
the sky Rail level. I believe that was the level, or at least
the maps called from a double seven night Fire. That's the one with a
gondola that goes. We played it on Geeker's gauntlets, so there is footage
I do remember that map? Actual, Yeah, I don't know. Is
there actually gondole? I don't remember a gondola. Yeah, there's a there's
a gondola that just is constantly moving from like there's two bases, one that's
kind of at a higher elevation and then you can ride that down. And
I played that one so many times playing I don't know, just multiplayer or
against bots or whatnot, but just I've always loved the aesthetic of that.
I feel like mostly back in the day, I just liked it because of
the gondolas. It's like a moving a moving variable. That's that's new to
have it on a level like that. But yeah, this one, it's
it's completely winter theme. Oh there you go. That hat's coming off.
Are you getting warm? Yeah? It just did the sand hat over the
headphones. It's just not no anesthetic I'm vibing with. So for the intro,
I'm glad it is also very warm in this room right now. Yeah
it's winter, you look warm. But yeah, for this one, there's
two different skyrail maps actually on double seven Night Night Fire, and I believe
they're both wintry as well, So it's kind of okay, they're they're comparable
there, but yeah, kind of like Golden Eye kind of has like two
or three variants of each map, like the certain aesthetic. They just have
like a couple of different configurations. I guess. Yeah, I think they're
a lot more different than what the the Golden Eye variants are because those ones
are basically the exact same. It seems at least a handful of them.
What was it was like Library and another one that was all these ones that
I look pretty much the exact same. Yeah, Double seven, Night Night,
Night Fire, Skyrail. There we go, I was mixing up the
names there. Nice. I will throw in then another first person shooter competitive
map here. I'm gonna thro one Snowbound from Halo three. I feel like
Halo there's a lot of these sort of shooters that tend to have like maybe
one snow level in their midst and Halo three or I guess the Halo series
in general, I think is no stranger to that, and this is probably
the best one. And honestly, Halo three is such a strong game where
like some of my favorite all time like multiplayer competitive maps in that game.
So I don't know if Snowbound is at the top of my Halo three ranking.
But it's it's certainly a really nice Snow level. I think it kind
of has that element that I alluded to earlier, where you know, a
lot of snow everywhere it's like one color except for like these two I guess
Covenant bases that are like bright purple, right, and so they kind of
like are sticking up as the snow is kind of covering most of the map,
and a couple of these structures just like rise above it. So it
has like this really nice esthetic to it. And then even then there's like
ghosts and other vehicles on this map too that are kind of cruising around,
so I feel like it just really decorates it nicely. But yeah, it's
it's kind of got like you know, you can go inside and that's like
a bit of a reprieve from the cold, so to speak. But yeah,
it's always been just like a solid, a solid map and a good
classic snow level. That's funny. This is actually specifically the map that I
was looking for earlier that I wasn't able to find. I wasn't sure what
Halo game it was from, but I remember playing a specific Halo Snow made
or like, I don't think this was a Halo two one that was brought
over to Halo three, and I don't know if it was in like Reach
or anything else, so I feel like it might have just been in Halo
three and that was it. Okay, So yeah, I'm glad. I'm
glad you thought of that one because the other Snow level that I had brought
up from Halo this is from Halo one, Sidewinder. This is the level
where you're in the tank. I think you're you're in like the Scorpions for
basically the entire level, and uh yeah, I just remember playing through this
one so many times, really just loving it because I feel like that was
the first time I could like play in a tank like that in the Halo
game. So it was really great just introduction to that vehicle as well as
uh, I mean the whole maps it's snow, so there you go.
I don't know if I remember it because Halo one and two, like,
I've really just played the campaigns and so when it comes down to the competitive
maps like Halo two, I think a lot of those are brought over and
I played a little bit of that with friends, But yeah, I don't
think I've ever played on Sidewinder, but this looks well. Sidewinder is the
that's like the name of the mission itself. So okay, it's a single
mission. Okay, yeah, yeah, I don't remember this one, but
since I played Halo one, oh yeah, absolutely, I remember that one
so vividly because back on the original Xbox there was like a glitch that you
could like skip a checkpoint, so certain mobs just wouldn't spawn. And like
a friend who had it just showed it to me, and I just thought
it was I thought it was like hacks, like I didn't understand how those
But is that one going on the list too? Is that a top?
That was the one on my on my list because I couldn't think of the
other one that you mentioned, So yeah, I wouldn't mind throw it in
there, got the nostalgia factor for me. Why don't you throw another one?
All right? Out of here? I will bring up the Northern Wastes
from Fable to last chapter. Now, this isn't like a set level.
I just think like the overall aesthetic. I believe it was in the expansion
DLC, like the Lost Chapters portion of Fable. Yeah, because in my
mind I was like, I feel like I've seen Snow and Fable, but
like I went through all the areas on a wiki and I was like,
there's no Snow level. But I was definitely not as much of a player
of the Lost chapter. So is that that's where the Snow area was?
Yeah, yeah, so that's like the final portion of that expansion DLC and
I just think they do is such a great job with capturing like the aesthetic
to it, very dangerous enemies there. Obviously it's like a later game area,
but yeah, I'm I wanted to throw that one on. The amazing
aesthetics just from the images here. Oh yeah, and the town, I
forget that what the name of the town is, but snow Aspire. Now
Aspire there you go. Yeah, oh my god, that looks so cozy,
dangerous place. Spoilers for the future of Sideques. I think we will
probably do a Fable retrospective Fable four comes out, So I'm very excited to
finally jump into that DLC an experience Snow Aspire. I love that name.
That's great. It was such a big moment too, because when you're going
from like the main area, they make like a big emphasis that it takes
a long time to get to where you're going, and then when you get
there, your character has like a big beard now like it's got grays.
So clearly it took a long time. Man. Fable is so good with
that, just your character changing based on your oh yeah, actions and overtime
and whatnot. Shot outs a Fable. Let's see, I think maybe I'll
go with my with my nickname here the Interloper. So this might be a
bit of a weird one, but in Outer Wild's one of my favorite games
where you know, you're just playing around in this one solar system. In
the solar system, there's a comet that's going around. It's kind of going
on this weird elliptical motion and it's just like an icy comet that's going around,
and it's it's something that you see all the time early on in the
game, but it just is moving so fast and it's so small and it's
not such a weird angle that you don't really think you're gonna get to it.
And then eventually you can figure out triangulate location Ryan land on The Interloper
and Slate spoilers here for one of the puzzles on here, but I always
thought it was really cool that when you're on the Interloper, it's this big
icy colmet and you have to like get through the top of it somehow,
but it's like so many thick layers of ice. You're like, I don't
know how I can possibly do that. But the trick is to just like
land on the Interloper and just wait on its cycle for it to get closer
to the sun and then it like starts melting a little bit and then you
can go through and get into it. So, yeah, this is like
maybe a pretty small and probably the smallest area that we have on the list
so far, but yeah, I thought there's I always thought it was a
really cool area, and uh yeah, I always one that you just kind
of see and every once in a while you won't even be trying to get
to it and then it will just like comes flying at you and almost hit
you because the game, you know, because of the game scale and whatnot.
So shout outs to the Interloper, that's awesome. I like that little
puzzle hint or the yeah, just how you figure out. Yeah, it's
a funny one because like if you can't solve it, you might just accidentally
solve it, because if you're just like spending fifteen minutes trying to figure it
out, you might just be on the planet or on the comment long enough
for it to solve itself. Which that game has a few of those and
always feels cool when you discover something like that. Awesome. Okay, I
will mention which one should I go for here? Okay, I'll do the
Cliffhanger level from mon War for two. Yeah, that was another one that
was just okay, gotta bring up this one. I feel like that's probably
I mean, All Gillied Up is like the renowned, like one of the
best Call of Duty single player missions of all time, but that one I
remember just getting, like that first E three trailer from Montar for two.
I remember being in the basement watching with my cousin and just like just loving
what we were seeing from that game. It was the first time they had
like the heartbeat sensor and everything on it. So yeah, I think the
excitement for that game and the fact that that was the level that they showed
off it was it was so comparable to that All Gillied Up mission, just
with like the stealth sequence to it. So yeah, I love that one.
Yeah, I had to watch a YouTube video for that because it's been
so long since I've played through it myself. But like, I think the
started level starts with you just like climbing up the fac side like some ice
picks, and then you are your weapon has like this a white kind of
camel over it, and that whole level like there's so this is like the
epitome of just like Full Blizzard, where you can't see ten feet in front
of you, so you're just relying on the heartbeat sensor. Uh so,
yeah, like really well designed level. But then also the aesthetics and the
snow, the snow, that whole vibe of it makes makes the whole level.
So oh you shouted this one out? Yeah, such a such a
fun stealth sequence, and like your camera is just frosty all around it,
like your screen that you're seeing. So it just really captures I think that
immersive of feeling absolutely cold. Yeah, how to say, I really want
to just like boot the game up and play that mission. Uh, you
got kind of a nostalgic for it. While we're talking about Modern War War
two, there was two competitive maps in that game, or two multiplayer maps.
I should say that were also snow themed. There was Derail and sub
Bass. I think Derails, I just want to kind of shout it out
because you know, it's a Any map in that game is fun, but
I think it's definitely falls below. But sub Base was always like one of
my favorites I think for like free frawls or teams, just like very vertical
vertical focus, like the kind of different hallways, you kind of ways you
can sneaker on the outside of the map, or just like the huge altercations
that would happen in the middle. It was always one of my favorites in
that game, and the snow aesthetic of it definitely added, I feel like,
to the intensity of it. So yeah, that one's list as well.
I'm glad you mentioned you brought up both of those because I have very
vivid memories with each of those maps. On Derail, that was the first
map I ever got a nuke on Comatay, and then a little bit before
that on sub Base, that was the first one I got the e MP
on, which was like the second highest. Man, I don't know if
I ever got a nuke on Derail. That was definitely was I was definitely
more of like an afghan or wasteland. Guy, those were like my two
places where I got the most. I don't know if I ever I would.
And the thing with the Derail is like I had to watch the YouTube
videos because like I couldn't remember the exact layout of it or a sub base.
I feel like I could still go on that map and just give you
a guided to or of every room. I just remember it so well.
But that's so cool that it was your first Yeah, I I it was.
It was one of those situations where I camped the entire game. I
was in like the very center of the map. There's like a two story
building or something. Maybe it's a three story I can't quite remember, but
yeah, I had like no death that game. I had probably one man
Army or Scavenger Pro whatever it was. They like the Ultimate campaign. Uh,
A good level to hide on because of the it also has like the
Blizzard stuff going on in terms of the visibility of it. That's right,
Should that one go on the list? It sounds like it should for the
time being. Yeah, might as well. I didn't have it on my
list, but we're bringing up some fond memories, so yeah, of course,
we'll make a huge list right now, go ahead. And I had
another one here, Okay, I'm gonna bring up I had to find a
way to get a Warhammer map on here. Now, with Warhammer it's usually
just one giant map. There is some snow areas, but this is very
uh specific. Uh. It's actually the prologue for Warhammer three. So it's
like a shorter little campaign that you do, pretty linear. But what that
prologue is is you start in the northern regions and you're just traveling into in
the Warhammer world, the Chaos realm is in like the far North, so
you're you're very very north, and then as you keep going further and further,
things just start getting weird and it goes from being like icy level to
just like full on, like you're entering Hell. So they did such a
good job at just like thematically just getting your character feel like they're going crazier
and crazier as they go deeper into into the wastes and just the whole overall
map. It had some really really fun battles that they had set up,
and like the campaign map itself, it was just changing as you got farther
north and your character was getting crazy and crazier, making like more rash decisions.
