Short, sweet, and scary. This succinctly describes Crimson Snow, the perfect game for Christmas time, assuming you like your Christmas bloody and with chills down your spine. Steppe Hare Studio has delivered a high-quality horror game on a low budget, offering enough scares and a persistent sense of dread that will make you look at Christmas decorations in a whole new way.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

This Christmas Eve starts as many others, as you and your girlfriend Joyce make plans to spend a lovely holiday. Who knows, you may even pop the all-important question right now, if everything goes according to plan… but it never does, right? Some strange being is starting to haunt you and she is going to unearth ghosts from your past in this story-driven horror game. Resorting mostly to stealth but also using a weapon for the final showdown, Crimson Snow at least attempts to give you a literal shot at taking this creature out, instead of running away until the curtains close.

The introduction is moody and warm, contrasting with the heavy snowstorm outside. Joyce has a surprise in store and calls you, giving you directions in a way that feels more natural than your standard tutorial. Not that there’s a lot to learn, mind, but it’s a clever idea to get you into this holiday spirit as you explore your house for a few minutes.

The smartphone is an interesting addition and the only way that you’ll ever get to communicate with Joyce. When everything starts going downhill, you and Joyce will share some facts on the paranormal being hunting you down, with some of your choices contributing to reach one of the various endings. Sadly enough, these endings barely differ, making the idea of restarting the adventure a fleeting one.

Stealth will be your main weapon against the hairy woman with an unhealthy obsession for you. Hiding around corners is a common move, but the only true way of escaping her is by crouching under a table. If you see a table in a room, there’s the strong possibility that you’ll have to hide for a few seconds, as she stalks you and searches the room. Don’t think about outrunning her, you move at a snail pace and there’s not a hint of sprinting in the game, even if your life is in danger.

With the stealth mechanic comes one of my issues in the game. Interacting with the tables to crawl under is intuitive, but if we’re trying to pick up an object on the table such as a letter or a sparkler, it’s extremely easy to miss it and involuntarily hide under the table. This is worsened by the fact that many items are visible but very few can be collected, so it’s normal if you’re experimenting with what can and cannot be picked up. It’s not a major problem, but a simple distinction between the cursors to pick up and to hide could go a long way.

The best horror games won’t try to scare you at every corner with loud noises and jumpscares. Crimson Snow knows it and instead goes for this foreboding sense of dread, an ominous atmosphere, and a constant presence that you’re not seeing all the time, but you know it’s ready to show up around the corner. A few jumpscares also rear their creepy face and despite my awareness, one of them managed to catch me by surprise.

Bury the Ex

Crimson Snow is short, clocking in at under two hours to finish your first playthrough, and this without rushing through it. However, it is well-paced and offers enough moments to keep you engaged and wanting to reach the ending. There was only one frustrating moment set within a room that I like to call the weeping ex-girlfriend maze, as you need to carefully find your way to the door without stepping on broken Christmas decorations that will alert her to your presence and result in instant death. The path isn’t perfectly tracked, and you will have to rely on trial and error more than you should to memorize the correct route.

As far as haunted house story-driven games go, Crimson Snow is one of the best-looking of the bunch. The houses are incredibly realistic and stylish, you can almost feel the coziness and the warmth if you disregard the fact that an evil supernatural entity is stalking you. The textures are high quality, the rooms are filled with items and details, making you wish there was more interaction, more to do than what the story throws at you.

You get to take a couple of short trips outside, so what you see through the window isn’t just an elaborate effect. The heavy snowstorm outside looks great, the street feels real for once, although the reduced visibility and restrained navigation won’t allow you to go out of bounds, so don’t think about trying to enter other houses, no matter how strong the temptation. Too bad that you won’t spend more than a few minutes on the street.

As for the star of the show, the creepy ex, she is scary enough in a Samara meets Freddy Krueger kind of way. She twists, turns, does some duct crawling and contortionism, quite the spectacle. The hair physics seem a bit twitchy, but considering her unnatural and awkward movements, this may be intentional. The only thing that concerned me is how she seems to slide across the floor instead of properly walking, something you notice the most while hiding under a table.

You are likely going to be captured and devoured several times during your quest, and the death animation is a nice one, as the creature bites you with flair and a loud screeching sound. However, these five seconds become an eternity when you’re forced to watch it for the umpteenth time, with no way of skipping it.

One final mention to the audio aspect, surprisingly good, with suitably creepy sound effects and the occasional bout of chilling music. The voice acting from our girlfriend Joyce is unusually satisfying and pleasant, with just the right amount of cheese for some of the weird moments, such as a later dialogue about the gift contents.

A Holiday to Remember

Crimson Snow may be short and not very diverse, but you won’t get bored of it before the end. With great graphics, a creepy villain, and an interesting story to keep you going, it’s completely worth it for the extremely low asking price. A few scares are guaranteed, but it’s the looming dread that will get you hooked on this tale of a supernatural Christmas and a clinging girlfriend who doesn’t know when to let go of the past.

Pros

• Fantastic graphics and good voice acting
• Steady sense of dread
• Creepy and bity ex-girlfriend
• Interesting story and stealth mechanics
• Nice final battle

Cons

• Extremely short
• No skipping the death animation
• One particular room was very frustrating

Rating: 8/10