It's almost time for Santa Clause to come to town, and that only means one thing: time at home to actually PLAY GAMES! To help get you into the holiday spirit, we've tracked down some of the very best Christmas themed video games. Perfect for those weird days in between Boxing Day and New Year's Eve when nobody knows what day it is and you can stay in your PJs until noon.

Daze Before Christmas (1994 - Sega Mega Drive, SNES)

This oddly popular retro fave sees Santa himself on the run from an Evil Mouse. Your goal is to save Christmas by thwarting your enemies and turning them into presents. There's also a particularly weird feature where Santa turns into his own evil twin if he drinks a cup of tea. We'll definitely be leaving out brandy for him this year instead of a cuppa...

Elf Bowling (1999 - PC)

[embed]https://youtu.be/GzoNfW3liaE[/embed]Use elves as bowling pins while they hurl brutal insults at you and even moon you in this cheeky yet kind of cute arcade game. Originally distributed as a tiny EXE email attachment (yep, you could do that in the 90s!), Elf Bowling rose to viral fame after many of the recipients thought they'd been given a computer virus! And yes, there are sequels... and an animated short film.

Home Alone (1991 - Gameboy)

The classic film's accompanying video games were released on multiple platforms throughout the 1990s, but our favourite version is the original Gameboy title. Escape multiple threats and battle through boss fights before your final faceoff against Marv and Harry, while collecting helpful items along the way.

Duke: Nuclear Winter (1997 - PC)

Perhaps the Polar opposite of Duke: Caribbean (see what we did there), Duke: Nuclear Winter sees everyone's favourite action hero saving Santa from brainwashing aliens. It's pretty good fun, if you ignore that the enemies are supported by an evil militia of feminist elves - not very woke of dev team Simply Silly Software.

Dead Rising 4 (2016 - Xbox One, PS4, PC)

[embed]https://youtu.be/6nE-wp9DprA[/embed]Zombies, but make 'em snowy. Although not strictly a Christmas game and often considered one of the franchises weaker releases, Dead Rising 4 packs in some fairly festive undead action. If you think Die Hard is a Christmas film and you enjoyed instalments 1-3 in the Dead Rising franchise, this one's for you.

South Park (1998 - Nintendo 64, PlayStation, PC Game Boy)

We've saved our personal favourite until last. As a comet strikes Earth, the residents of South Park must fight off mutated turkeys, clowns, aliens and even killer toys to save the say. We'd recommend getting hold of the N64 version of you can because for some reason there are a lot more playable characters!Are there any other Christmas themed video games we should add to our list? Tell us in the comments! Don't forget to enter our Christmas giveaways over on our social pages too - here's how.