It's a pretty short like intro to the game. It's probably like an
hour total to finish that little prologue sequence. But I just thought they did
such a good job at capturing the overall sthetic of what that game is of,
like bringing in like the chaos factions into the game, but also just
immersively. It just it was so well done. I remember when that game
came out, you know, midnight release, so it was like nine pm
our time, and I was just like waiting for this game forever, and
that was the first thing I'd played. I just thought they nailed the nail
on the head with that one. So yeah, I wanted to bring that
one up. It's kind of a niche pick. I don't know how it's
gonna make it in the long run, but I just, yeah, I
thought they did such a good job on it. I want to bring them
into this list. Come on, got to get a Warhammer title somewhere,
you gotta, how about I think now is a good time maybe to bring
in one of my open world game picks. And I have a handful of
these, been not too too many. The first one here I'm gonna shout
out is the town of Bruma from the Elder Scrolls for Oblivion. So this
is this is the most northern town in on the world map, and it's
kind of very close to the border of Skyrim. Unsurprisingly that it's the snowy
place, but yeah, it's always been one of my favorite towns in that
game. Every city, every town in that game is is really great,
and there's like a good like eight or nine of them. They're all really
awesome. But I've always just loved the aesthetic of Bruma. Just yeah,
the snow piled top, high on the roofs, the rooftops, and it's
always kind of been like a cozy place for me too, which is the
the kind of log cabin style aesthetic of the buildings there. There's like a
giant church kind of in the middle of the town. But yeah, I've
always always loved Bruman. I think it's always more a bit more of a
low key spot in the game. It's not really where any of the main
quests or any factions are. There's I think there's probably a Fighter's End Major's
Guild there, but I feel like that's not where any of those guilds kind
of center around, so it can kind of ends up being this more special
place that you just go to every once in a while. And then I
think one of the main quest areas like that nearby is like where their big
hideout is, so like near the end of the game, you're spending a
lot of time there if you're doing the main quest stuff. So shout outs
to Bruma just just a great, great aesthetic. It's funny because it looks
totally like a town right out of Skyrim, right, so it makes sense
that it is so close to Skyrim, just looking very different from the overall
like the other Oblivion talents, at least the ones that I'm familiar with,
because when I think of a believer and I really just think of like like
the cyrillic capital. Yeah, so no, good shout out like that.
Okay, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. Another strategy title here.
This is from Warcraft three Reign of Chaos, one of my favorite arts games
of all time, And this I don't know what the area is called,
but the specific level is just called Frost Morne. It's a really badass key
moment. I'm sure you're aware of the character the way I almost called the
Witch King. My gosh, the lych King. There you go, Yeah,
Arthur, when he he finally claims frost Moren, that's like the blade
that corrupts him and then he becomes the lich King. But it's just a
great like climax because up until that point, I actually think that is the
final level on the Human campaign, so you're you're finally at like the end
of the journey. It's very similar to actually to the situation I was mentioning
from Warhammer three where your character is just going so far north and he's kind
of like forgetting the main reason of like why he's doing this. He's just
going so crazy and by the end of it, he's just trying to take
his his final uh his air sorry, his main enemy out and he doesn't
really care who has to sacrifice for it. So I just love that level
so much for the build up of the actual overall story as well as Yeah,
it's just esthetically it feels like you're in the most northern region of the
world up until that point because of like the levels leading up to it.
It's it's kind of wintry, but that is definitely like the pinnacle of it
and yeah, I mean you get the blade in ice, you know,
so it's it's it's just a really yeah. So that's a big nostalgia title
for me too. I just I remember playing that as a wee lad and
loving it lots, and I still think of it when I think of a
frost you know, icy life. I feel like there's there's also like kind
of two categories of the snow levels, where there is just straight ups covered
in snow, like the blank of snow. But then there's also the really
icy levels. I feel like they have a very different tome where the ice
is kind of like this teal blue and I feel like this is kind of
more icy, and it's obviously it's got a lot of both, but for
me, it's one of those like very strong icy places, which is such
a striking thing, right, all these sharp edges and whatnot of the ice,
So totally I really like that. I really like that. Shout out
let me bring in Summit. This is a stage in Super Smash bros.
In I think it's pretty much an all them brawl onwards. This is the
kind of ice climbers stage. They've always had two ice climber stages. One
is like the one that scrolls up and down as you're playing through it.
Fuck that stage. Ye, not a big fan of it whatsoever, but
some it has always been a really fun one where you start out where you're
just like this big iceberg essentially the top of a mountain, I think,
and then you you like start sliding down the mountain, so that's kind of
like one hazard part, and then it just drops into like the deep waters
and then it's kind of just floating there and then there's like fish and whatnot.
But I think in terms of as far as Smash Bros. Stages go,
this one's always had an interesting structure to it where it's kind of got
that classic almost triangle shape of a battlefield, but instead there's like a huge
chunk of snow or ice whatever it is, and like the very center of
it, so it ends up being like a giant O shape, and so
it makes like this chaotic thing. Or you can kind of run in circles
or chase someone, or you can kind of camp and I don't know.
It's definitely not a competitive stage by any means, but it's always been one
of my favorites in terms of just casual play. And I was surprised too
when I was looking through the list of stages in like Smash Ultimate, which
has you know, every almost every stage that's been in the whole series,
and there's only two like snowy maps of any kind, and it's it's these
two. It's it's the two ice Climber ones, which is surprising to me.
I thought there would be like at least another one or two snow levels
that sneak in there. But I guess if they're having a Mario level,
they're not gonna pick the snow aesthetic Mario. They're gonna pick the more kind
of classic mushroom Kingdom sort of aesthetic. So yeah, I feel like that's
something I didn't think about until now. But the next Smash Bros. Game
needs like a new fresh snow level, like, not a nice Climber's one,
give us a new just difference, not a moving one either. We
don't want we don't like the moving maps. There you go, something good
mention. Yeah, I was trying to think of a specific one from Smash
but I because I knew the ice Climbers obviously would have had a level,
but nothing really peaked my nostalgiasms enough to really want to go out there and
search for it. But okay, I'm gonna mention I believe the level is
called a Train to Catch from Uncharted two. This was the sequence that's actually
on the cover of the game where you have Nathan Drake like hanging on it's
hanging on off of like the cliff. I think it was kind of like
the E three level as well. Maybe it's not, but I just remember
that that level or sorry set piece, but yeah, that overall set piece
and sequence just so clear before I even got my hands in the game.
And then that was one that as I was playing the game, I'm just
waiting to get to that point because I knew it was coming and I knew
how pick it was. But when you actually play through it, it just
delivers so much, so much bigger, I think than I already had my
expectations set, because you don't actually start like in the mountains on it.
It's it's your pretty low elevation, you're close to some water, and then
as the level gets to the climac, like the climac climactic moment where you
go off the rails and then it gears into another level that is set I
think in like the Himalayan Mountains, So I could maybe pick that one,
but I wanted to go for the train one just because, Yeah, I
think that is the more iconic sequence, and uh, by the end of
it, like Nate is just so like busted and bloody, and then you
just find yourself like in the snow, just freezing, and you just feel
for the character, like you feel his pain and his cold in that moment.
Uh, and so much snow that level is so much snow in it.
So definitely knew that that one was gonna be on the list, So
I just wrote train sequence from Uncharted too, because like I said, there
there is like a later level that's actually set like in the Himalayan Mountains.
But I don't know, I thought this one was a little bit more iconic.
Sounds good, Okay, I'm gonna go with this one is probably gonna
be a favorite of mine, just putting that out early. This is Hokkaido
from Hitman twenty sixteen. I guess we can call it which I feel like,
have you played this map? I know you like you've dabbled a bit.
I know, I know you've mentioned this map before. But maybe we've
just talked about it in passing. I remember it very clearly from your Hitman
map rankings that you Okay, I checked that out and then I was looking
at the maps that way, but no, I haven't played it. Yeah,
So this is the the hit Man level set in the mountains of Japan,
and it's it's great because you're like you can go out on the on
well essentially it's like a it's this high class hospital, but then also like
there's this spa resort area, there's like this high end sushi bar, and
then of course there's all like the employee areas when you get behind the closed
doors, the locked doors. But if you just go out to the balcony,
you can just look down and see like this beautiful like winter landscaping,
and see this like city out in the distance, these beautiful like mountain Fiji
level mountains going on. One of the escape routes you can use is just
to hop on a gondola and like cruise down the mountain, which is always
very fun. I love gondolas. Yeah, but this this map is like
perfect because you kind of have like the little terrace area that has almost like
a little koy ponds and whatnot, and I feel like it's like very steamy
and the way you would like in the you know, winter place, like
go into a hot tub and then you know you get out. All all
that has that that whole feel to it. But yeah, this is just
like an all time great hit Man map and it's got that beautiful winter esthetic,
the mountains, the gondola, all all the ice, all that kind
of stuff you could want from it. So I feel like this in terms
of just raw like best levels of all time, Hokkaido's up there, just
regardless of aesthetics. So the fact that it's also snow level, it's gonna
make it a favorite for me here. But yeah, this is definitely one
of my favorites too of the whole trilogy. I forget where I put it
on my ranking, but off the top of my head and say, it
is like top five, top ten somewhere in that in that pocket in a
game that has just amazing levels the whole way through. So yeah, that's
a beautiful looking level. Just hooping at some of these images, I think
I'll follow your very heart pick with my other very heart passionate pick. This
is from one of my favorite games of all time. Journey literally any game
that I bring up all the time. I feel like I've played through this
game no less than five times. It's just such a good sit down.
There is a winter snowy part of this game. Yeah, so once you
I mean, when you continue on the journey, there's a certain section that
you get pretty high up in the mountains and your character like just feels like
they're freezing up. Like your movements get super slow, you get frost over
all your character, and it actually starts like like damaging sort of your character
a little bit. And I just think that they did it. I mean,
I love that game so much. I feel like they totally tear your
heartstrings. They immerse you in this world without any like words in it whatsoever.
But specifically this section, you just really feel like you've been on this
journey for very very long time. You've you've made all these like kilometers of
treks up this mountain, and then at this point, it's just like guss
of wind that's blowing snow on your character and you just really freeze up.
I won't say what happens after it if anyone hasn't played the game, but
I just yeah, I think that this section they really just do such a
good job at making you feel I think the length of the journey that you've
already been on and it feels like you're right at the end, but you're
like still not quite there, and it almost just feels like you can't you
can't keep moving on. But yeah, I think they did such a good
job but just capturing that that that well, there's tons of snow, but
also just like the cold, that harshness of it. Yeah, I think
that's a good thing to bring up. I feel like there's a lot of
survival games that don't incorporate that too in terms of their mechanics, which I
think is always good. But even like we didn't have to talk about this,
but a lot of snow levels tend to have like slippery blocks if you're
thinking about like a Mario game, which I don't think is necessarily a good
thing. You know, often that's very annoying, and that might be why
some of the like Mario levels don't get super high on my list. But
so yeah, I think there's like different pros and cons to what a snow
level could be. What should we call that section, or that it's actually
just called snow. I guess, like the example, speaking of Mario,
let's get Mario on the list here. So Super Mario sixty four has two
snow levels you can go to. There's one called Snowman's Land, which is
not one of my favorites. I think it's probably maybe even just the individually
weakest map in the whole or course in the whole game. Then the other
one is Cool Cool Mountain, and this is one of my favorites. It's
one of the very early ones. I think it's maybe the second or third
door you have access to. And this is just all about like that snowboard
fantasy kind of There's like the huge slide outside, there's a slide inside where
you can race against the penguin down down the whole mountain. There a lot
of ice, a lot of snow on this one's just obviously one big old
mountain. Uh. And you know there's like a snowman that you can you
can repair him on this map and whatnot. So it's got all of those
snow things too. And I think for me too, out of all these
like this is the music I can instantly picture in my head, and it
has like a little sleigh bells in there, and it's just it has that
that holiday wholesome vibe to it. So yeah, shout outs to Cool Cool
Mountain. That one was on my list as well. I'm not even a
big like Super Mario sixty four player. I think the fact that it is
early on in that game it helps because I actually have played that one,
and I think it also just kind of captures. I don't know how festive
it is, but in my mind, I just think kind of Christmas Eve.
