With the weather turning chilly, some adorable animal companions have arrived to warm your heart.

Valve kicked off its 'Steam Animal Games Festival' on the 11th (KST). This event highlights titles where animals take centre stage, rather than just playing second fiddle to humans. Running until the 18th, the festival strictly requires the main character to be a non-human animal, covering everything from zoo management sims to cat café business games.

There is a rather peculiar set of criteria for this event. For puzzle games featuring animal mascots, for example, the pieces themselves must be animals to qualify. Furthermore, games featuring anthropomorphic characters—those cat girls or bunny boys you might be thinking of—are strictly barred from participation.

To make matters more specific, the animals must be based on real-world creatures. The only cheeky exception is the unicorn, which Valve seems to treat as a 'fancy rhino'. Dragons, phoenixes, griffins, and centaurs need not apply. Even in farming sims, every single NPC and villager must be an animal, meaning your standard livestock farming games are off the table.

Key titles seeing discounts include Party Animals (40%), Tunic (50%), Goat Simulator 3 (60%), Desktop Baby Animal Farm (25%), My little puppy (20%), Restaurats (25%), and Planet Zoo (70%). You will also find popular titles like Escape from duckov joining the festivities.

The festival runs until 2:00 AM on the 18th (KST). If you miss out, the next event on the calendar is the Sports Games Festival, starting on December 9th.