I have to admit that, as much as I love the Fall/Winter season, it’s also a difficult time of year for me (as it is for many). Seasonal depression is a very real thing, made worse by the cold weather, darker nights, and general gloominess that seems to settle over everything. So I’m always looking for something to make it more bearable, and Light Up the Town is a game that does just that. 

Light Up the Town is a disarmingly simple and charming indie game by Meadow Studios, and the only thing you have to do is decorate for Christmas using a surprisingly large arsenal of decorations from baubles to lights to snowmen. It’s pure in a child-like way, and possible of warming the heart of even the most Scrooge-like holiday haters. 

Spread smiles, despite the cold

In the demo of Light Up the Town, a young ferret named Bean seems disheartened by something, though we’re never told what that something is, and his father encourages him to throw up some string lights to spread some cheer. Bean is reluctant at first, but it quickly becomes apparent that, despite the simple nature of the game itself, Light Up the Town is absolutely phenomenally special in its simplicity.

To throw up lights (or other decorations such as candy canes and baubles), you just aim and click, move to aim somewhere else, and then click again. You can throw up as many decorations as you want, clicking in sequence to string them together or separating them to create smaller points of focus. Not only do the lights brighten the surrounding area in the game, but they also serve to warm your heart in an almost indescribable way. 

The demo features only the main house that (presumably) is home to Bean and his father, and the surrounding area and buildings. You can light up the house, the bushes, the trees, even the electricity pylons nearby, and what begins as a dark and foggy location quickly turns into something that you can’t help but smile at. It feels festive, helped by the familiar music that plays as you adorn the place with holiday decor, and it feels hopeful.

Brighten the town

Although the demo of Light Up the Town only allows you to decorate the main house to your heart’s content, the full game is set to feature the whole town of Bellflower, Colorado. From the photos on the Steam page alone, there looks to be a whole host of different places to brighten up, from a forest to a town center. 

There are time limits that you need to face, or any limits to how many decorations you can place, as proven by my five-year-old when she covered practically every square inch of the house and garden in lights and a truly staggering number of snowmen. Light Up the Town is a cozy, relaxed holiday experience for the entire family, and it’s the best kind of pure-hearted fun.

As you explore each new area, you’ll find coins that can then be used to unlock new decorations and types of lights, which can then be added to your existing ones to really amp up the holiday cheer. Eventually, it might look like someone quite literally vomited Christmas all over the town, but that’s okay – we all need a reminder of the child-like wonder that Christmas used to hold in our younger years.

The spirit of the holidays

As we age, and we start to face the realization that adulthood isn’t all we expected or hoped it would be when we were starry-eyed teenagers wanting to make a life for ourselves, Christmas and the holidays can lose their magic. We know that Santa isn’t real, and, especially once you start having your own kids, Christmas becomes just another expensive and stressful experience. We lose the joy, naturally, when you’re having to fund it for others, but some moments can give it back to us. 

I know it’s silly to say that playing Light Up the Town gave me a brief glimpse of that joy, but it inexplicably did. Maybe it was because I got to listen to my daughter giggling to herself as she threw snowmen up on the phone wires, or launched candy canes into the forest. Or maybe it’s because I just let myself get lost in the relaxing nature of the decorating. I mean, it’s not as if I had to untangle these lights before putting them up, which is usually one of the things I dread as the time to put them up closes in. 

Plus, it’s hard to feel maudlin when you’re playing as a waddling little ferret in a floor length fur coat, who has one hell of an arm and an endlessly supportive father who provides occasional reassuring or encouraging missives.

If the demo is enough to make me misty-eyed (it is) and hopeful for a joyous holiday season despite the stress that it entails, then I can only imagine what the full game will bring. The demo of Light Up the Town is available through Steam right now, and I’d recommend it to everyone, Scrooge or otherwise.