The music, it's music man, that like that just throws the layer
of the aesthetics like way over the top. Yeah, oh, one hundred
percent. So yeah, good, good shout out I was I think I
was. Oh yeah, it was lower on my list, but I had
that one on there. Okay, I have I'm gonna mention the opening prologue
for Red Dead two. You didn't play Red Dead, did you? Not
yet? Not too? Not too? Yeah, red Redemption two. This
is probably one of the best looking snow I think if any video game has
ever done ever. I mean, it's stars, obviously you would expect big
quality, but that one there's people freezing and dying and you just feel like
you're gonna be one of them, like they do such a good job.
There's a section where you're on a horse with like a lantern and you can
barely see like anything in front of you because it's just like nighttime and the
blizzard's hitting through. And yeah, this one, I knew it was gonna
be on here because it's just such a well done sequence. So just prologue
for Red Dead two, which yeah, I've definitely heard about that before and
I kind of forgot, But it's funny to me that both Red Dead two
and GTA five have like the snow prolog that's right, Yeah, I guess
GK five is probably lot like I think that section of Red Dead's like it's
an extended sequence, you know, yeas GT five it's essentially like the tutorial
mission that takes you probably no more than well even that probably takes a good
like twenty five minutes, thirty minutes something like that. That's an iconic one
too. I don't think for me it's on the list necessarily, but definitely
worth a shout out. But was that on this by the way, should
we put it on there or for gg GTA I had it as an armable
mentioned just because I think it was much shorter like the Red Dead sequence.
Like you said, like she do missions and stuff, it's not just one
yeah set mission. So yeah. And then so this is also a funny
theme but like the two GTA ones. And then here's my next pick is
the tutorial from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is also like a snowy area. So
I've just been playing this recently and I'm very excited to talk to you about
this game. I want to play more of it, and I'll bring it
up at some point inside Custlin Fugu because I want to have a full discussion
about how weird and interesting this game is from like the fire Emblem fan perspective.
But just a very quick setup for this game is that you know,
it's it's a fantasy setting game, but the actual way that's contextualized within the
game is that you're a bunch of kids like playing like a D and D
campaign, and so like the actual game is like that D and D campaign,
But then the prolog of the game is like you and your friends hanging
out in your town and it's winter, and the tutorial of the game is
like done through a snowball fight that you're having like in the backyard before you
like go into Whoever's house and set up the game, and then like go
into the actual game itself. So I just think that's such a funny and
weird idea. But also just like how many games have like snowball fights or
snowball throwing mechanics as a thing, it just doesn't happen very often. So
this is obviously not going to be the most engaging tactical level in the game
because it's the introduction of the mechanics, but at least for the aesthetics of
it, it definitely is worthy of a shout out. So I'll just call
I'll just call it the tutorial. I don't know if it has an actual
chapter title, but yeah, that's awesome. I like how it kind of
I would say it breaks, well, kind of breaking like the fourth wall
of just your character. Is it's weird? Yeah, yeah, it is
weird for sure. And it's kind of like Tiny Tina's Adventure, right where
like that, isn't that game they're playing like a board game? Isn't isn't
that? I love your rendition on the titles that, but I think it
is. I think it is that my clothes. I think Tiny Feen is
Wonderland, so adventure wonderland. But yeah, whatever it is. Okay,
moving on, what do I got here? Okay, this this was a
big one for me of I completely forgot about this this level until I was
doing some research for it, and I'm so glad I found it because this
one, I truly think it has a place in the top ten list.
This is a boss battle from middle Gear Solid four. It's called the Crying
Wolf Boss Battle guns in the Patriots. I believe it's the subtitle for that
game. Man, this is I remember playing this at the time on like
the PS three and I just I couldn't believe of how like well made this
boss sequence was. It's it's a boss battle, but it's not like you're
in a closed room. It's a very open outside area. It's a massive
blizzard going on with tons of snow, and there's like this there's there's just
this like super sniper that's like trying to hunt you down and snipe you.
But there's also like tons of enemies, so you have to be really creative
with stealthying around the area while dodging like sniper fire from this thing. That's
hunting you. You have like a like a camouflage mass. You can kind
of go like perfectly camouflage with some thermal vision, so you can like kind
of see the enemies. But you just I don't know, I just think
the fact that there's so many different things going on as opposed to you just
fighting like a single boss those games, I think that's actually like the main
Middle Yoursel, Like the most that I put time into a middle cost game
was The Middle Yoursel at four, And I just thought throughout that entire game,
all of the boss battles were very, very different and unique, and
I'm sure that just carries over with all the other titles, maybe beforehand after
that one, but for that specific boss battle, they just did such a
good job at capturing again, like you just feel super super vulnerable, even
though you do have some tools to your advantage to kind of hide in the
snow. But there's like just this sniper somewhere on this map, and then
it's a pretty long like ball like it's probably like a thirty minute fight because
like you're not just fighting the enemy, you're taking out the other guys while
dodging them, and then you have to eventually get up to this big tower
to try and find the enemy that you're fighting, and I just remember dying
a lot and then feeling very satisfied by and like by the end of it.
And it's it's not even like a Soul's game or anything like that.
It's just early in my gaming career. I just felt really accomplished from that
one. So, yeah, it's called Crying Wolf Boss Battle middle Gear Solid
four. Yeah. I think I'll be fighting for that one later on.
I love it. I'm gonna bring in the next one here after our first
break. We'll be right back. Okay, we are back. I'm curious
how this one's going to hit your ear because I feel like I'd be surprised
if you had this on your list, but hopefully you're like, oh shit,
I totally missed that. And this is the it's called the Battle of
Blizzard Bridge from Kirby and the Forgotten Land. I don't know if you remember
this one. I don't. I assume you got. Did you get to
the whole snow area in that game? Yeah, So this one really stands
out to me. One it just has like the most banging music ever where
it's just like a seven minute long, like just intense jazz fusion track.
Oh yeah, but this level is pretty You're just going across this snowy bridge
and you're going ducking into the doors and like doing little battles or puzzles in
different rooms and then just going across the bridge. More so, it's a
very simple level. But I just I love the aesthetics of this map in
general, the look and like I said that music, the music is not
traditional like once again, not a lot of sleigh bells, not a lot
of that wholesome vibe. Yeah, but it is just a level with an
amazing aesthetic. And when I think about that game, that is the first
level that pops into my head always. I really really love that level.
So yeah, to show us to that game in general, I feel like
it kind of got forgotten a bit, you know, title are intended there,
But man, I love that game. It's it's great. Oh it
was super fun. Yeah, I'm really glad that you brought that one up
because yeah, I completely forgot about this, but oh there's just such a
such a well made like sequence and definitely captures that snowy cold aesthetic. So
yeah, good, good shout out there. Okay, what else have I
not mentioned here? Let's go Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna do it.
I'm gonna move over to Skyrim here. I feel like I could mention so
many different places in this one. I think the main one that popped out
to me is the throat of the world, like the high Croth Guard section.
But I molsto just wrote down like the seven Thousand Steps, because I
think that the first time that you make that ascent, you just really feel
like you're like, it's I don't know, maybe it gonna last forever.
That's where you run into the frost troll, I think for the first time
in that game, at least if you haven't found one in other places.
Got absolutely messed up by it. But they did just such a great job
with just the snow coming down on you as you just keep going up and
up. You got snow just all over the stairs, and yeah, it
just it looks very cold for a game that doesn't have like those sort of
elements that you really have to care about, like your character could be technically
naked running up that hill. It's not too much of an issue. But
I still think they did a good job at making it feel cold, probably
just the music and the sound of the wind. So yeah, yeah,
definitely. I mean, I think in terms of other stroll stuff in general,
usually it's like the more dungeon areas are the ones that are those more
hand crafted levels that we think of. In there, you're kind of sent
through it in a very specific way. But that's the time when they get
to kind of do I mean, I'm sure there's all sorts of ways you
can glitch around and do it in all sorts of different ways, but I
think it's it's just a very intentional climb. And yes, it's like they
talk about how this is like some impossible climb that no one's ever done,
and you can do it in like fifteen minutes or whatever, but it's I
always like doing it. I did like multiple times in that game, and
it was always a always a delight and a nice fun assent for me.
So I had two from Skyrim, so we'll get through all of them,
but the one that stood out to me the most, and I don't know
you all have, just is this weird that wind Helm is the first place
that comes to mind when I think of like winter aesthetic and Skyrim, not
at all, because they even say in the game that that's the coldest region
in all really okay, like it is the snowiest act like it is the
snowiest city. I believe they say that some of the ens, so I
didn't. Yeah, I totally missed that that loreer Beat. I guess it
makes sense. It's kind of more north northeast on the map, like maybe
not the most northeast spot, but it's like it's up there. But yeah,
I feel like for me, it's one of those places that I don't
know if you're wrong about this, but I feel like you can never see
the sky because it's always just overcast and snowy and you can't see too far
ahead. Snow is always on the ground, and I think for me definitely
like the walk up to the city for the first time, when you're going
across the bridge and that whole area is just absolutely covered in snow. Because
obviously tons of Skyrim is like there's a bit of snow on the tree,
but then it's like a grassy area. You know, they obviously mix up
the environment quite a bit. But yeah, windh Helm is when I think
of that deep snow aesthetic or whenever I get nostalgic for Skyrim. It's like
the first thought of my mind is like, I just want to walk around
Windhelm for a half hour, and sometimes I'll just loaded the game do that,
and then I'll just go do something else instead. That was definitely the
top top mind, top of mind for me. And some of those cities
in Skyrim, like once you're inside of it, it feels cozy, you
know, like you mentioned there's not necessarily snow all over the ground, and
like Solitude, for example, like it very much feels like a serialdyllic city.
But wind Helm, like it feels like you're on the throat of the
world when you're in that. Ye, there's streets and they're complaining about how
cold it is, right, so that adds adds to that. Yeah,
and that one really feels like when you enter I forget the name of the
inn, like right when you walk in through the city gate, it just
feels like you're like, Okay, I finally got a break from it from
the cold here, Like they did a good job with that city. So
yeah, that that's a very solid shout out there. I think the other
city that I might have mentioned is winter Hold, which is just the one
north of it. I didn't like it, Like, I mean, it's
Skyrim, so basically all these cities are gonna have snow everywhere, but for
that one specifically, you're like right off of the Sea of Ghosts, which
is just like icebergs. Yeah great, great, you looking down from up
there really like scary and and yeah beautiful at the same time. And then
you just have like the Calla is just floating there like like undisturbed by the
great tragedy that happened. Then no one, no one can really explain what
happened. But I yeah, that one, I think for just the the
overall looks. But I think if I had to compare the two, I
would give it to wind Helm just because it is, like they say in
the game, it is the this region. There you go. Uh,
you can pitch another one because I brought up or way you brought up Skyrim.
