Celebrate the holidays the way Saint Nick intended, by blasting through hordes of enemies in the best Christmas-themed FPS mods

Christmas is traditionally a season of goodwill and generosity—unless you happen to celebrate it through the timeless ritual of unloading a shotgun into a demon’s ribcage. For some of us, nothing says holiday cheer quite like gore-soaked corridors, pixelated hellspawn, and the warm glow of muzzle flashes lighting up a wintery map.

Strangely, festive first-person shooters are a rarity. Developers rarely lean into the holiday spirit with their shooters, leaving December feeling oddly quiet for fans of fast-paced carnage. Thankfully, PC gaming’s modding community has never needed an invitation to fix an oversight.

Over the years, modders have transformed some of the genre’s most iconic shooters into fully fledged seasonal experiences, layering snow, Santa hats, twinkling lights, and absurdly festive enemy reskins over familiar battlegrounds. What follows is a celebration of the best Christmas-themed FPS mods—projects that prove holiday cheer pairs surprisingly well with excessive violence.

Doom has long been fertile ground for holiday-themed madness, and its Christmas mods remain some of the most beloved. Texture packs replace hellish sprites with festive equivalents: Cacodemons become oversized baubles, imps don Santa hats, and shotguns receive cheerful decorative bows. It’s ridiculous, gleeful, and somehow still perfectly Doom.

Some of these mods go beyond cosmetics, offering short but intense level packs built around seasonal jokes and surprisingly tough combat encounters. Cyberdemons stomp through snow-covered arenas, Christmas music blares during firefights, and the sheer contrast between cheer and chaos is part of the appeal.

Quake also boasts a proud tradition of Christmas mods, dating back decades. From abandoned shopping malls crawling with hostile snowmen to sprawling winter-themed gothic levels, these mods turn id Software’s grim shooter into a bizarre seasonal nightmare. Some may show their age, but their atmosphere remains unmatched.

More modern Quake mod collections push things even further, combining intricate level design with new enemies, weapons, and snowy hub worlds. These projects often feel like full expansions, stitched together by creators who treat festive theming not as a gag, but as a genuine design challenge.

Half-Life hasn’t been ignored either. While full Christmas conversions are relatively short, they lean heavily into novelty—replacing zombies with screaming snowmen, marines with holiday-themed foes, and City 17 with snow-dusted streets. It’s messy, often janky, but undeniably charming.

Half-Life 2 fares better thanks to modular Workshop add-ons. Instead of reinventing the game, these mods apply a seasonal coat of paint: snowy textures, candy-cane crowbars, and Combine soldiers dressed for the holidays. It’s a lighter touch that preserves the core experience while injecting festive flair.

Not every standout holiday mod belongs strictly to a shooter. One of the most impressive festive experiences comes from Thief 2, where a Christmas-themed mission transforms the stealth classic into a surprisingly heartfelt seasonal adventure. Instead of endless combat, players juggle chores, festive errands, and careful sneaking through a lively, snow-covered city.

The attention to detail is remarkable: rhyming storybook briefings, bustling town squares, choirs singing carols, and guards who are just as vigilant during the holidays as any other night. It captures the spirit of Christmas without sacrificing what made Thief special.

What ties all of these mods together is passion. These projects weren’t made for profit or exposure, but out of sheer enthusiasm for both the genre and the season. They transform familiar shooters into something new—sometimes absurd, sometimes atmospheric, but always memorable.

In a genre that rarely slows down to celebrate anything other than bigger explosions, Christmas mods offer a welcome reminder of PC gaming’s creative roots. They’re imperfect, occasionally unhinged, and deeply festive—exactly as holiday gaming should be.

If developers won’t give us festive first-person shooters, the modding community will gladly take matters into its own hands. And frankly, it’s hard to imagine a better gift.