As the holiday season approaches, and for some folks the weather continues to get more chilly, many minds tend to stray to family and spending time with the people you care about. Very human concerns, whether tied to mortality, regrets, and more tend to be tied to this time of year, and over the course of a few hours Snowman Story uses an unconventional main character to help explore them.

At the start, a young boy has made a snowman in his front yard, who he named Chris, and it has managed to come to life. Concerned with the coming spring, and what will ultimately lead to the snowman’s demise, he decides to set out north in the hopes of getting to colder climates and a way to keep from melting. Along this adventure, he meets a pretty wide variety of people and creatures who all are on their own journeys and will tend to strike up conversations with them, often leading down these various philosophical paths.

To help break things up a bit, and throw in a little added flavor, you’ll also hit patches of ice that you’ll need to navigate like a puzzle in order to get past. While these aren’t typically all that challenging, I would note that they end up feeling like filler on the whole, being included to stretch the experience out more than add something of substance to it. In addition, the overall design of the area you had to work with wasn’t always clear, with some areas looking like they could be legitimate exits or places to go, only to find that you’ll need to try some other spot instead. This isn’t a huge concern, but it is an area where the implementation felt a little sloppy.

In the end, if you’re looking for something that will help get you in the spirit of the season, and perhaps tug a little at your heart strings, this doesn’t do too bad a job. While it isn’t a terribly long adventure, it’s at least a thoughtful one, and each of its characters have stories that are worth exploring. I do wish that the puzzles felt a little more carefully constructed, and would have better complimented the story somehow, but on the whole this is still an enjoyable and contemplative adventure.