When I first saw Lake back in 2021, I was drawn to it for one particular reason. That being the lake. It was a nice setting for a game, I felt, to always have that lake in view wherever in this community I went. What I then discovered upon playing was that I was invested in the rediscovery Meredith Weiss has with the place she grew up. Not only that, but also bringing forth the person she felt she was – whether that be returning to her life as a software developer or one of the other endings on offer.

I loved the game enough to give it multiple replays. So, imagine how much I loved the news that the game was getting an expansion. Season’s Greetings takes things back to the waning days of 1985, where we play as Meredith’s dad, Thomas. And the waning days means Christmas! And snow! The town of Providence Oaks is covered in it, with snowmen watching as you deliver the mail. Christmas decorations also cover the houses, which is just lovely to see.

Since this is a story focused on Meredith’s parents, you would think there was nothing new to discover. But that’s not entirely true. Sure, the gameplay doesn’t change any from the base game, but there’s new discoveries in certain characters and connections. Beth, a character who wasn’t present for the main game story, has quite a bit of focus here. Her story is a mirror to that of Thomas and Emily, about feeling the need to move on and explore somewhere new in life. And it also feeds into the general theme of change that is present throughout the overall story.

This being the same community, the faces Meredith encountered are all mostly present, with some having a more active participation in events than others. There’s Mildred, the old woman who dotes on her many cats. Jack, the farmer who also runs the local radio station. Maureen up at the diner, Frank of the postal service, Nancy the general store owner and plenty of other faces. This is a small community just going about their daily lives, and it’s a very sweet one for treating it as such.

Those connections the Season’s Greetings story make to the base game are also lovely to see play out. Right from the off, Meredith and her dad are in a phone conversation talking about her coming over for the holidays. But the next day, she’s calling again to say she can’t make it. Her work has got in the way. There’s a scene showing the moment Emily receives the news she won that holiday to Florida. Interactions with both Angie and Robert have them wondering if they’ll ever find love in Providence Oaks. And a Christmas present given to Emily is a book said to come from an author who spends his summers at the cabins by the lake.

Much like the base game, there are many choices in dialogue options. Some are just small variations in the dialogue that follows while others affect how things play out. Again, I was considering my choices here, trying to fit in with the character of Thomas as I knew him from the base game and his interactions with Meredith over the phone. And how others would react to him here. I’m interested in seeing the changes I can bring with a second play. Especially with a certain interview.

It is unfortunate that there was quite a bit of audio cut outs with the dialogue during my play. It’s great to hear this story play out, so having to occasionally swap to reading the subtitles when such happened detracted a bit from certain scenes. Despite such issues, the characterisation is as great as it was for the base game, including the new characters introduced here. The music selection from the base game returns, which was lovely for me. While at the start of my base game playthrough, I turned the radio off, I left it running in future. And discovered that I liked this selection of country pop songs.

Having a story about change told during the last days of the year feels poignant. That period of the year, more than any other, feels a time for reflection and looking back. A time for planning ahead to what a new year can bring. And this story nails it. I felt their words, their feelings on their future, to be moving. The slight fear of what the new year will bring and loving the events of the past year in a romanticised way. But also wanting this next year to be better. There’s no story beyond New Year’s Eve here, leaving the story of 1986 to be told by Meredith and her journey of rediscovery. And that’s fine.

For as great as the story of Season’s Greetings is, it’s main purpose is to give context to the events of 1986 and give people who loved that story more time with the characters they love. As such, this is content purely for them. Which clearly includes me. I played through the base game multiple times, and now I’m planning on doing so for Season’s Greetings, too. There’s definitely no dragging me away from this Lake.

Images Taken From:
Lake | Xbox Series S