Someone, I'm gonna go now, Uh, this is another I'm gonna
go for this. So Splunky and Splunky two both have the ice Caves.
So this is a bit different right where it's not a specific hand crafted level.
Instead it's a it's a roguelike, So the configuration is always gonna be
a little bit different each time around. Between the two games, I'm gonna
I think they're both fantastic areas in their respective games, they're very differently where
they're structured. I'm gonna go with Ice Caves from Splunky one. I think
that's the more maybe interesting area, and for me, it's like the music
is really fantastic there. There's certain special levels that will pop up to that
changes the aesthetics. Sometimes it'll be snowing, sometimes not. And I think
this is like the perfect example of where a slippery surface is like a fun
additional challenge to the game rather than like some annoying element of not having control.
And then the there's like also ways to get around that. And then
it also I feel like there's a part of like snow levels where it's like
kind of like sparse, right because everything's kind of this monotone color. And
that feels very much like the case in Ice Caves, because that's the only
area in Splunkie that doesn't have like a proper ground to it. Like there's
platforms you're jumping on, but if you fall off a ledge, you just
will tumble down into you know, an eternal abyss and just die rather than
the opposite, which you know, take fall damage, smashing into the ground
or something like that. So a lot of great vibes to the ice caves.
But the music too is also just sparsely kind of decorates the landscape and
all that. So definitely a great esthetic there. Nice, I was curious
if a spunky was gonna be brought up in here. Yeah, it's a
tricky one because of the roguelikeness of it, but it's definitely a very standout
zone. Nice. Okay, I'm gonna pull another title from that's near and
dear to my Heart. This has come from the Sly Cooper Franchisely two episode
seven, Operation Canada Games. This is definitely one of my favorite I think
episodes in the entire game, and it's not just because it is Canada,
but just the actual I think mechanics that introduced because Sly, you know,
the thevious raccoonist that he is. He's very nimble and agile, he can
run on lines and whatnot. But this was the area, or I should
say this, this was the first area that they brought in that you can
kind of change your because he is a hook for you know, pickpocketing and
doing other things with it. But he like can switch it into two to
ice climb on it. So like so it captures that element to it,
and like it's got the Northern lights in it. You got polar bears here.
Like this entire level I say level, it's it's an episode because it's
kind of open world once you're in the episode, and then you do set
missions inside of it. But the final mission on that episode is literally it's
called the Canada Games and you're like competing in this competition. So there's like
barrel running where you're like trying to balance on the on the on the on
the barrels of the water. I don't know what that's called. I guess
just barrel barrel roll or something. It's like the lumberjack games that that they
have in certain areas, but there, yeah, and there's just a bunch
of different games that you're competing in and they're all again with that cold,
snowy aesthetic to it. And the boss battle is really fun. You're you're
in a lumber yard for that one, and it just yeah, it's it's
it's cold, it's snowy throughout the entire sequence and I thought they nailed it
with the aesthetic of that one and very different than the other levels that you're
just coming across in that game. And I think that's the only Snow.
There might be one Snow level I'm trying to think now in the first game.
Yeah, I think there is a snow level in the first game.
It's one of the earlier ones there. But yeah, I thought they did
such a good job with this one. Yeah, man, that game,
well after you talked about I think you mainly talk about Sly one, uh
Sly Cooper like on side Quest a few months ago. And yeah, whenever
I do get that PS five and get that that collection of all those backwardsatical
games. Very excited to jump in, but now even more so now at
this level. That sounds great. I can't wait for you to play it
and hear your experience, especially for a first timer, because like for me,
I have so much nostalgia on it, But then I play it,
I'm like, this still holds up, this is this is, this is
great. But I'm curious what you're gonna think. Well, speaking of Canada,
let's bring up this next one. So this is I'm just gonna this
is the whole section here. This is the Mario Kart section. So obviously
me and Taylor just talked about a lot of these maps on our ranking episode
there, but these are some great snow levels, so I got to bring
them up again. There are so many in Mario Kart, so i've I've
toned it down to four, but that already still feels like too many.
But you know this, this is still the early stages of this. We
can have as many things as you want here, so this one of the
things more than honorable mention. But Vancouver Velocity, of course, I'll show
this map out anytime I can. There is the kind of snow section for
a little bit, but it's only a small part of it, so I
don't think I'll bother putting it on there, but just that one can exist
more as a shout out. But then there are two different ski hill maps
that really stand out to me. One is a Mount Warrio. Now I'm
not gonna spoil where me and Taylor put this on our ranking, but I'll
say that it's pretty high up there. That is one of my favorites.
So Mount Warrio, this is just one long course rather than having laps,
and you're just going through there's a certain area where you're going through the moguls,
the kind of race area section where you're going through a bunch of trees
and jumping off logs and whatnot. Just a really really great map. I
love that one whole lot. And then the other one is I guess from
Mario Kart we but is in Mario Kart eight as well, And this is
a DK Summit, so it's a similar vibe where it's a ski hill,
but this is the Donkey Kong themed one, So show us to that one.
And then the last one for me is one that we didn't talk about
in that episode because it's not in it. One of the very few maps
that is not in that game is Frappe Snowland from Mario Kart sixty four.
And this is just a level that I would play endlessly as a kid,
and it's one of those ones where I wouldn't even do the race sometimes I
would just load the map up just a cruise around in the snow and there's
like huge snow banks and I've always loved the aesthetic of it. So,
yeah, show us some Mario Kart tons of snow levels in those games.
Yeah, the good mix of like icy ones like even you know shows to
Roslyn and his Ice World, which was recently added, which is also great.
There's so many, uh and so I tried to pick just a handful
here, but yeah, there there's like three or four or five other ones
that I could showed out because they're all really great. So I think you
got the big ones for sure, because I think if I had to pick
certain snow levels from Mario Kart, those I DK Summit definitely, just because
I love that that level a lot. In the Vancouver one, just for
recency because it's the top of my head. But yeah, Warrio Warrio,
Uh, what's it called wart Mount Warrio Mount Warreo. There you go.
That one's so fun. It just feels very epic too. When you're racing
to the finish line. You just feel like you're you're actually doing like a
yeah, I got last rush to the end. It is really exciting.
Oh yeah, she's gotten some some clutch wins on me or against me rather
on that. Yeah, there's like that last little two bends right after you
get to the the hill. Oh yeah, yeah, go ahead, okay,
let's go okay, Yeah, I'm gonna bring up Metro twenty thirty three.
That one takes place. You know, you're basically in the Metro for
the majority of the game, but you do go to the surface and it's
kind of like apoc apocalyptic snowy, just cold dead land, like there's no
life up there, and it really feels frozen and just cold and dangerous when
you're up there. I love Metro so much, I imagine in the later
games. I think even the last one is more of an open world.
So I do think you go to the surface quite a bit more than in
that early title. But I think that the fact that you you go to
the surface so little in that first title, it just feel like you keep
hearing stories of the surface and how danger it is, and when you actually
go up there, it is terrifying. It is it is cold, and
there is like these just giant demon type things that are hunting you from the
sky. So that one, I don't know where it's gonna last, you
know, by the end of our rankings, but I definitely wanted to bring
it up here just because they really hit home on just the snowy coldness of
what the world is. Because I don't know, I think early on in
the story too, people are like hopeful in dreaming that like someday you can
return to the surface, and then when you actually go there, you're like,
this is no. We're living in the subway, so the rest of
our lives here, folks. That's what would happen in Arks Fatalis if we
ever got that sequel, we went what is the Is there a name for
that? I just wrote the surface for Metro twenty thirty three might be a
cheap answer there. It's pretty bag. Oh that's good, that's good.
Great. I'm gonna bring up this one next, which is mid Guard from
God of War Ragnarok, and I guess even in God of War twenty eighteen
you would also have this section, but it's definitely more snowy because it's kind
of the the Thimble Winter that ever, the never Ending Winter has kind of
been going on at the start of Ragnarok. But this is kind of where
you and or by you, I mean Crados and a Treys live at the
start of the game, and it's you know, that game is very much
about revisiting the same areas over and over again. You're exploring new paths along
them where you know, all these things are happening there, So that's like
the kind of the home base of the game, and you return there multiple
times, but then all it branches out and that's like it is kind of
a huge area. So this might be a bit of a call out for
me picking one level, but it is kind of one continuous area, so
it's hard to declare one place to start and one not. But I'm thinking
about the section where their houses, the areas that branch out from around there
and down into the what should be like this giant water lake area but is
instead just like completely frozen over, and then you can like kind of go
across it on your your slow snow sled whatever it's called dog dog sled wherever
they what is that called. I feel like it has one same name,
sleigh, Yeah, sliy kind of going around that area. So whatever.
There's tons of snow in that game, so it's it's hard to uh,
you know, there's so much you could showed out. But yeah, I'm
gonna go specifically the mid guard area. Nice. Yeah, yeah, I
figured God War would have been brought up. I only played a little bit
of minutes of that first one, so I didn't really experience too much snow.
I guess there is snow in there, but not enough for me to
mention. Yeah, okay, I got kind of the honorable mentioned section sort
of just because these are in my mind, I'm almost out of my yeah,
a little like general area, so one of them being Assassin's Creed three.
Uh. Basically that whole game is like set in in the the wintery
wilderness, and I think they just did such a good job at certain areas
of it feeling a lot more snowy than others. Like you really feel like
you're I mean in that era of just un like unexplored wilderness, I can
say, like going through the trees and just snow falling and the big deep
snowy sections that you hit. I yeah, it just really feels cold and
snowy and somewhat festive. Actually, even though they don't really mention Christmas,
I don't know what it is. Maybe I just remember playing that game around
Christmas. I think I actually got it for Christmas. So that's probably some
one dollar micro transaction where a cent a head or something. So yeah,
Ubi Soft Crossover amongst other games that you do that. So is there an
area to to shout out now? I just wrote like the wilderness of Assassin's
Screed three. Yeah, yeah, okay, you sure I'm gonna go with
this is my I had one more Call of Duty map here, it's from
Call of Duty Black Ops. Uh, And this is Summit. I love
some and I've talked about this on on side quest or geek first in general
before. This is one of my just go to as. Me and my
friend would just destroy on this on this map. But I feel like even
the little thumbnail picture for it, and the loading screen is like a gondola
I think is kind of the main picture in the center of the image.
Yeah, it's right, but yeah, just just a classic. I feel
like I've kind of said anything I could about a Winter level through the other
call ones we talked about, and this is, of course like a multiplayer
map, not a not a single player level. I can't remember if there's
a single player level that goes through a snow area. I'm sure there is,
I can't remember off the top of my head, but yeah, show
us too. Summit was always one of my one of my favorites, and
that's funny because that's the same name as the Smash Pro stage. Now we
have two summits on the list, and we have DK Summit. There's yeah,
oh, a variety of sums. So the snow is so it makes
sense. It does make sense. Yeah, I'll bring up a summit here
here. I don't think it's called summit. But this is a kind of
a reoccurring level, meaning like you'll go back to that certain area a couple
of different times throughout the game. Far Cry four that's the one that's set
in Kiat. That's the fictional world that they have, but it's it's it's
in the Himalayans, so I think like Nepal and that aesthetic. There is
a section that you actually get flown like basically to the summit of a mountain
and it's like all super snowy. I believe that game even had like a
YETI DLC that you're probably like hunting down a yetie. I never ended up
getting that one, but I just thought they did. I mean, throughout
that game, you are kind of on the mountains, so you do see
some snowy sections, a couple avalanches here and there, but for that specific
level, you actually are on the peak and it's it's like a lesser version
of the Cliffhanger from Montor for two level where it's kind of blizzard y,
you know, like it's kind of emphasized that you can sneak around, and
I mean the stealth mechanics are much better in that game than what Monar for
two probably has. But I yeah, I really want to mention that one
just because there's a lot of snow on the summit of the Himalayan mountains there.
