Game Review: Yuletide Legends: Who Framed Santa Claus (Xbox Series X)

Do you feel like you need a a game to help get you in the festive mood? A game to make you feel jolly? A game to warm the heart and soul? If the answer is yes, then developer Brave Giant and publisher Artifex Mundi have the game for you. It’s Yuletide Legends: Who Framed Santa Claus and is Christmassy to the point of being downright garish.

A point and click game that combines a narrative adventure with puzzles and hidden object scenes. If you’ve played an Artifex Mundi game before, you will feel right at home here as the formula is reproduced, albeit with a notable festive skin.

You play a Christmas detective who goes about solving Christmas crimes, but the latest might be the most serious to date. Santa Claus has been arrested for stealing presents, and the entirety of Christmas is in jeopardy because the jolly bearded one is sitting in a jail cell. Yes, it’s as absurd as it sounds, but hold on to your Christmas stockings as this insane story is only getting started.

You see, Santa can’t protest his innocence as he has lost his voice. Or better put, someone has stolen his voice. Someone doesn’t want Christmas to happen this year and as the Christmas detective, it’s up to you to find out who and why and then put a stop to their nefarious plans.

I love the story, it’s so silly and so entertaining. No spoilers, it really does go off the deep end, revealing not just one major villain, but two! Although I would argue that the final section of the game feels unnecessary.

To get there though, you’ll first have to solve your way past numerous puzzles, a lot of which will be familiar to players of these games, and hidden object scenes. All of which come with a delightful festive twist. In fact, let me say that Yuletide Legends: Who Framed Santa Claus deserves a ton of praise for really going deep with the festive story, look, sound, and feel. There’s absolutely no half-assing it, and because of that, a lot of the gameplay issues can be overlooked.

Issues that mainly come from overfamiliarity, repetitive, and uninteresting puzzles. I imagine most will be more than happy to just skip them when the opportunity comes. Especially as one or two are quite challenging, the instructions aren’t always clear, and the ‘boss’ battles are downright annoying.

The hidden puzzle scenes are better, but mainly because these actually showcase variety in how they’re solved, to some degree. There’s nothing taxing, and as always, there’s a hint or two just waiting to be used if you find yourself stuck.

It will take you no more than two to three hours to complete, but I promise you, you’ll come away feeling more festive than you did when you went in. Even the Grinchiest person will find that their heart grows a little playing a game as delightful as this.