9 Perfectly Icy Video Games To Help You Survive The Summer Heat

It’s too hot to play video games.

But maybe you would still like to try.

May I recommend, then, a nice cold video game? Something icy, cold, that will conjure up thoughts of snow, cool water and air conditioning? Maybe one you could serve in a glass with ice?

Well, I’d be happy to. Here, take a look at our menu. I’m not making any promises about anything in any of these games except that they will be very, very cold. Enjoy it as much as you want, as much as you want. Don’t freeze your brain:

An RPG intended to summon Chrono Trigger a nostalgia that takes place in a world where it’s always snowing everywhere. Literally the entire game takes place in a fantasy snow world. While this doesn’t give a lot of variety of locations, it makes for a very chill experience.

SSX Tips PS2, GameCube, Xbox, GameBoy Advance

It’s hard to play if you don’t have an older system or a physical copy, but if you do, it might be time to check it out. This is a snowboarding game that involves performing crazy tricks while sliding down snowy mountains. And there’s a sick theme song. Very cool.

©Capcom Lost Planet 3 PC, PS3, Xbox 360

There are several such third-person shooter adventures Lost planet games, and they all take place on a planet in the middle of an ice age, so you’re guaranteed a good freeze no matter which one you choose. Luckily, all three games are on the same three systems, so it’s a little easier to get to the others if you liked one.

©Ubisoft Tom Clancy’s Division PC, PS4, Xbox One

This very popular decade-old shooter is still enjoyed by many people; there are currently hundreds of players on Steam alone. Its multiplayer elements are of course the most popular and you’ll need to have online connectivity to play, but that’s good news if your friends want to beat the heat too. The division takes place in a snowy Manhattan on the cusp of the holiday season, but given the in-game outbreak and resulting mass chaos, I’m not sure there’s much you can do in the way of Christmas carols or shopping. But at least it will be cool.

It is Skyrim! The hit action RPG that’s on virtually every platform and is, helpfully, very, very chill as long as you stay outside rather than in one of its many cozy taverns. You can enjoy the power that comes with being a Dragonborn, join the college of mages, steal items, hunt for ancient artifacts, or, like me, wander aimlessly through snowy forests, icy caves, and blizzard-covered peaks, fighting wolves, picking lavender, and simply enjoying the experience of existing in a wintery, mountainous, magical world.

Snow is in the name, so you know it must be cold. If you prefer to move around the world a little faster than on foot as a Dragonborn, you can hop into a big old truck and blast your way through giant piles of snow in vast, cold regions around the world. Like its less snowy congeners, Snow Runner is best known for having amazing terrain simulation. This is perfect if you don’t want just any old snow, but are investing in realistic, textured snow that clumps up on your wheels and shovels into big piles and makes a giant mess on the side of the road.

Another game about moving snow, but uh, much simpler than Snow Runner. A good snowman is difficult to build is a puzzle game that involves building a good snowman by wrapping snowballs around obstacles in small hedge mazes. The only downside to trying to play this game in the summer is that its price on itch.io is directly related to the weather in London. As I write this, it’s $21.20, because it’s really hot there. If you buy it in the coldest parts of winter, it can go down to single-digit prices, or even be free.

The red lantern is not only a cold game, it also contains dogs. It’s about being a musher and leading a dog sled team across Alaska, which means sledding through many cold and snowy places. Giant ice lakes, deep frosty pine forests, dogs in little snow slippers! Unfortunately for the musher, the cold actively poses an obstacle. Lucky for you, it’s 100 degrees outside or something, and the cold can’t stop you.

Wait, Reb, why? Sun here?, you might ask. It is definitely hot a game, not a cold game, you say. Well, you are right! But I include Super Mario Sun here because it’s a wonderful game of contrasts. Developer Bennett Fody pointed this out to me recently in a conversation we had about this very game. Super Mario Sun is excellent at describing heat, because it is so good at describing freshness: the clear, refreshing sea water, the canals, the sprinklers, the fountains, FLUDD, it’s all so refreshing, unlike the incredible heat of the game. So if you’re willing to endure a little more sun, you can join Mario and beat the heat by soaking. Metaphorically. I mean, I guess you could play this while sitting in a sprinkler or something. I won’t tell you what to do when it’s so hot outside.