TF2's community Smissmas update hands out stockings and new maps
Have you been a good mercenary this year?
Christmas is, somehow, just over two weeks away. I haven't bought anything for anyone yet, but Team Fortress 2 has already started handing out Stuffed Stockings containing christmas-ey gear for anyone who logs in before January 7th. If cosmetics aren't enough to get you in a festive mode, the Smissmass 2022 update also adds five new community maps.
Those five new maps are Frostwatch, Frostcliff, Rumford, Frosty, and Coal Pit. The update notes provide no details beyond the names, so feel free to make up your own. I imagine Frostcliff has a big frosty cliff.
Your stocking should contain one of 23 new community-contributed cosmetics, potentially with one of 17 new community-created Unusual effects. Those are the effects that can give your hats and whatnot some kind of aura, with these including swirling musical notes and snowflakes. There are three new taunts, too, which you can check out on the update's wiki page. I like the hat that sticks the Soldier in a broken christmas bulb.
Valve haven't made any of the new stuff, having delegated holiday updates (and pretty much all other updates) to the community for many years. They did finally pitch in back in June to help with the game's ongoing racist bot problem, as well as addressing various exploits in a separate update two weeks later.
Valve also brought Vscript support to TF2 last month, allowing modders to patch in Titanfall 2 style wallrunning. Hopefully we'll see more Vscript-based surprises in the months to come.
I'm overdue for my annual-ish dip back into TF2, and new community maps are a solid way to tempt me back in. It's one of the best FPS games ever, don't you know.
You can play TF2 for free on Steam.