15 Snowy Levels You’ll Want To Revisit

Snowy levels tend to stick in players’ memories because they mix familiar mechanics with slippery ice, hidden paths, and festive details that stand out from the rest of a game’s worlds. Across platformers, action adventures, and open world games, developers often use winter settings to introduce sliding physics, visibility tricks like blizzards, and side activities such as racing or sledding. These levels also show off how studios handle atmosphere, from detailed snow deformation to changing music when you head indoors. Looking back at some of the most notable winter maps reveals how different teams approached exploration, platforming, and storytelling in the cold. Here are some standout snowy locations that pack in secrets, smart level layouts, and mechanics worth revisiting.

Cool Cool Mountain – ‘Super Mario 64’

In ‘Super Mario 64’, developed by Nintendo, Cool Cool Mountain is an early course that teaches players how ice and slopes affect Mario’s movement. The level is built around vertical exploration, with paths looping from the mountain top down to the base and back through hidden routes. Key objectives involve guiding a lost baby penguin to its parent and racing a giant penguin inside an icy slide that tests precise steering. The stage also hides stars behind tasks like assembling a snowman and using warp points between different ledges. Its layout encourages players to experiment with jumps, slides, and shortcuts while learning how momentum works on slick surfaces.

Freezeey Peak – ‘Banjo-Kazooie’

Rare built ‘Banjo-Kazooie’’s Freezeey Peak as a large hub-style winter world centered around a towering snowman. The level combines aerial navigation using flight pads with ground-based platforming across icy platforms, igloos, and Christmas lights wrapped around the snowman’s body. Players help a polar bear family by collecting presents and interact with multiple seasonal set pieces like a Christmas tree that needs to be lit. The world also includes Jinjos, musical notes, and puzzle pieces tucked into side areas such as a walrus cave accessed through a transformation. Its design pushes players to revisit landmarks from different heights as new abilities and objectives open additional paths.

Snowhead – ‘The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask’

Nintendo’s ‘The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask’ features Snowhead as a mountainous, blizzard-covered region that leads into a complex temple dungeon. The overworld area introduces the Goron Mask, which allows Link to roll at high speeds and cross dangerous gaps using special ramps. Inside Snowhead Temple, players rotate massive central pillars and manipulate frozen water to change pathways, creating a multi-layered puzzle structure. The region also ties into side stories, such as helping a frozen smithy and restoring spring to the valley after defeating the boss. Its progression links environmental changes in the overworld with puzzle solutions inside the dungeon, reinforcing cause and effect across the area.

Phendrana Drifts – ‘Metroid Prime’

Retro Studios crafted Phendrana Drifts in ‘Metroid Prime’ as a cold research region filled with Chozo ruins and Space Pirate facilities embedded in icy cliffs. The area starts with quiet outdoor sections where players navigate frozen lakes and falling snow while scanning ancient structures. As Samus acquires new upgrades like the Thermal Visor, she can infiltrate hidden laboratories and spot enemies or power conduits through blizzard conditions. The layout interconnects with multiple elevators to other biomes, making Phendrana a central hub for backtracking once new gear opens locked doors and frozen passages. Environmental storytelling appears through data logs, architecture, and changes in enemy presence as players push deeper into the complex.

Lake of Nine Winter – ‘God of War’ (2018)

Santa Monica Studio uses winter conditions around the Lake of Nine in ‘God of War’ (2018) to shift traversal and exploration as the story progresses. As the lake’s water level drops, frozen shorelines and icy paths expose new beachheads, chests, and side areas that were inaccessible earlier. Encounters along the snowy banks mix standard combat arenas with environmental hazards like narrow ice bridges and cliffs. Optional favors from spirits and side characters send Kratos and Atreus back through these zones to clear corrupted shrines and unlock realm tears. The evolving winter landscape serves as a visual marker of story advancement and a way to layer new routes over familiar territory.

Winter Contingency Region – ‘Halo: Reach’

Bungie set much of the ‘Halo: Reach’ mission ‘Winter Contingency’ and its surrounding area on a snow-dusted, overcast version of the planet Reach. The level guides Noble Team through rural outposts, frozen riverbeds, and foggy hills where Covenant patrols slowly escalate into full-scale skirmishes. Players move between interior farm structures and open fields, using vehicles like the Falcon to traverse longer stretches of terrain. Enemy placement and sightlines take advantage of the muted visibility and rolling hills, encouraging use of cover and coordinated fire. The mission’s snowy setting helps establish the tone of a planet under siege before later levels expand the conflict.

Snowpeak Ruins – ‘The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess’

In ‘The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess’, developed by Nintendo, Snowpeak Ruins functions as both a dungeon and a lived-in manor buried in snow. Players reach it by snowboarding down a long mountain slope, then explore a crumbling mansion occupied by friendly yetis. The interior layout loops back on itself as Link uses keys and items to unlock new wings, often circling through the same rooms with altered enemy placements or opened passages. The central puzzle involves transporting soup ingredients while avoiding misdirections on the mansion map. Environmental details like frozen armor, chandeliers, and courtyard drifts turn the house into a hybrid of puzzle dungeon and character home.