So yeah, nice. Speaking of Nepal, I got another one here,
and believe it or not, the map is called Nepal from Overwatch.
Also map that has a couple variations, right for the different game modes,
there's like slightly different variations of it. But yeah, you're just in this
kind of beautiful Himalayan town snow. It's it's kind of a little more sparse,
it's not like just layer deep in snow, but it adds like this
nice aesthetic to it. And yeah, I've always been you know, I
think differs depending on which game what we're talking about here, but always been
one of my favorites in that game. I always liked just the gameplay of
it itself, and it's got that really nice just Nepal kind of Himalayan aesthetic
to it, So shout outs to uh Nepal. There. It's got the
the Zenyata statues right that right, Yeah, and that's my main guy,
so you know, hell yeah, it's getting Bose points from me. I
like a good shout out. I definitely forgot about that one. Don't think
about that game too much these days, but yeah, I mean, unfortunately
there's some very great times in there, but I'm also some bad times.
Okay, what I got here? I have one more non honorable mention for
what it's Okay, you go for that one, sure, Uh this one,
I say the best for last because when I was thinking about doing this
ranking, this was the first thing that popped into my mind. And it
is a section of an open world game. So it's not a specific area
but mountain not or not mountain whatever you want to call it. From Death
Stranding, which is yeah, just kind of later on in the second I
guess second open world of that game, you would say, uh, you
just eventually get to this this mountain not city I think is what the city
is called, and then there's this huge just huge snowy mountain behind it,
and this is like what you mentioned with the Red Dead Redemption two or like
you know, Horizon or going like all these newer huge PS four ps five
games all just the most beautiful aesthetics of walking through the snow, and this
is like the peak of that where just the reaction or like how I don't
know, just all the little physics going on with walking through the snow or
sliding down the snow, or your items falling in the snow and you don't
know where your stuff went, but then you can see, like it just
a little patch in the snow where something's missing, so obviously that's where your
briefcase fell down. But this was my favorite section in that game. It
was so fricking challenging because of the slipperiness of it, because of the harshness,
but it just made for some of the most fun problem solving in terms
of okay, where do I put a ladder? How do I set up
my path here? And then it was so satisfying too, where you spent
all this time to climb up the mountain, and then in that game,
you can just hop on that little cart that follows you around and you can
just ride it like a fucking snow a snowboard and you can just cruise down
the whole mountain and I would even do just climb up one little hill,
hop on the snowboard, cruise down, get a little speed. A game's
obviously all about traversal and trying to get places efficiently, and that was such
a fun challenge in that game. So I just absolutely love that whole area.
It was a place that once I beat the main game, and I
was just like wanting to do more side questers to play more of the game.
It's like, I just want to do everything any quest possible in these
mountains. It was just so good. That's awesome. I never got there
in the game, but I was at I was at my buddy Tyler,
you know, shouts out of Patreon Tyler's house, and he was actually on
that mountain, and I was just shocked because I didn't know that there was
like snow in the game up until that point. And yeah, they definitely
do a good job at bringing in the harshness of it, and yeah cool.
I was curious if it diss straining title was gonna get brought up here.
I got two other ones to mention here. I think it's the final
act of Ghostussushima, like the third part. The way that that act kind
of opens up, like that's when you're getting I guess, to the snowy
area and you just feel very cold and down and out and not everything's not
going well for your your main character Gin up until that point. But and
kind of like from that point like onward, that is a snowy area.
So it's kind of a wide range I guess that you could use, but
for me, it's mostly just like that opening I think of that third act,
you just really feel the snowy cold, just horribleness that your your main
character is kind of feeling in that moment. But that game did have some
fun snow elements to it. Although it's not like a main mechanic of the
game, I still think they did a good job at incorporating that, and
it just makes it feel like the environments are a little bit colder because of
it. Yeah, yeah, I know that definitely popped into my mind too,
but I just I couldn't think of a specific location, so yeah,
ended up leaving it off. I'm glad you showed it out, and I
think that's what's like Hooper and goes to Shima. Your big shout outs to
soccer punch over here, right, yeah, big sucker punch stand. The
last one I wanted to mention for just an honorable mention is the game called
COLT so K h O l A T. This is an interesting little survival
horror game and it's actually narrated by Sean Bean. Interesting enough, it's it's
you're basically following the story of like I think it's actually based somewhat loosely off
of like a true story of these like Russian hikers that went missing in the
rural mountains. And I must say, like the game mechanics wise, it's
kind of repetitive and it's not like insane. It's not the most fun game
to actually play. But immersive lee that's a weird thing to say esthetically,
and just immersing you into this world. I think they they knocked out the
part like ten and ten. I think the opening fifteen minutes of this game
is some of the best immersion that I've ever gotten out of a game,
Like you just really feel of being alone. On sale for four dollars right
now, might I might just buy this game to jump in there. You're
a big horror guy, now, No, this is exactly what I need
right now, Sean Bean, I would love to hear thoughts on it,
because yeah, I think the overall gameplay cycle isn't the most fun to play
through, but man, those opening, those opening like ten minutes of it
are just a knockout of the park. It's there's no like real talking like
because you have Sean being kind of narrating and opening, and then it just
goes to you were in this location completely alone and you're just wandering and then
you like it's just snow, blizzard going off, tons and tons of snow.
You got some really ominous beautiful music that kind of just like I don't
even want to say too much, but just at at a certain point,
I'm playing this game this month. I promise you that I will share my
thoughts in January. I will definitely play this game. That's like amazing.
Hey man, maybe we should we talk about it. Maybe I should plug
it back in and do it a little little retrod this game before, Like
these guys. Absolutely, there's a certain moment though where the music just dies
down and all you hear is just the wind, like the wind and and
and the snow just hitting you so really really wanted to shut it out mostly
for Snowy Wind is a great a great combo we talked about in the Arc
Arcs Retro as well, like Wind in terms of aesthetic strong yeah, very
strong, very strong s t here aesthetics. So yeah, I'm that's kind
of a hidden gym. I didn't think I was gonna get anything out of
that, but there you go. Now you're gonna be picking us on up
great price. So sorry, So I put a name for a level,
or should I something? Because everything else I'll say, I'll say the opening
to to Co Lot, so just the opening sequence just because it really immerses
you into it and then from that point on, like you're just in the
cold mountains, so like you're kind of used to that game looks incredibly like
the the visuals are amazing. Now I could just be screenshots. Is gonna
run on my computer or do I gotta get my lap I think it runs
on fifteen pretty strong. Yeah. I remember when I bought it, I
was very excited to play it because I think I got it like really close
to the actual release and it did not work like at all on my laptop.
Like I was getting like six frames per second on my old computer.
So bummed because you're like really looking forward to playing a game and then it
just cannot run for shit. So I can learn my lesson there. But
it's yeah, cool, should we get into some honorable mentions here? Let's
do it. So I think maybe we'll just kind of go one at a
time and just rifle off our list and we can stop on it and if
we want to. This one. I have not actually played this level,
but I had to show out because every single list I looked up of like
people ranking their favorite Snow levels and whatnot, always had this on there.
And if it's anywhere as good as the quality of the TV show from this
year, then I have to agree that's probably really great area. But the
Last of Us has like a I guess a pretty iconic snow Winter. I
guess just the season, right. It is like the whole section of that
game, So shout outs to Last Us. I'm sure that Snow level is
pretty fantastic. Yeah, there's there was. I'm sorry, go ahead,
No, I was just gonna mention it because I know a certain point of
that game. It's it's kind of considered like the Winter portion. I didn't
I didn't play that one. I was kind of thinking of the back of
my mind. I'm like, someone's gonna be listening to this. They're not
gonna hear a last of us mentioned. They're just be like, oh,
zero to ten rank, Yes, exactly. I'm trying to trying to keep
those of five star reviews coming, you know. Of course, there was
so many kind of open world or games that are like completely winter themed,
and it's like hard to pick a specific spot. So I haven't once again,
not when I've played, but I want to shout out Journey to the
Savage Planet, you know. I think it's a very snowy game. The
Long Dark is all about like surviving in the northern Canadian wilderness. I love
that game, but it's like it's so interconnected and it's all kind of the
same with little variations. I can't really pick like a specific spot, so
that one's gonna exist as a shout out. Uh. The first tomb Raider
reboot is like a very snowy game. But I also I can't like pick
a level, you know, So it's hard for me to go back to
that because it's been a while since I've played it. Because I mean,
what came out in twenty thirteen at this point, so hard to remember,
but I'm I'm sure if I play that more recently, that would be in
there. I just love the season. Season of winter and animal crossings always
say a good vibe, you know. So that's all about like the holidays,
and there's all these events and things, so it's very Christmas Eve.
So show us to that, Kirkland. If I say mirth in reference to
sea if stars, is that a thing that you'd be familiar with yet,
I don't know if you've got no, okay, no, not familiar,
I won't say anything, but I'll just say show those to that one.
I feel like there's got to be some great hawf level that exists, right.
Oh yeah, I had that on my Honorable mention specifically just from Star
Wars Battlefront two because that was the one that I played the most, and
that one had like different mounts and different costumes for the actual troopers and everything,
so that they did a good job at capturing that. Yeah, I'm
sure I had tons of fun with the Hawk areas in Lego Star Wars back
in the day, but yeah, I haven't played those in so long.
In the remake, you know, whatever, edition just absolutely sucks, so
I didn't play much of that game. Shout outs to the Village section of
Resident Evil Village. That's kind of like the hub area of the game.
So you like very early on get to the village and it's all this beautiful,
kind of well beautiful but desolate, scary, snowy town, and then
you go off to the different areas of the game, and that's kind of
where you keep reuniting with, so it's kind of a familiar happy place after
a while. The first time you go, that's terrifying, but then it
becomes a place that you're familiar with and you understand, and it's like that's
your territory, your domains. Even if more enemies show up, you know
how to take them out. So shout us to that area. Shout outs
to the Riker's Prison level from Serial Cleaners, which is a game I shouted
out pretty highly in me and Dante's like best levels ranking of last year.
I don't know if it's super that game takes place like there's Christmas lights.
I think it takes place on like New Year's Eve is when the characters are
kind of sharing the story and they're like flashing back and that's what the levels
are. But that game has a good kind of wintery aesthetic in general.
Celeste as well, it's a great platformer all about climbing a mountain. So
like that whole game, not the whole game, but most of the game
is snowy. So it's hard for me to pick one, but shouts to
Celest. And then my last honorable mention is this is very much just like
I'm just trying to sneak this in in any way I can, because I'm
like, there's got to be some great arcane snow level, but there really
isn't. But the closest is that at the nighttime on the freestad Rock level
of Death Loop, and so like it starts to get snowy right as the
game progresses, like a snowstorm comes in at night and it's never like full
snow level, but it's kind of just like starting to sprinkle snow and whatnot.
