I’ve previously penned about Whitethorn Games and Gamious’ cozy mailperson game LAKE and, just in time for the holidays, they’ve released the substantial expansion (to use the parlance of the 90s) LAKE: SEASON’S GREETINGS to further the adventures of the Weiss family and their letter-carrying duties.
To quickly summarize LAKE: it’s the late 80s and you play as Meredith Weiss, returning to her hometown of Providence Oaks, Oregon. Her father is the town mailman, but unable to tend to his duties so Meredith takes up his route while trying to suss out what she wants in life.
Interactively it’s very low-stakes, but emotionally it’s high-stakes. Catnip to me.
It’s structured around days that often open and close around phone calls or just winding down, the intermediate time spent running mail-centric errands. Dropping off packages or letters while musing over the future of her life. That’s it. That’s the game. Cozy as fuck, but still supremely narratively substantial.
LAKE: SEASON’S GREETINGS follows the same structure, but instead of playing as Meredith, you’re playing as the original mailman: her father Thomas.
Meredith was supposed to come home for Christmas but she gets stuck debugging the video game she’s working on. Her parents are frustrated but understanding, and they go about their lives.
Similarly, you’re delivering mail to all of the same townfolk as Meredith did — the queer movie nerd, the grouchy general store shopkeep, the wistful bookstore owner while interacting with your slightly sketchy gambling addict co-worker. It just takes place a bit later in life, right around Christmas.
What results is the same gameplay loop as before, but doesn’t feel quite as substantial. While LAKE was a cozy game, there was a sense of tension, of ennui with Meredith. Thomas, on the other hand, is perfectly comfortable just doing the same thing, day after day, letters in mailboxes, packages dropped off, coming home to his loving wife and reading on the couch until he has to wake up and do the same again.
The sole sort of narrative friction is that of folks in the town questioning whether they should stay in Providence Oaks or move along to another phase of life. I admit: few games would even think of considering broaching that subject! (NIGHT IN THE WOODS is one, though.)
This feels more like an afterthought, though. While Thomas’s wife Emily mentions moving elsewhere, it is very much ‘what if?’ speculation. Yes, that fits with the game’s non-confrontational vibe, it lacks the dramatic undercurrent of Meredith’s internal conflict. Thomas is feeling action from others, rather than born from any sort of personal agency.
DLC and expansions are often used as a way to push the boundaries of the pre-existing game — THE ELDER SCROLLS IV: SHIVERING ISLES is a perfect example of this, where it goes from being a relatively grounded medieval fantasy, then dives directly into surrealism — whereas SEASON’S GREETINGS hedges back instead of pushing forward.
I realize I’m grousing a lot and that’s because I loved LAKE so much, and SEASON’S GREETINGS is a very substantial add-on as opposed to just, say, two more hours of mail delivery. It could very well be a separate game and no one would notice if they hadn’t played classic LAKE.
Emotionally, it doesn’t hit me as hard as classic LAKE did.
That’s fine! I loved playing SEASON’S GREETINGS! Right now, all I want to do is play cozy games, and this hits the spot. I loved reuniting with the folks of Providence Oaks. I loved playing matchmaker. I loved caring about how I drove around because I adored the town and the mail van.
As usual, given the fact that it takes place in Oregon, the environment, the locale, and those who inhabit it reminds me of LIFE IS STRANGE and also my home state of Vermont, it — well — it took me back to a younger me. That’s not nothin’.
LAKE: SEASON’S GREETING gives you more of the same, albeit slightly watered down, but that’s perhaps by intent; it’s Christmas, and many of us don’t want more melodrama foisted upon us. Grab a cup of cocoa and tuck in.