Unlock these 15 date-specific Xbox achievements over the holidays

You may think it’s a time to relax and put achievement hunting to one side, but you, my dear friend, are wrong. Some fiendish developers have snuck Xbox achievements into their games that can only be unlocked over the holidays!

To help you get a handle on what you need to unlock and when we’ve listed all the date-specific Xbox achievements that can be popped over the festive period. While some can be unlocked on December 24, most will require you to jump into a game from December 25 to January 1.

For some of these, you can also just change the date on your console or PC to unlock them at any point throughout the year, but remember, Santa sees all, including your achievement unlock timestamps…

The Swindle — December 24

The first port of call on our tour of festive date-specific achievements is the You’re a mean one achievement in The Swindle. This can only be unlocked on Christmas Eve (December 24) and requires you to clear a house in the slums of all of its loot, which isn’t very festive at all. According to comments on the achievement’s solution, this appears to be based on GMT time, so you may be able to pop it a bit earlier or later, depending on your time zone.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection — December 25 and January 1

Next up is Halo: The Master Chief Collection, where you can unlock three more date-specific achievements. The first you can pop is Elder Signs (provided you’ve already viewed one sigil), which requires you to view two unique sigils on Halo 3’s Valhalla map on two different days of the year. This can be done in custom games, Forge, or in matchmaking, but only one sigil can be viewed at a time. You’ll find the December 25 sigil —a Christmas light with a cross marked through it — located on a far wall behind a turret. For further details and more information on how this can be done offline, check out the Elder Signs achievement guide.

Now, if you’ve viewed another sigil earlier in the year, you should unlock the achievement. If you haven’t, don’t worry. The next sigil will be viewable on January 1 (New Year’s Day).

The second Halo: MCC date-specific achievement you can unlock is the Destination Vacation achievement. For this one, you need to view one of the special seasonal signs on Halo 2’s Zanzibar map in classic multiplayer on December 25. This sign can be found over on the beach next to the water, and it will read: “Danger, This Soffish, DO NOT EAT!”

If you forget to view the sign on December 25, you will have another shot on January 1, where the sign will read: “Baby Shark Petting.” For more details, check out the Destination Vacation guide.

While it might not be a holiday-themed date-specific achievement, you can also unlock the Third Time’s a Charm achievement on December 25. All this one requires is that you fire up Halo 3 on the 25th day of any month, so if you’re jumping onto Halo: MCC on Christmas Day, you may as well nab this achievement while you’re there.

Batman: Arkham City — December 25 and January 1

We’re off to see the Calendar Man in Batman: Arkham City next. To unlock the Storyteller achievement (or at least make some progress towards it), you will need to meet with Calendar Man on 12 specific dates throughout the year. You’ll find the villain in a cell down in the Solomon Wayne Courthouse, which you can access almost from the beginning of the game. You can also visit Calendar Man on January 1 for another chance to unlock the achievement or make further progress. It’s also worth noting that the achievement appears to go by the GMT time zone, so keep that in mind.

The Storyteller achievement can all be unlocked offline — check out this Storyteller achievement guide for more information. There are also Xbox 360 and GFWL stacks available for Batman: Arkham City, so make sure you visit Calendar Man in those games, too. For the GFWL version, it looks like you will need to mess around with your system clock to get this one to work.

Chicken Madness — December 25

Another achievement you can unlock on December 25 is in the party game Chicken Madness. The Jingle the Bells achievement simply asks you to play the game on Christmas Day for an easy 60 Gamerscore.

It’s Quiz Time — December 25

Also on December 25, you can unlock the Merry Quizmas achievement in It’s Quiz Time. Much like Chicken Madness above, all you need to do to pop this one is start the game.

Saw 2: Flesh & Blood — December 25

It doesn’t get much more festive than playing Saw 2: Flesh & Blood on Christmas Day. To unlock the Wasted Your Life achievement, you need to fire up the game and reach the main menu. Saw 2: Flesh & Blood has been delisted from the Microsoft Store, and it’s not backwards compatible, so you will need to get the ol’ Xbox 360 up and running for this one.

Dance Central 3 — December 25 and December 31

As you’ve already got the Xbox 360 out for that Saw II achievement, you might as well throw some shapes in Dance Central 3 for the Go Shorty achievement (provided you’ve also got a Kinect). This achievement requires you to complete that famous Christmas song, ‘In Da Club’ by 50 Cent with the character Oblio. If you miss it on December 25, you can go for the achievement again by completing the same song with Dr. Tan on December 31.

Big Buck Hunter Pro Adventure — December 17 to December 31

Finally, we come to a game that not many will likely still have access to, but if you own Big Buck Hunter Pro Adventure for Windows 8, you can unlock the Flying Solo achievement by hunting down and shooting 12 whitetail buck between December 17 and December 31.

Will you be going for any of these date-specific achievements over the holidays? Let us know down in the comments!