But I just remember the first time I like walked out of the I
guess the bunker and freesad Rock at night time, and there was like no
enemies there. Normally there's a bunch of enemies in that little area, but
instead it's just like desolate and it's kind of dark and you can't see too
far because of the fog, and there's just like snow coming in at like
a beautiful angle, so really beautiful esthetic there. But I feel like this
would be me cheating and then like, you know, it's arcane, so
obviously it's like an amazing level, so it's it'd be I feel like it
would cheat and get too high on the list. And it's really more of
just shout out for me. But obviously there's a lot of there's actually a
lot of snow and death loop, but it's never really the main thing.
It's more on like the edges of the map. Yeah, things getting a
bit snowy, so oh yeah, good shout out. Though I'm glad you
you found one arcane one because I have the same thought. I'm like,
there's got to be an arcane snow level somewhere in the in there. But
even arcs, I'm like, is there a snowy section? I guess where
the dragon is. There's some ice, but yeah, there is that area,
but that's not my favorite area, not a fun section. Man does
does not have any snowy areas, Like that's shocking to me, But it's
like, surely doesn't it doesn't have a single snowy area. It's wild,
very wild. Those are shout them out here. Yeah, I got oh.
I threw like Essex tricky on there, same thing with like steep.
That's the other Ubisoft snowboarding one. There's probably some other one that was the
main one. So my top of my head Lost Planet. I never actually
owned this game, but I remember being at a friend's house way back in
the day and seeing him play it and just lots of lots of snow so
I figured out at least bring it up in honorable mention. I think that's
why when I said Journey of the Savage Plant, I think I was thinking
of Lost Planets. Okay, thank you for correcting mine. That was another
one, similar to Alan Wake, where I saw it on like the Xbox
three sixty magazine. Like in the I always watching YouTube videos or trailers of
this game. I never played it, never rented it. This seems like
an easy blockbuster rent. I don't know why I know that back in the
day I mentioned the Oh no, I didn't mention Arundelle from Kingdom Hearts three.
This is like the Frozen World from Disney's Frozen, so obviously there's lots
of snow and ice in that section there. Didn't love that specific level actually
when we played through it, so I didn't want to fight for it on
the on the best ten list, but at least a shout out. My
last shout out here. Oh, I also had Nagarnt. That's that's another
northern section from Total Ward Warhammer. That's where the Dark Elves are. It's
kind of like Canada. So they usually like compare the the the real world
to the war World, which is actual areas because there's it's like loosely inspired
by by the actual geography of the world. So I would call that Canada
very snowy, very icy, and very dangerous. And then my last honorable
mention is Project Zomboid. That whole game it just goes through seasons, so
at some point if you make it to Christmas time, like, there will
be a lot of snow and it's that much more deadly. I have not
gotten there, but I just know from watching YouTube videos there is a section
in there that's great shouts out to that game. That's a great like because
even like hogs Meat and Hogwarts Legacy in the Winter specifically, like that's an
amazing desty, but it feels like that's narrowing in almost like too much to
a certain road. Yeah, any game that has like the seasons going through
the winter, Winter is always a fun season when it comes down, even
like Starry Valley. I guess I could bring that one up there changes the
gameplay usually in games like that. Yeah, especially cool. Uh that's our
that's our list, which I just was counting, and I I think we're
at thirty seven games, thirty seven levels. I should say, not thirty
seven games, thirty seven levels. So this is gonna be well, I
don't know. I have no idea how hard or easy this is gonna be.
We'll have to just see when we get there. But how about we
take a quick break, catch our breath, you know, drink, I
got some hot coco. Here's warm up a big get toasty, and then
we'll go down here and we'll break down and this top ten list will be
right back. Okay, we are back. We gotta start with a quick
recap here. So how about you. There's my ad break numbers. I'm
gonna I'm gonna put the block right here. Do you want to read all
of these these bottom ones here, sure, yeah, just quick recap.
Yeah, so start at the top. We got the Crying Wolf boss battle
from End of Your Solid four, Battle of Blizzard Bridge on Kirby in the
Forgotten Land, the Throat of the World from Eldert Gull's five Skyrim cool look
at this Elder Strolls and Siraum Elder Schrolls five Skyrim section. We got wind
Helm as well as a winter Hold all great noms. So we got the
ice Caves from Plunky episode seven, Canada games from Sly to Mount Warrio from
Mario Kart eight DK Summit from Mario Kart. We Frape Snowland from Mario Kart
sixty four, Just the Surface from Metro twenty thirty three. We got mid
Guard from God of War, Regnarok Wilderness from Assassin Screen three Summit, Call
of Duty, Black Ops Map Summit from Far Cry four, and we got
Apaul from Overwatch. Mount Mountain Knot that sounded weird. Mount Knot from Death
Stranding. Yeah, I don't know, like that's when they called it when
I was googling it, but I'm gonna I'm gonna go with Mountain Not because
it sounds cooler. But yeah, that's weird. And then we just have
Act three from Ghosts Shima Nice Blanket. Oh, and then of course the
opening for co Lot Maybe not Mountain. I think that Mount mountaknot rings the
best off the off the tongue. It's like Knox Mountain from here in Colonia,
very close. Yeah, exactly. And then we also have the tutorial
from Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced prologue from Red Dead Redemption to Cool Cool Mountain from
Supermaro sixty four, know from Journey Hokkaido from Hitman A Train to Catch Uncharted
to Summit from Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Smash four and Smash Ultimate,
Frost Moore and from Warcraft three, Reign of Chaos, Bruma from The Elder
Girls for Oblivion, the prologue from Total Warhammer three from Calldomorrow for two.
We have Cliffhanger the single player level, then sub Bays and d Rail from
multiplayer. We have the Interloper from Outer Wild's Northern Wastes from Fable, Sidewinder
from Halo Combat Evolved, Snowbound from Halo three, and Skyrail from Double seven
Night Fire. So we have a huge list here. I feel like we
should Oh man, I feel like we should probably start with a few cuts
just to make things a bit easier on ourselves. So let me duplicate this
down here, like for something like the like the Summit for Metro twenty thirty
three. I'm totally fine with with cutting that because it is a pretty point
cut one. Yeah, click quick cut there, and I'll even Yeah,
Mario Kart, I think I'm okay to cut sprap By Snowland for now.
The Mario kit's sixty four to one, so you can keep DK Summon Mount
Warrior in the list for now, but I think you can drop that one
out. Let's see. I think, oh, the also the tutorial from
Final Fantasy Tactics, I'm happy to kick that one out at this time.
Same thing with the prologue for Total War Warhammer three. I'm glad it's on
there, but uh, it's it's a pretty short section and yeah, cute.
Let's see, we can't already get him to the point where it's hard
to make. I'll cut God of War Ragonrock at this point, okay,
and then we could do Act three for Ghost of Sushima. I think that's
another just big blanket one, right, it's a too too vague. I
was gonna say the opening for Colat, but the more I think about it,
I'm like, man, that's snow and that sound of the snow is
just so good. So I haven't played it, and I already love the
game. Sean Bean's voice too, that's so powerful. Let's see where can
we go next? For Okay, I was going to bring up Halo.
I think Sidewinder. I have like a a lot of nostalgia memories for that
map, but I think out of the two Halo maps, I do like
the Snowbound pick purely for like the replayability of it, for being a multiplayer
map. But I love that name, by the way, Sidewinder Yeah,
okay, definitely the name of a transformer. I don't know which one,
but just it's just coming to my mind. I'm like, that must be
a transformer name. Uh looking at looking at Skyrim, do you want to
say, big ones? Do you want to knock at least one of these
off right now? Or is the Skyrim just too snowy and it's hard?
It is too snowy. I was going to say, out of all of
them, maybe winter Hold, Okay, I would be I'd feel the same.
So if that's the weakest link of the three, then I think we
can we can team up and get rid of that one. Now, not
to not to poopo on your pick here, but it's has screwed three.
It sounded a bit vague. I was just gonna say, yeah, I
just saw it on there. I'm like, oh, we haven't cut that
one yet. Okay, get that out of there. There, Let's see
where are we going to go next. We got some model work for maps.
Do you want to look at those right now? Yeah? So sub
Base is my preferred from the multiplayer, but I I think I'm happy just
going Cliffhanger actually and dropping both the multiplayer maps. That's kind of how I'm
feeling at the moment. Yeah, I would have to agree. Do we
could at least drop sub base for now if you want to keep Derail.
I'm okay with that. I mean, we got a lot to get to
work through here. I'm pretty one yea, let's do that, and then
you know what, I also think that since we have I was gonna I
was gonna say, potentially Bruma just because we have Skyrim stuff. But they're
pretty different, so maybe it's a bit slightly early on that I might.
I might even you know, we just got rid of Sidewinder. I might
even be okay to get rid of Snowbound two. If it was my favorite
mapp in Halo three, it'd be a different story. But but it's not
quite, so I think I'm okay to drop that one. So unfortunately an
early drop for Halo. I feel like Halo is one of those shooters that,
like every game in the series has snow areas or se levels of a
staple shout outs to uh Snowbound Uh. I was gonna mention frost Morn right
from Warcraft. Yeah, I just feel like I might have a hard time
defending it. I couldn't find too many images. It seems like it's like
I could see this part with the sword and like that little zone, but
it's hard for me to get a two total vibe that if because whenever I
started Frost Morn, it just shows me the pictures of the sword, So
it's hard to find like pictures of an actual area that we're talking about.
I guess. So I'm putting a lot of faith in you on that one,
but I trust you, So I'm just pulling up an image of the
actual map. See there is a lot of snow on the actual the gameplay
of it right right, Oh my god, it's got commentary. That's not
good. I'll just do a little share screen here, okay, yeah,
do I have to kick mine off here? I just drop Yeah. Maybe
look at that snow. Oh yeah, that snow effect. That's classic right
there. Yeah, this is a good game. As I mentioned the ice
aesthetic, like I love those icy walls. I love that just teal ice
blue like that is that is classic to me? I think you know what
to do it for me? If these if these buildings had snow on the
roofs, that would be a little bit better. But no, that's fair.
I was gonna say, like an easy cut just because you brought up
a good point of being a lot more icy than snowy. But then when
I pulled it up and there actually was snow fall a lot of icy forward
ones on here, So it's yeah, it's good, it's valuable to have
that in there. We can we can leave it for the time being.
Uh, I think I I'm okay to drop Spelunky only because only because it's
a bit vague as well, it's not a specific design level. It's kind
of just the aesthetic of it. So I love it. If this is
my personal top ten, it might be on there, but I respect that
this is a collective list, and so I'm gonna I'm gonna be okay to
drop that one. I'm I just got a glimpse of some of my powerful
picks on there, and it kind of dwarfs uh the the Summit for for
for Cry four in comparison. So I'm pretty okay with getting rid of that
one right now. Now, are you feeling like it's time to maybe make
a couple of locks here? Do you want to keep? Because I think
for me it's gonna start it's gonna be hard to do some cuts until I
kind of yeah, I'm I'm yeah, let's let's do some Well, actually,
I'll make one more. I'll cut my namesake Care, I'll cut the
Interloper. It's really cool, really great. It's very unique in terms of
how this list goes. For sure, maybe I'm not. I don't know.
I was. I was gonna mention the Northern Waste and Fable. It's
an are like super big area. There is some great snowy aspect to it.