Sherbet Land – ‘Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’

Nintendo’s ‘Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’ includes Sherbet Land as an updated snow and ice track where karts glide across frozen lakes and dive into underwater caves. The course design mixes narrow icy roads with wider skating sections where bumping into other racers can change your trajectory. Players drive past penguins, sail between icebergs, and transition from surface racing to underwater segments that curve through crystal tunnels. Anti-gravity strips and ramps provide alternate lines for skilled racers who want to chain boosts through the tight corners. Item box placement and environmental obstacles work together to keep each lap varied while emphasizing careful handling on slippery terrain.

White Orchard in Winter – ‘The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’ (weather variant)

CD Projekt Red allows ‘The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’’s starting region, White Orchard, to appear under snow in certain weather conditions or points in the game. When covered in frost, the familiar fields, roads, and village structures gain reduced visibility and different ambient sound cues. Combat encounters with wolves, deserters, or monsters play out differently when footprints and movement contrast against the white landscape. The snowy variant also affects how players read the terrain while tracking contracts or collecting herbs and loot. It demonstrates the studio’s dynamic weather system and how a single map can feel altered through lighting, snow accumulation, and sound.

Freezeflame Galaxy (Freezeflame’s Blistering Core) – ‘Super Mario Galaxy’

Nintendo designed ‘Super Mario Galaxy’’s Freezeflame Galaxy as a dual-element world where sections combine freezing and lava hazards, with missions like Freezeflame’s Blistering Core focusing more on the cold side. In the snowy portions, Mario uses the Ice Flower to skate over water and climb waterfalls that have frozen into climbable surfaces. The level geometry encourages chaining precise jumps while the ice power is active, since touching lava or enemies cancels the transformation. Players navigate moving platforms, rotating structures, and vertical climbs that require timing to avoid falling. Switching between fire and ice themes within the same galaxy showcases how power-ups reshape traversal routes and objectives.

Mountain Lab (Outpost 2 and snowy variants) – ‘Titanfall 2’

Respawn Entertainment includes snowy research and mountain environments in ‘Titanfall 2’’s multiplayer map rotation, such as winter variants of existing maps and the Mountain Lab style layouts. These arenas mix high cliffs, research facilities, and open snowfields where pilots can wall-run along structures or slide across icy ground. The design supports transitions between pilot-scale movement and titan combat, with choke points funneled through buildings and wider outdoor zones for mech engagements. Environmental props like satellite dishes, labs, and cargo containers create routes for flanking and vertical play. Snowfall, distant mountains, and bright ground cover contribute to sightlines that reward awareness and positioning in fast-paced matches.

Hoarfrost Reach – ‘Monster Hunter World: Iceborne’

Capcom created Hoarfrost Reach in ‘Monster Hunter World: Iceborne’ as a large, multi-biome snowy region full of unique fauna and topography. Hunters trek through deep snow that slows movement unless they use hot drinks and specialized gear, introducing resource management tied to the cold. Different subareas feature frozen lakes, caves, and hot springs where players can warm up and gather materials. Large monsters such as Banbaro and Velkhana take advantage of the terrain, using snowdrifts, cliffs, and line-of-sight breaks during hunts. The map’s layered design connects camp locations, shortcuts, and climbable walls to support long expeditions and repeated investigations.

Winter Crash – ‘Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare’ (remastered map)

Infinity Ward released Winter Crash as a festive, snow-covered variant of the ‘Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare’ multiplayer map Crash. The layout keeps the original urban setting with a central crashed helicopter, multi-story buildings, and alleyways while overlaying snow and holiday decorations. Players can sprint through narrow streets, climb into vantage points like the three-story building, and hold rooftops for line-of-sight control. The snow effect changes visibility slightly and adds contrast that makes movement and muzzle flashes stand out. Spawns, objective points, and chokepoints remain consistent, allowing veteran players to apply learned strategies in a seasonally reskinned environment.

Snowy Peaks (Hyrule Ridge and Hebra) – ‘The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’

Nintendo’s ‘The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’ uses the Hebra and Hyrule Ridge snowfields to highlight new traversal tools like Zonai devices and improved climbing. Link must manage cold resistance through armor, food, or elixirs while crossing blizzards and high-altitude passes. The regions hide caves, shrines, and skyview towers that often require combining vehicles, gliders, and Recall or Ultrahand abilities to reach. Enemy encampments and minibosses such as Frox and Gleeok variants appear in these areas, turning the snowfields into combat and exploration hubs. The verticality between surface, underground, and sky islands tied to the snowy mountains showcases the game’s layered world design.

Kamurocho and Sotenbori in Snow – ‘Yakuza 5’

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio portrays parts of Kamurocho and Sotenbori under winter conditions in ‘Yakuza 5’, adding snow to familiar Japanese city districts. The streets fill with seasonal decorations and lightly falling snow as players roam shops, alleys, and entertainment spots. Side activities such as mini-games, part-time jobs, and substories continue against this winter backdrop, emphasizing the series’ focus on everyday life details. Character stories intersect with the snowy setting during key cutscenes and fights in outdoor plazas or riverside paths. The seasonal presentation gives recurring locations a fresh visual identity while keeping their dense layout of interiors and side routes intact.

Share your favorite snowy video game levels in the comments and let everyone know which winter worlds you keep coming back to.