The holiday themed continuation for Newfound Courage reminds us that good stories don’t have to be long.
I loved Newfound Courage when I played it earlier this year, and it remains one of my top recommendations for LGBT-friendly video games (and just games in general—it’s an excellent story), so I was excited to try out the new expansion, Winter’s Fair.
Winter’s Fair isn’t long—you can complete it in 45 minutes—but what is there is exceptionally charming. The story continues to follow Alex, the protagonist from the main game, as he and the town of Silverpine celebrate the Winter’s Fair, the annual holiday celebration. However, for the first time in ages, something special happens: it begins to snow.
While there are some minigames and a puzzle or two, the big draw of the expansion is to spend more time with the people of Silverpine—and that’s more than alright with me. As I mentioned in my review of the main game, the characters are very well written, so I’m happy to see more of them.
I will say Winter’s Fair is very clearly a continuation. Because you’re expected to have played the main game, it assumes you already know who the characters are, and you remember just a bit about the world’s lore. If I’m going to nitpick, I kind of wish there was a little reminder, just a sentence or two, of who’s who, just because it’s been three months since I played the base game, and there were one or two moments where I went, “Wait, who are you again?” but I quickly caught up, and it didn’t stop me from enjoying the game.
And I definitely enjoyed it—even with the short format, the game still managed to make me smile, to have pathos for a character having a less-than-perfect holiday, and I confess I almost teared up at the message after the credits. It’s a worthy expansion to an excellent game.