But I think it might be more icy than snowy, not even that
town though the snow Snow Stars fire cool. You can keep it if you
want. Yeah, I dropped the Interloper. It's it's a tough call,
but uh, you know, it made it far. I think as far
as a lock goes, like, there's no way in any world that Hakkaido's
not on this top ten in my opinion, get it in there, so
I would lock that one. So let's move it up to the to the
locks here, I would think. I think I counter that one with the
what's your topic? The cring Wolf boss battle. Actually, yeah, there's
some really powerful picks on there, and I still think that is higher than
at least my picks on there. Highly recommend you at least checking out that
that boss battle. No I I I was gonna mention this earlier, but
I have officially downloaded the Metal Gear Solid Volume one collection. Oh my switch
and as soon as Game of the Year stuff is done, and I can
well, I mean technically that is a new release this year, but it's
downloaded, and I, like I said when me and you and Taylor were
doing our backlog episode, that's my big goal for December. That and earth
Bound or my big backlog on So I'm gonna I mean, i'll probably take
me out before I get to four, but and I don't think it's at
that collection, but I will get there at some point. I'm gonna go
through them chronologically, So starting my metal gear journey pretty soon here, which
I'm excited about. Awesome. What about Cliffhanger, because in my mind,
I think that's a top ten. Yeah. I The only the tricky part
for one, for that one is that we're not for me watching a YouTube
video or familiarize myself. It'd be like, oh, it's hard to remember
like details. And so I did watch the YouTube and it's like, okay,
that is great. I do remember this, but it's like it's not
as tactile as some of these other ones for me that I've played recently,
you know. So I feel like there's a good chance. But when I
look at this list that still has like twenty five games on it or twenty
games wherever we're at, I don't know if I'm quite in the lock territory
with it, but I if I had to guess, i'd say it's probably
going to make it. And I think, you know, to make it
a bit easier. I'm okay to drop Summit as as the other only other
call of duty pick at the moment, so that leaves that as the final
call of duty watch. I think gives it a higher chance to make it
all. Yeah, for sure, but I can get rid of it.
Or you've also played Summit too, right, So how do you feel about
that? No, I'm fine with that in that I think if I had
to pick one or the other, it would definitely be cliffhanger. So let's
see. Oh, man, this is this is hard. Do you have
another any thing that you just feel like you can't be happy unless this locked
on the list? This is in the top ten at the very least.
Uh, I would say, Man, I would say probably the prologue for
Red Dead two. I just think that's like, again, like some of
the best snow I've ever seen in a video game done, and they do
just a good job at emphasizing the harshness of it, the danger that the
cold brings. There's a lot of characters just dealing with that early on as
well as I think like once that section is kind of over, you really
just feel the warmth of like not being in the Winter, So it's like
does a great job of just comparing the like the two start contrasts of the
harsh winter as well as the warmer elements. So probably that one. I
do have a lot of love though for like that snow section of Journey.
It is a very small section, so I don't know how that's gonna last
when we get down to the top ten, but I'm I'm at least happy
that it's still there for now. Have you played Journey, I'm not sure.
No, that's that's definitely a big backlog one as well, And every
time you mention it, I'm like want to play it more and more.
And I didn't even realize there was snow level, so that makes me want
to play it even more. So at some point, at some point in
my life, I will get to it. So yeah, I think right
now Red Dead two is probably like my next number one. The way that
that Journey Snow section makes me feel though it's still it's still higher, I
think we should make some more cuts then for perhaps let's do that. And
I think this is a spot where I'd be okay to drop Nepal from Overwatch.
Overwatch only because to me, it's not like it's not the most snowy
of these, which is kind of sounds reductive, but that's the rank and
we're doing here. Yeah, so I think I'm okay with that one dropping.
And then I kind of feel like Mario Kirk should only have one rep.
Yeah, it would be Mount Warrior for me. Well, then it
be that for me too, So let's do that. We're just a nice
one two punch there. It's good, chops, we're making good progress.
I'm looking at Skyrail. I feel like that might be a little bit of
a lower one as well as I mean, yeah, I think I'm okay
with cutting that one, and like even comparing that one with Warcraft three Frost
Moorne again, I feel like I might actually pick Skyrail over that. So
if we already geting rid of that, and I think I'm okay at this
point too, Cross Morn Frost worn Hungers, as Arthurs would say, let
me do account here. One, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen,
fourteen, fifteen. So we need to get rid of seven of these
in order to make a top ten. Pretty good, so far, would
we really get thirty two thirty seven? I think oh, I actually got
rid of a like, look at a here's that list originally. Oh my
god, I thought you just scroll down there's more options. No, I
like to duplicate it so I don't lose them. Smart man. H Let's
see. So looking at this list, we still have two Skyrim picks,
but of course it's Skyrim. So that feels like if there's any game that
is potential to have two picks, that feels like the one. So I
don't think that's necessarily the next Jenga block. But I it's hard for me
to make this decision. I think if you had, if you had a
played Oblivion and knew a rumor yourself, maybe I could. I just feel
like, if I'm already considering it, I've considered it before, Yeah,
Elders, I know is. I know it is gonna be represented. I
guarantee at least one of these skyrom maps it's going to make it, make
it. So I think I'm okay to drop Bruma. And you know,
honestly, if it was a more like crucial part of that game that had
a lot more like big quest going on, I'd probably feel differently about it.
But it's almost more of like a holiday, you know, which of
course is different, different energy to it. I was kind of thinking a
train to catch, but I also kind of want to keep that now the
more I think about it, Just like the ending sequence of that level is
so strong when it comes to the snow element. What about cool Cool Mountain.
We haven't really brought that one up much, but I still like entering
this, I would have imagined that that would be an easy lock in the
top ten. I thought so too. I thought so too. And I'm
not even like necessarily like against it or anything. It's just I don't feel
as strong for or against it compared to some other ones on here. There's
just yeah, there's not a weak link on this on this list anymore.
Yeah, that's you know, I haven't played all these games either or don't
know all these levels offhand, but yeah, it's to me, it's officially
at that point where it's like it's really hard to make any cuts or Okay,
I'll put this out there that my one, like my next lock for
me, my personal one is definitely not Mountain from Death Stranding. As I
said, that was the person that came to mind. I'm totally fine with
with locking that you want to put it up. Okay, that makes me
a happy man, and that that makes it easier for me to do other
stuff because now I got my baby on there, the snow baby. I
think I'm like jumping off of what you just said there. I think I'm
pretty confident in my want for the prologue of Red. Did to hear?
Actually? Yeah? What us? That one's another one that's got amazing just
Blizzard audio. That was I feel like that was the first big you know,
next gen at the time games too, with the snow physics of walking
around. I remember all of the the chatter of that snowflakes coming through your
earbuds, just like right, yeah, all that all that, it's four
D gaming. That's a good one. Are we over hoping over hyping Colon
or is that like a top ten or for you? I have not played
it before, so it's like, are we over hyping it or is it
is the snow element thing? I don't think I'm over hyping that opening element
of it, like the audio and the actual aesthetic of the snow. I
had to ask, just had to as at least right now, at least
right now, which that wasn't even like a main pick. When I brought
it up, I think it was like the tail that was like just sneaking
in there. I love that it's working. We haven't since we've started cutting,
we haven't talked about sly to that. To me, it sounds like
a really high tier pick based on the description it is. It is for
sure, that's a nostalgia game for me as well as like one of the
best sequence of sequences of it. And if we're making the best Snow levels,
I'd be kicking myself if I didn't at least keep it in the talk
for like top fifteen, which I guess we're in that area. Now,
what about Summit from Smash, Yeah, that's the one I've been looking at
here. I'm looking at only because like I feel like a lot of my
personal picks of I don't have a I still have quite a few here.
Ah man, I don't know. It's it's hard for me. Here's what's
hard, is that comparing a call of due to campaign map versus a Smash
pro stage versus a Super Mario sixty four, you know, level versus a
section of Skyrim versus this level structure of Kirby versus a Mario Kart course,
like these are so different and all these other rankings we've done in the past,
things are more in a bucket where this is so much more vague because
of the descriptor of it. So it's really hard for me to say,
like I, yeah, well only have six spots left, like a summit
in those six spots, Like, I don't I'm not ready to cut it
yet, but I yeah, if I had to guess right now, I
don't think it'll make it. But I'm still not ready to cut it,
just because God damn, this is hard. This is really hard at this
point, it's very, very hard. What about the Battle foot Blizz of
the Battle of Desert Bridge, Man, I think that's probably the next one
to go. I'm glad it's made it this far, but I think it's
the time for it to go. But seriously, Kirkland, after we've done
this, Iauld, it's probably on Spotify, hit up YouTube, just listen
to the music for that again. Is so I would put it onto the
background here where we get copyright. It is so freaking good, so freaking
good even just put it on in your headphones while we're going through this.
Yeah, you need to listen to that music again. Now that we're getting
down to it, I and with how many strong picks we have, I
think reducing Skyrim to one is maybe the move, and for me win Helm
would be the one. How do you feel about that? Do you feel
opposite? We got a couple of mountains, we got out mountain, we
got Hookaido. I think I think, yeah, I had through the world
higher than it. But like that's also not like a specific city. And
if you think of like the coldest city in all of Skyrim, it definitely
is win Heilm, And just the amount of snow that's in that in that
city, like there's there's not any like areas on the ground that aren't snow
in the in that city. And if you're not ready to cut, you're
not ready to cut. It's it's like I am ready, but I just
I can't say it out loud. I can't, you know, I can't
cross. Let's let's do it different, Let's put it right here. So
it's okay, it's still on our screen, but it's not it's not in
that in that tier anymore. So now we need we have one, two,
three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,
ten, and we need, So we need to cut four more here,
oh man, and now that we're doing now, or that we're down at
this stage a bit, I think some of it can go. And it's
sad for me to say. I think I can drop Summit to be clear
though smash bro stage because there's one hundred summits right, big list, But
I was going to ride off what you just did. I think I'm okay
with dropping co Lot. I still think it's one of like again, I'm
gonna play it open, we revisit co Lot. Yeah, you're gonna play
anything like why did you? Why did you let me get rid of that
game? It's such a powerful snow level? Maybe maybe what's our numbers at
right now? So we have four locked, it's six more, so we
need to get rid of two more. Uh okay, and then well if
you if throw the World is a contender, we need to get rid of
three more so so we have fable let's yeah, recap for the auto listeners.
I guess. So the ones we've locked Tokaido from him Man, Crying
Wolf from MGS not Mountain Dust Stranding, and the prolog from our Red Dead
and then our contenders right now are the Northern Wists from Fable, Cliffhanger from
One War for two, Trained to Catch Uncharted Too, snow from Journey Coo,
Cool Mountain from SM sixty four, wind Helm from Skyrim episode seven,
Canada Games from Slide to Mount Warrior from Mario Carti eight, and then kind
of on the edge, on the on the edge of the cliff here is
throw the world for for Skyrim. Yeah, I guess, well, if
you have a cut, please then go ahead. I think I I think
I'm ready to cut a train to Catch from Uncharted Too. I think in
my mind I had remembered that being a lot snowier than it actually is.
Maybe it's just because of the way that it ends like it like it really
does open you up to like the peak of a mountain that you're kind of
on, but like just looking at like screen, like you're you're kind of
at like a jungle at some section because you're like lower down. So it
is not the best no, exactly, it's not even like a snowy jungle
either. So yeah, great, great, absolutely one of the greatest levels
of video made it super far, but yeah, I'm okay with And I
was also going to ask about Northern Wastes from Fable that was the other one,
only because I haven't I mean, there's three on this list that snow
in episode seven slide too, that I haven't played, so it's hard for
me to make a call on any of those, course, but it sounded
like Northern Waste is the one that wavering only maybe because of some vagueness of
it. I'm excited to check it out when we do that retro someday.
