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Games with "seasons"

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oni-link

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This is something I absolutely loved about Bully, the game starts in autumn and then as the story progresses the game goes though the seasons, to winter, then spring, then summer.

The game world changes completely with each season, and there are seasonal events that take place in each one (Halloween in autumn, Christmas in winter etc)

Another game that does this well is Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life

So really I have 2 questions:

What games use or have seasons?

How could seasons be used in a unique and interesting way?

A lot open world games have a day/night cycle and weather effects, but it would be cool to see games implement a seasonal cycle as well.

What do you think, GAF?
 
The Last of Us is the one that sticks in my mind. They do it fantastically well and it paces the story brilliantly.
 
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, of course. Best use of seasons in any game to date.

Oracle-of-seasons-comparison.png
 
The Last Of Us does it very well, just reminded me that I need to have another play through of that game, the remaster is just fantastic.
 
Pokémon Black & White, and the sequels. It made the region so replayable, it's a shame Game Freak removed it from the new games.
 
Follow the seasons from Spring to Winter, Spring again and you can enter.

Though only one small area in the game. I was actually stumped as a kid on that as I missed the clue.

Secret of Mana.
 
How about that Animal Crossing track that was DLC in Mario Kart 8? You go through the seasons in one race.

Not sure why that was the first thing that popped in my head.
 
Wurm Online. Determines what trees, flower or crops can grow but also change the assets to look appropriate to the seasons.
 
I love seasons in game, even if it's just a seasonal event like Halloween,Xmas in Killing Floor 1.

Don't Starve has seasons and they're at the base of the gameplay.
 
Winter is basically the main boss of Unreal World, a survival roguelike set in ancient Finland. You'll need to build a house or sauna, gather and preserve lots of food and create warm clothes (each body part has separate cold resistance value based on your clothes type and quality) before the winter comes. On the other hand, in winter tracking is easier thanks to snow, you can melt snow to get water easily, food doesn't spoil as fast and you walk to an island on ice instead of building a boat, but on the third hand if you're living in an island wolves and raiders may also use the ice to assault your island sauna haven.
 
300px-Banjo_Kazooie_Click_Clock_Wood_Entrance.png


How the seasons changed Click Clock Wood in Banjo Kazooie was pretty big for me back in the day, had never seen anything like it.

The change in music to suit what season you were in too, amazing.
 
Assassin's Creed III

Though winter was obviously the best part.

Fleet_of_Foot said:
How about that Animal Crossing track that was DLC in Mario Kart 8? You go through the seasons in one race.

Not sure why that was the first thing that popped in my head.
Click to expand...

That's not how that track works at all.

You randomly race on the track in a specific season. In local play you can manipulate it by holding a certain button combo for each season. The track itself is just one season.
 
J4g3r said:
300px-Banjo_Kazooie_Click_Clock_Wood_Entrance.png


How the seasons changed Click Clock Wood in Banjo Kazooie was pretty big for me back in the day, had never seen anything like it.

The change in music to suit what season you were in too, amazing.
Click to expand...

Lovely level. Just got the music fondly stuck in my head upon reading this. I never could find all the notes in this level.
 
I keep hoping GTA's next big feature will be seasons, but i don't know if its reasonable to expect. Have a story that takes place over the course of a year with the changing seasons to frame it nicely, then once you've completed the main story have them change based on every 10 hours of gameplay or something to add variety.
 
Escalario said:
Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, of course. Best use of seasons in any game to date.

Oracle-of-seasons-comparison.png
Click to expand...
I don't know, they took the LTTP / OOT world switching mechanic and doubled it, but instead of being more interesting it just felt really tedious. I really don't get the love for the Oracle games overall though, and I'm a huge fan of 2D Zelda.
 
I grew up living in places that didn't have the full four seasons so experiencing them in games was always really nice. Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon are the standouts. As well as Click Clock Wood in Banjo Kazooie but that's just one level.

The Sims 3 has seasons with one of the expansion packs. It's something that was shown for Sims 2 before release but I don't think we actually got it until Sims 3. I've yet to play it though so I'm not sure how well done it is!
 
Gemfire from SNES used seasons to an extent. You had to farm food and watch your agriculture throughout the year to ensure your army didn't die off due to starvation. I feel like the seasons/weather had other effects on terrain and what not.

Gemfire such a good game.
 
Pokemon Black/Black 2 and White/White 2 have this. New areas opened up each season, and some monsters were only available in certain seasons. Really missed that feature when they went 3D =/
 
Pau said:
I grew up living in places that didn't have the full four seasons so experiencing them in games was always really nice. Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon are the standouts. As well as Click Clock Wood in Banjo Kazooie but that's just one level.

The Sims 3 has seasons with one of the expansion packs. It's something that was shown for Sims 2 before release but I don't think we actually got it until Sims 3. I've yet to play it though so I'm not sure how well done it is!
Click to expand...

Agree with the bolded

I feel like there is a lot more gameplay potential in seasons, the Banjo example is nice but its mostly used as an excuse to throw in a lot of backtracking from season to season

In Bully it gives the town and school a great sense of place, and it adds to the feeling of time passing

Something on the scale of GTAV but with full seasons would be amazing (albeit a nightmare to make, considering the level of detail in that game)
 
Pau said:
The Sims 3 has seasons with one of the expansion packs. It's something that was shown for Sims 2 before release but I don't think we actually got it until Sims 3. I've yet to play it though so I'm not sure how well done it is!
Click to expand...
Naw, it was in a Sims 2 expansion pack as well.
 
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