The Autumn season brings with it crisp air, blustery winds, and apple cider. However, the thing that people tend to love most about the season is the foliage, when the green chlorophyll in trees’ leaves recede, and they start to fall and be carried by the winds, in the trees’ preparation for the long, cold winter.
Even when the leaves start to thin a little, a few video games feature settings that capture the spirit of Autumn. Some of these settings may be based in real-world locations or in faraway fantasy realms. Fall foliage can be viewed in the wilderness, in the cities, and even on racetracks, with the best fall foliage in video games really showing off the beauty of the season.
1 Crash Through Piles Of Leaves In Mario Kart 8
Animal Crossing is a game franchise that can put a smile on the face of even the glummest players. It is known for cute talking animals and an excessively chipper attitude toward life. Part of the draw of this series is its unique time progression system, where events and seasons change based on the real-world time on the game console’s internal clock.
Mario Kart 8, which is one of Mario’s many sports outings, plays with this idea. Its Animal Crossing-themed DLC features a track through a town inspired by the franchise, complete with different variations for each season. The Autumn look features rich orange-red leaves, made more beautiful by an in-game sunset. Piles of leaves are also on the track for drivers to plow through.
2 Experience The Changing Of Seasons In Walden: A Game
Anyone who calls Walden: A Game a mere walking simulator is not too far off the mark. At the same time though, it’s more than that. It is living Thoreau’s grand experiment of experiencing life on its simplest terms, in his cabin in the woods surrounding Walden Pond.
As Thoreau spends time maintaining the cabin and tending to his crop of soybeans, he observes the changing of the seasons. This includes the golden coloration of the forest trees’ leaves, indicating the coming of the freezing winter months.
3 Concentrate On Capturing Falling Leaves In Shenmue 2
When Sega fans think of the Dreamcast, they often think of the cult classicShenmue, in which a young martial artist goes on an epic quest to avenge the death of his father in what was, for the time, an immensely detailed world.
The story of Shenmue continues with Shenmue 2, where series protagonist Ryo Hazuki finds himself in Hong Kong. In one scene in this game, Ryo is tasked with catching the falling leaves from a fiery-red tree in order to get permission to access a book that will aid him on his quest. The trees exude a fervent energy, with their colors on full display.
4 Find The Tranquility Amidst The Chaos In Muramasa: The Demon Blade
The Wii is known for a lot of games, including Wii Sports and the Super Mario Galaxy duology. One fantastic hidden gem on the system is Muramasa: The Demon Blade, which was later ported to the PlayStation Vita as Muramasa Rebirth and follows two parallel stories in Genroku Era Japan.
The game is a stylish, fluid 2D hack-and-slash adventure game set across stunning landscapes. One such environment is a waterfall surrounded by trees deep in their Autumn transformation. Japanese culture has an intimate reverence for the natural world and the artwork for Muramasa: The Demon Blade manages to do it justice.
5 Things Change In Night In The Woods
Night In The Woods is deceptive with its cute 2D aesthetics with talking cartoon animals. It follows Mae, a College dropout who returns to her hometown of Possum Springs, having to deal with her personal demons and coping with the fact that things change.
The Autumn setting reflects this. The leaves are changing colors, falling off the trees, and being kicked around in the streets. The little foliage in town adds to a sense of melancholy that pervades the game, as the town struggles to keep on its feet. Leaves that tumble by are a fitting metaphor for Mae, who herself is tumbling along without any sense of direction.
6 It’s Harvest Time In Stardew Valley
It’s the simple life in Stardew Valley. The player character inherits their grandfather’s farm and, after tiring of life behind the desk as one of the minions of JoJa Corps, packs up and moves out to the countryside.
Life in the Valley consists of tending to crops, raising livestock, exploring mines, and getting to know the local townsfolk. The gameplay and internal calendar cover the four seasons, including Fall, which sees the trees changing to reds and golden yellows. The warm colors are particularly reflective of the Fall spirit, especially during the annual Fall festival held in the town square.
7 Autumn Mountain Gets Crafty
The Paper Mario series arguably hit its prime with Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door on the Nintendo GameCube. It has since had a bit of a rocky road, but the Metacritic score for Paper Mario: The Origami King indicates that the franchise could be heading in the right direction.
One of the game’s new zones is Autumn Mountain, whose design fits with the paper aesthetic of the game. The foliage consists of leaves that look as though they were cut from construction paper, giving the vibe that this is something that could have easily come out of Yoshi’s Crafted World.
8 Another Thing To Do Besides Rescuing Zelda
For those looking to spend some time in nature without actually going outside, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild might be the solution. A plethora of activities exist for those procrastinating on rescuing Princess Zelda from the clutches of Ganondorf, including hiking, swimming, rock climbing, paragliding, and even shield surfing.
One activity worth checking out is walking the trails of the Akkala region, where the layered colors of the trees are on full display. This is a relaxing hike that will be cleansing for the mind, as long as no monsters attack. The foliage is accentuated by the red light that peeks over the horizon just before the sun rises.