But it's it's another one that I feel maybe aligns more on the icy side
of snow because I feel like the fact that it is the Northern Waste,
it's so cold usually it's just like permafrost as opposed to you know, snow
falling all the time, very very cold. But I think there's a little
bit more snow and some of these others that we're looking at. It's not
the coldest place in Skyrim. So no, it's so if we do that
and we assume that throw of the world is removed, and I think that's
a list of ten games. How do you feel about this list? Looking
at it, I am actually very very happy with this list. I'm kind
of impressed and surprised that Snow from Journey got on there. But honestly,
I think it's so deserving of it, Like it is such a like when
you compare the overall scale of what that game is, it's a very like
short ish section of like feeling the harshness of the snow. But I think
it just does so much for the little amount of time that of the game
that it really covers that it like it's got to be on there for me
at least. So yeah, I'm very very happy with that. Mount say
goodbye to Throw to the World for Skyrim. What do you want or do
you want to make? I am? I think comparing like if I do
a one on one v one with any of the other titles on this list,
I think Throw of the World is ten. By the end of the
day, it's number eleven, for sure. It is. It is the
highest of honorable mentions that are possible in this world. Uh So, here's
our here's our ten, and we're going to order this. But we got
Hakkaido from Hitman, Crying Wolf, not Mountain, the Prolo from Red Redemption,
Cliffhanger, Snow from Journey, Google, Mountain wind Helm, uh Canada
Games, and Mount Warreo. So yeah, I love the eclectic just genres
that we got here. I love that we have I feel like some more
modern games versus some some early two thousands sort of games totally, so we
have a nice mix here. Uh wow, I don't know which way to
go with this. Is there a clear bottom or clear I think I have
a couple that are in like a lower range. I'm very glad they're in
the top ten. But something like the Canada games from sly To I think
it has so many I mean the Canada isms in it. It's very cold
and it's got all like like just the polar Bears and things like that,
but no major Snow comparison, Like if I compare it to like Snow from
Journey, like it's it's not going to win any ratings there. So happy
with that one being a little bit lower. Who was the other one?
I like? Again, like I think the Snow from Journey, it is
very, very impactful for me. I would love to see it round that
number five range, But I get like, you haven't actually played the game,
so it is tough to judge it there. I'm okay with that one
being lower because it is on the top ten already. Mm hmmmm, so
yeah, obviously such an eclectic group. Hard to make a call here.
This is something I'm I'm struggling with, is I mean, if we're talking
about just individual level design, like quality of actual level, like hit Man
without a shadow of a doubt in my mind is like number one on this
list. But that's not exactly what this list is. We're not just ranking
like the best individual levels that happen to have snow on them, right,
It's right, it's the whole esthetic, it's the whole vibe of it.
Completely good point. But to me, that feels like it's got to be
like still at least top five just because of how quality that is as well.
So I mean, maybe for the sake of now, we're just gonna
like break this up in little groups here, so we'll say that there's like
kind of the mid tier, the top tier, in the bottom tier,
so to speak. For now, I feel like, ah, what do
I feel like? What do I feel like? I think if for teering
them, I would put Red Dead two in like the upper tier for sure,
as well as the Crying Wolf Boss battle. For me, Okay,
I don't want to just say those are gonna be top five no matter what.
We leave the Mountain in that group two. Then in that way,
I'm happy. There you go. And I think out of all those,
I could possibly put Journey below them, like below a tier amongst all those
titles. I'll do that for now. When I look at this, it's
so when I'm looking at this, I feel like when I'm talking about like
the level or the area itself, like I feel like cool Cool Mountain is
the one I want to put the lowest, like I guess number nine.
But then I also feel like out of all of these, even out of
all ten of these on the list, I feel like it is the most
Christmas y. Yeah, with its music, with its snowman, with its
lightheartedness, with its color palette. And so that's what I'm struggling with.
Where do you think that, where do you think you fall on that element
of it? Like, yeah, is this something that we can just happily
saw it at ninth or because of its like more cheery vibes, like should
that carry it up a couple spots? Maybe if there's other stronger areas than
it, maybe, but like personally, I don't know, I feel like
it's one of those things where I just knew it was going to be on
here at some point, but I don't have like a lot of powerful arguments
into like make it break through into that upper echelon sounds like at least ninth
right now. Yeah, it is where we should put it. I'm happy
with that, and that brings us to that kind of means like Canada Games
and Cooliole Mountain would be in that kind of ninth intense spot. And then
we kind of have this tier of Mount Warrior wind Helm. I feel like
wind Helm should probably I think Cliffhanger's look so good too. I feel like
I think I'm pretty okay with Mount Warrio being eighth on this list. I
think so as well. It's great again Winter Vibe actually being a ski hill.
But I know you make some good like I don't feel like I'm frozen
while playing. Uh, you know that's not what you want to feel playing
a racing game. You want to be you want to be de lazing around.
So so that leaves that kind of middle tier of Cliffhanger and wind Helm,
which really I just want to collapse them into that top too, Like
I feel like that's such a just great mix of levels right there and like
so distinct. Maybe how would you feel about Cliffhanger at seventh? Does that
make sense to you? So we got ten and need seven Cliffhanger. I
kind of feel like I just I feel like Windhilm needs to be higher in
some way to me, And I don't know if that's Cliffhanger moving down or
something else. I feel like Cliffhanger is the easiest one to to be the
victim. I think I am willing man. It is tricky the area of
an open world game versus like a distinct level it is it becomes difficult.
Like I was gonna say, I think I'm okay with letting Journey fall down.
A couple plays to that seventh spot. I'm surprised, however, I
just think for like the emotion that like you feel in that moment is more
than what I would have gotten from Cliffhanger. From wind Helm. Yeah,
So it's like personally I have it in that top five easy, but a
collective top ten list, I think me like Cliffhanger when that blizzard comes in
and like all you can really see is your red dot, Like that's just
such a you got snowmobiles too. In that level you got a crazy jump.
Oh yes, snowmobiles. That's a good point for U. Yeah,
a lot of different factors in there. I mean, I obviously I'm okay
with dropping snow below the two that I've played, of course, so that's
I'm okay to make that change. If you're at that point, What about
what about snow above wind Helm? How do you feel about that? So
just Cliffhanger moving. I'll happily move it. Move Cliffhanger up just because of
Yeah, because I have personal attachment to it. I'm okay with this,
Tanta. Yeah, at least right now. I don't know if we have
to. I don't hate it, Mark, Yeah, I don't hate it.
Yeah. It's it's funny looking at our top four because it's four games
that two are my picks, two are your picks, and they've kind of
floated to the top of the list, which I think makes sense. I
also, I think I'm okay to move ho Kaido to like the bottom of
these four. Okay, once again, not because of the quality of level
design, but because of because of the snowiness of it. So I'll do
I'll do that for now. At least I can make that. I'm sure
you're happy with that change because it moves two of your picks up a lot.
Yeah, but I don't. I don't see it dropping below anything else
for me. So I think that's like a good line in the sand or
line in the snow. How do you feel about twin Helm right now?
Like, are you okay? I'll still look at it and I feel like
it should be higher, But then but then I know that's at the cost
of some other like insanely good snow level. So I it feels weird to
me still, but I think I I think I can be okay with it.
I think I think I'm starting to I think something else too, to
like just have the argument of where it's at right now, which is very
high, you know, comparing to the thirty seven that we already had on
here. But the snow in Skyrim is ever ever. You know, it's
everywhere, But I don't really feel like it's alive like some of these other
snow mechanics that these other games have, like like from Red Dead, from
like snow specifically from Journey, Like I just feel like it's it's cutting through
your armor and in in Elder Schools games, like you know, there's certain
things that like I mentioned, like if you're climbing the seven thousand steps through
the world and you're butt ass naked, even if you're not anored, like,
it doesn't matter. You're not you're not taking like cold damage by it.
There might be some good audio, but it doesn't feel like it's really
chinking your armor or anything like that. So I think the fact that it
doesn't feel alive makes me want to put it lower than some of these other
ones, even though you know it's the coldest place in all Skyrim line.
Yeah, I mean you've sold me. I think I'm happy with it at
what is that Tenney seven seventh there? Which uh? And are so are
you okay to walking snow at six at this point? Yeah? From Journey,
I'm happy with that, okay. Sure. So then Cliffhanger is in
fifth right now. Do you think it's going to climb up at all or
do you think that's where it caps out? I think that's where it caps
out ice caps Yeah, I think it caps out there because I'm not moving
it up on my on my picks there, So it would be on you
if you want to put it above Hakkaido, which I doubt that no obsolutely
not. Yeah, so so we're getting down to it. So it's essentially
the top four right now is looking at prologue from Red Dead, Crime World
from MGS, Not Mountain, from destranon Hakkaido from Hitman. I think I'm
Hokkaido. We can we locked that in officially at number four. I would
love to see not Mountain maybe climb up one spot just and I don't I
don't know which one of you of your two, by the way, is
the higher of the two. I was actually gonna propose a very very similar
trade of allowing Red Dead to take that number one spot just because it is
the most modern game. I like, well, I mean, when did
Dastranni come out, yeah before Red Dead? Right? Or they similar time
for DESTRANI I think Red Dead was twenty eighteen, right, so so crying
Crying Wolf. I think it's the fact that it's like a PS three era
game. It does feel a little bit more dated, even though it's so
ahead of its time at that era. But I wouldn't put it above Red
Dead two. And if you feel really strongly about uh, not Mountain,
I'm okay. With putting that one above it just because of it, you
know, it's a little bit dated, a little bit dated. Yeah,
I mean not Mountain is just a just overwhelming the snowy mountain playground. You
know. It's like to me, it's like the epitome of what this list
is looking afterwards, just playing in the snow in the way that I mentioned
that Final Fantasy Tactics even throw snowballs. You can't throw snowballs in like any
other game. For some reason, every game that has snow you should just
like have an infinite AMMO going on there. But yeah, like that's what
that Ara in Dust strinon is for me. It's just this big snowy playground.
So so yeah, it's got that on the lock so nice. When
I look at this, like, I think, I'm pretty happy with this
top to I'm very happy with this list. Whan you read it off from
ten down to number one, on ten down at number one, okay,
starting at number ten, I'm so glad this made it on here we got
episode seven the Canada Games from Slive Sly two in the Band of Thieves I
believe the titles called. And then we got Cool Cool Mountain from Super Mario
sixty four, Mount Warrior from Mario Kart eight, wind Helm, the colest
city in Old Skyrim on Elder Skulls five Skyrim. We have Snow from Journey,
and then we're entering the top five here with Cliffhanger Call of Duty Model
for two Hookaido from Hitman. It was up from the first hit Man.
I know they're like collective now, but was at in the twenty sixteen I
think I was the DLC for the nice and then top here we got Crying
Wolf Boss Battle from Metal Gear Solid four not Mountain desth Stranding, and the
prologue from Red Dead Redemption two. Amazing. We've done it. We have
officially ranked the best snow levels in video games. This is a fun This
is a fun list, very fun, fun, weird list. We both
had some kind of good surprise picks there and then some of some shared love
going on there. And I even learned about this game called Colad that I'm
gonna go buy after this podcast and play in the next month here, So
thank you everyone for listening. You know, if you're listening to this around
that holiday, I hope you have a nice, nice, fun holiday,
stay warm inside, have some I don't know what do people do? Hang
out with their family, chill or just do whatever you want. Play some
video games, play some snowy games, play some winter games. What if
you want to just scare yourself. But yeah, thank you everyone so much
for listening. And I guess this one. We'll see you again next year.
I have a good one. Bye bye bye mhm.