It's not every year Link Dump Friday falls on Christmas day, so if you're celebrating, have a very merry holiday, and don't shake that present from me under the tree too hard before you open it. I mean... I did get you that puppy, after all, and they get sick easily. We've got a whole bunch of clouds who just can't get along, a Santa who's determined to ring a little cheer into people to wring out some cash, a witch who's cursed a bunch of presents, and a Santa who needs some serious defense against some crazy baddies.
- Santa Defence - I'll be honest, I can't read Japanese, so I have no idea why you're tasked with defending a determinedly trotting Santa Clause against bullets and enemies, but I assume it has something to do with reindeer hooves not being able to carry swords and shields. Your task is to defend Santa as long as possible in this arcade defense title from Hojamaka Games, though if either you or Santa take three hits it's game over. Your character follows your mouse, and can stop incoming bullets with the shield automatically, but holding down the right mouse button readies your sword... this lets you slay incoming baddies at the cost of dropping your own defense. It starts off slow, but quickly gets frantic, but it's all worth it knowing Christmas will come because of you. And also that soundtrack is rad.
- Xmas Boom - Man, witches are jerks! It's not like they don't have their own holiday. They've gone and bewitched all the presents so they've sprouted fangs and feet and run off. Luckily in this physics puzzle, one little elf has devised a bomb that will blast those presents back to normal... you just have to make sure the path is clear for the bomb to roll there, and make sure to click it to activate its delayed explosion in time. Throw in some ropes to slice, ice to break, and of course, sweet, sweet candy to collect for that all-important perfect level rating, and you might start to wonder if maybe it wouldn't have been easier if everyone just sent e-gift cards to avoid this next year. (Pssst... I like Kindle books! Just sayin'. May wanna... mark that down... somewheres... no reason.)
- Cloud Wars Snowfall - It has come to my attention that not all of you who want one will be getting a white Christmas, and I'm not saying it's because staalmedia's clouds are too busy engaging in selfish cloud warfare to do their job, but... okay, that's exactly what I'm saying. In this simple real-time strategy game, your goal is to take over all the clouds onscreen by spreading the blue cloud matter you generate around. Click and drag on a blue cloud towards any other, and half the clouds you've generated will swarm towards the opposing cloud, knocking down its numbers. If those numbers reach zero, you've successfully assimilated the cloud into your Cloud Collective and can use them to help overwhelm all others, presumably so they can see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of whoever. Clouds, man. They're hardcore.
- Jingle All the Bells - If you've ever wondered what it's like to be on the other side of the judgmental eyes of a bell-ringing Santa collecting money for charity, wonder no more, as The Stork Burnt Down (that's the name of the development studio, not a horrifying headline) wants you to jingle your little heart out to inspire people to donate. Each person who comes skulking by responds to the bell being rung in different ways, and will donate more if you can get as close to what they're thinking as possible. You have to click and drag to ring the bell, and it'll only count as a ring if Santa's arm is fully extended, which is a little fiddly to get used to. But hey, it's all worth it in the name of charity, right? And by charity, I mean unlocking new things for Santa. C'mon baby, the jolly man needs a new pair of shoes.
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