Christmas Stories: The Gift of the Magi Collector's Edition

Fun and relaxing, it will put you in the Christmas spirit.

The Good A solid find em Christmas game with a decent and heartwarming story. Like many other games by this publisher, based off an old Christmas story. Solid guides in game for those that struggle, although for the life of me can't find the last gnome. The Bad A couple flaws are there are no Steam achievements... but there are in game achievements. Not a big deal, but unless you're OCD like me (CURSE AND DAMN YOU FINAL GNOOOOME!) lessens the value of playing through the game in its entirety, again not a big deal just less drive. 2nd and much bigger flaw, is there is no cloud save, in tandem with the lack of achievements it then has no motive to go out of your way to play the game outside of the story. If the story then isn't someone's cup of tea, well it has the makings of being a bad game. Then it comes down to personal preference, I was fine with it, but it is a pretty basic game, so I don't see it being for everyone. Both those going hand in hand, why would I wish to complete a game, that the achievements don't get factored into my steam profile, and due to no cloud save, something happens to your device, it was all for not. There is no value in the extra stuff, so it comes down to does the story pull its weight enough to be good. Also while there is a guide for everything... it'd be nice if there was at least a roadmap of the collectibles you've already gotten. the aforementioned gnome, along with puzzle pieces, you scour the entire game, the 1st roughly 1/2 of the game you can hit all the points and backtrack with ease. But then there are 2 parts in the story where you can't backtrack, so if you missed a gnome or puzzle and don't know where it is, you need to replay the game from the beginning. Either a roadmap showing where the gnomes/puzzles you've already gotten, bare minimum could help, I wouldn't want a guide might be too easy (but at same time, lack of achievements... why not? why provide guide for all the other puzzles but not this?), or a new game + or something allowing you to free roam between each segment so getting collectibles is easier. The Ugly There's also a difficulty setting, and for the same prior reasons... what is the point? Anyone can play on easy, I played on normal, got stuck a few times... but then why should I do hard mode with both a guide present in game, and no motive to do so? For this and the above reasons if you also don't like the story, it lacks replay value. I liked the story, fun lil Christmas romp, but... at same time it is a bit generic. There's also a weird theme with cats and mice, no idea why. You start off seeing an average white cat that wants to tell you something ok... then magically there's anthropomorphic cats... then fairy cats and witch cats and ok what? I like cats, it's just... weird lol, about 1/2 way through, so you're wondering is our protagonist loosing his mind or what the heck is going on? Not bad, there is magic involved, just... weird. So I'd say a 5 out of 10, with it swaying to a 4 (bad) or 6 (good) based on dealer's choice. It's good in my opinion, so it gets a thumbs up, just... nothing to really right home about. It'd go a long way if at the very least it had cloud saving. Not everyone's cup of tea, but it was for me... Now I'm off to find the final Gnome.

Not as frustrating as the Nutcracker.

I really enjoyed this one. Every christmas i play one or two of these games to get into the mood for the holidays. This one had the gift to make you feel good by helping others when they are experiencing dark times. The graphics are beautiful and feel cozy like sitting before your fireplace with a good brandy.

had a couple of crash and lag issues but they were not impactful. the game was over all well flowing and nice.

Despite the title, the game does not have anything to do with the biblical Magi, or the religious aspect of Christmas in general. It contains three unconnected stories (four with the bonus chapter), and in each of these you have to help a person or a family in need. It's more or less identical to the other Christmas Stories games: cheesy festive backgrounds, good minigames, somewhat simple HOPs, and a bonus chapter with cats. Recommended for completionists; it's decent, but there are several much better games in the series. As some reviewers mentioned, the elf (and later cat) "helper" standing in the corner of the screen is very annoying, not only because of the killer stare, but because they are continuously jerking and twitching as if having a fit.

Cute game, even if it didn't have anything to do with the Magi. Bonus game, interactive map, hint/skip button