Celebrate the Holidays in Your Favorite Hosted Games (2025 Edition)

A Season of Survival, Snow, and Servers

The snow is falling, the loot is dropping, and the survival worlds you know are decking the halls for another round of holiday cheer. December is always a special time in gaming, and this year, some of the biggest titles are celebrating with festive updates that bring equal parts chaos and coziness.

From Rust’s Kickmas to DayZ’s snow-covered apocalypse, from the industrial holiday spirit of Satisfactory’s FICSMAS to the warm glow of Valheim’s Yule, and even the lab-gone-merry madness of Abiotic Factor’s holiday event, there’s something for every kind of player this season.

Here’s a quick tour through the best holiday events of 2025, and how you can make the most of them on your own private server.

Rust: Kickmas 2025

Rust may be brutal 11 months out of the year, but December turns the wasteland into a winter carnival. Facepunch Studios’ Kickmas 2025 event brings a mix of player-driven chaos and community challenges, all tied into Facepunch’s official Kick platform.

Classic holiday elements return: Santa’s sleigh once again streaks across the skies dropping gifts, while players can build snowball launchers and decorate their bases with twinkling lights, wreaths, and glowing trees. New cosmetic rewards and Twitch Drops are also live for anyone tuning into Rust’s streamer-led events throughout the month.

For server owners, Kickmas is a playground. With a private Host Havoc Rust server, you can toggle holiday items, stage snowball fights, or run your own “Secret Santa” loot drop events. Whether you want a peaceful base-decorating party or full-scale festive warfare, Rust’s event systems are fully customizable, and even the snow feels explosive.

DayZ: Christmas 2025 Survival

Bohemia Interactive’s Christmas 2025 event proves that even the apocalypse can find its holiday spirit. Running from December 11, 2025, to January 8, 2026, the event covers DayZ’s harsh landscapes in a fresh coat of snow and cheer.

Players will stumble upon singing Christmas trees that play eerie carols, sleigh crash sites packed with valuable loot, and even reindeer replacing the usual wildlife across Chernarus and Livonia. Gift boxes hide special items, and towns light up with seasonal decorations, a rare splash of color in DayZ’s usually grim setting.

Want to survive the holidays your way? A Host Havoc DayZ server lets you control event settings, weather, and spawn rates. Run a friendly holiday scavenger hunt, stage PvP snowball ambushes, or just enjoy a quiet campfire under the glowing lights of Chernarus. It’s the season of giving, though you might still have to fight for it.

Satisfactory: FICSMAS 2025

Every December, the hardworking employees of FICSIT Inc. trade efficiency for festivities. Coffee Stain Studios’ FICSMAS event is back, running from December 1 to January 18, and it’s every bit as cheerful as the name suggests.

This year’s FICSMAS turns factories into winter wonderlands. Drones drop wrapped presents from the sky, which can be fed into holiday assemblers to unlock ornaments, snowmen, and candy-cane decorations. A new advent calendar feature gives players daily surprises, while research in the MAM unlocks seasonal items like decorative trees and glowing baubles.

The developers have even launched a FICSMAS Build Contest, encouraging players to submit the most over-the-top factory displays possible. Whether your dream is a towering candy refinery or a reindeer-powered conveyor belt, a Host Havoc Satisfactory server lets you build collaboratively without lag or downtime, ideal for teams that want to automate their way to Christmas cheer.

Abiotic Factor: Festive Research Protocol

The scientists of Abiotic Factor might have cracked under pressure yetagain, but at least they’ve done it festively this time. Developer Deep Field Games has rolled out a quirky Holiday Event that transforms its chaotic underground labs into something between a research facility and a winter wonderland.

Running through early January, the update adds twinkling holiday décor, glowing lab trees, and new “Festive Supply Crates” scattered throughout the facility. Players can find rare seasonal consumables, goofy cosmetic items, and new flavor interactions hidden around every corner.

Co-op players will also find a few extra surprises, like a secret “Holiday Protocol” questline and an in-game Secret Santa event that rewards exploration and teamwork.

Hosting privately means you can explore the event at your own pace, free from random players rushing through your experiments. With Host Havoc’s Abiotic Factor servers, you and your team can enjoy the chaos of Christmas science uninterrupted, whether that means testing new anomalies or just seeing which lab explodes first.

Valheim: Yule 2025

For Vikings, Yule is a time for celebration, and in Valheim, that means new decorations, new cheer, and plenty of mead. The Yule 2025 event runs from mid-December through early January, bringing back classic seasonal items like the Yule Tree, Garlands, Mistletoe, and Festive Candles alongside new craftable décor.

According to the official patch notes, players can gather pine cones, fine wood, and resin to build their own Yule decorations. Some new recipes even add subtle lighting effects and festive details to longhouses.

Running your own Valheim Yule server with Host Havoc means you can tweak world settings, control PvE rules, and gather friends around a roaring fire without interference. Whether your goal is building the coziest Viking lodge or just lighting up the meadows in red and gold, it’s a perfect event for unwinding together after a year of hard raids.

Bonus Mentions - More Winter Cheer

While these four headline events steal the spotlight, several other Host Havoc–supported titles are feeling festive too:

• ARK: Survival Evolved celebrates Winter Wonderland 2025, complete with Raptor Claus loot drops and new Chibi pets.
• Project Zomboid servers are running community-made snow mods and “Zombie Claus” events.

The best part of the season? Even after official events end, modders and server hosts keep the holiday vibes alive well into the new year.

Why Holiday Events Shine on Private Servers

Public servers can be crowded and chaotic during the holidays. On a private server, you set the tone, invite friends, customize the world, and play at your own pace.

Private hosting lets you:

• Control mods, weather, and difficulty settings.
• Schedule events that fit your group’s time zone.
• Preserve seasonal worlds for screenshots or next year’s comeback.

A Host Havoc server gives you full control, whether you’re chasing loot boxes in DayZ, hosting a Rust snowball tournament, or building a peaceful Valheim village under falling snow.

Cozy Chaos for the Holidays

From radioactive research gone merry to snowball-fueled survival, this year’s lineup of holiday events proves that even the toughest games have room for a little cheer. They bring players together, reward creativity, and make the worlds we love feel fresh again, at least until the decorations come down.

So grab your mittens, your pickaxe, or your candy-cane assembler. Whether you’re raiding, building, or decorating, the best way to celebrate the season is with friends and a stable connection.

Happy holidays from Host Havoc, and may all your servers be bright.