The Christmas Gifts

Although being a Christmas themed game, I'd prefer the enemies be Christmas based. That being said, for an inexpensive game it's alright. Not really glitchy, but not 100% polished. Worth the price though.

[h1]Mediocre action platformer with bad trap design and other odd game design choices.[/h1] [i]Disclaimer: I have played some of Anamik Majumdar's other platformers so I knew what to expect. This is very similar to the rest of them.[/i] For the holiday season I decided to play through some of my holiday-themed games with achievements. Anamik's [i]The Christmas Gifts[/i] was the first in alphabetical order, so despite not expecting much (I've played [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/989250/Fight_For_Love/]Fight For Love[/url] before), I played it anyway. It's pretty much like other Anamik's action platformers. You collect ammo, kill the enemies and gather the collectables to complete the level. It's Christmas-themed: there's a wall-of-text explaining why you go shooting after elves who stole your gifts. I believe the story would have been better illustrated with 2-3 pictures instead. Starting with a positive, this time around the enemies are not bullet sponges - at most 5-6 hits from the better weapon kills the strongest of them, so that's nice. However, the rest of it is not that great. [h1]List of annoying oversights[/h1] - There's over-sized traps that are easy to hi…

Ug, I'm not even going to spend my usual amount of time reviewing this "thing." It's a crap action-platformer that has LIMITED AMMO that furthermore DOESN'T REPLENISH when you die! Yeah, if you're not doing well, you can very easily end up with no ammo and tons of respawned enemies in front of you (because even though your ammo doesn't respawn, your enemies do), making progressing impossible. Jumping feels weird and unnatural, hitboxes are square and terrible, obstacles are confusing and will one-hit kill you even when it looks like you can pass under them (see previous comment about hitboxes ;) ), and the repetitive music will make you want to rip off your own ears and feed them to the cat. Everything about this is bad, including the English. Just stay far, far away.

Although being a Christmas themed game, I'd prefer the enemies be Christmas based. That being said, for an inexpensive game it's alright. Not really glitchy, but not 100% polished. Worth the price though.

https://youtu.be/VbV-cQ7w7e4 Despite technically being a functional game the balance and controls are far from providing a refined or often enjoyable experience.

Developed and published by Anamik Majumdar, The Christmas Gifts is a retro-inspired 2D platformer that delivers a lighthearted holiday adventure built around classic side-scrolling gameplay. The story follows a young boy named Kim, whose Christmas celebration takes an unfortunate turn after a group of mischievous creatures steals all of his presents. Rather than accepting defeat, Kim ventures into a series of hazardous environments to recover every missing gift before the festive spirit is completely lost. While the premise is intentionally simple, it perfectly suits the arcade-style experience the game aims to provide, allowing players to focus on exploration, platforming, and combat without unnecessary narrative distractions. The adventure spans twelve handcrafted levels that gradually introduce more difficult obstacles, enemy encounters, and environmental hazards. Progress is driven by careful exploration, as players must gather red and blue gems to unlock magical chests containing the stolen presents scattered throughout each stage. This collectible system encourages players to investigate every corner instead of simply racing toward the exit. Along the journey, Kim gains acce…