The skies of Cloudia have officially traded their usual cartoon mayhem for a double helping of holiday nonsense. Acecraft, the world’s first fully hand-drawn co-op vertical shooter from MOONTON Games, kicked off its Snow Cap Festival on 23 December 2025, and the event is refusing to stop until 7 January 2026. Somewhere up there, a Hat Spirit is probably laughing at all the pilots who thought December would be a quiet month.

If anyone assumed a hand-drawn bullet-hell shooter would spend the holidays sipping hot cocoa and avoiding danger, they were spectacularly wrong. This is easily the game’s most substantial holiday update since launch. The festival arrives in two phases: a Christmas celebration built around the Jollyhats Jubilee, and a New Year expansion that lands on 7 January 2026 with more loot, more challenges, and more excuses to keep dodging.

Christmas Magic with Slightly Judgmental Hat Spirits

At the center of the winter celebration sits Jollyhats Jubilee, Cloudia’s annual festival. According to the lore, the Jubilee marks the appearance of the Hat Spirits, mysterious little figures said to reward pilots brave enough to fly through the harshest skies. This is Cloudia’s way of saying the holidays are festive, but they still expect you to earn your presents.

This year’s Jubilee transforms Cloudia with snowy visuals, festive challenges, and story-driven encounters that tie directly into the game’s expanding world. Pilots who take part will uncover fragments of Cloudia’s winter folklore while earning seasonal rewards simply by flying, fighting, and progressing. It is the rare holiday event where the story says “brave the cold” and the reward screen says “here, have some Diamonds.”

Meet Sylas, the Pilot Who Turns Panic into Power

No seasonal update would feel complete without a new pilot, and this time it is Sylas, a fresh S-tier arrival built for players who enjoy standing their ground while the screen tries to delete them. Unlike pilots who rely on raw speed or burst damage, Sylas excels when everything around him turns into a firework display of danger.

In battle, Sylas absorbs enemy fire and converts pressure into devastating counterstrikes. He clears dense bullet patterns and carves out safe space in chaotic encounters. That makes him especially effective in later stages, where precision and composure matter more than blindly aggressive button-mashing. For pilots who enjoy turning overwhelming odds into a calculated “no, you move,” Sylas is a very chilly breath of fresh air.

Phase One: Jollyhats Jubilee Activities

The first phase of the Snow Cap Festival invites players to celebrate Christmas in Cloudia through a series of festive activities. The highlight reel includes:

• Holiday Log-In Rewards — Daily gifts including Recruit Tickets, Diamonds, and Frost Medals. Logging in daily becomes less of a chore and more of a loot piñata.

• New Themed Visuals — Cloudia gets a full holiday makeover, because even bullet-hell skies deserve tinsel.

• Miracle Night Missions — Time-limited missions leading to a showdown with a powerful new boss named Thamus, Lord of Repose. The name sounds soothing, but the battle probably is not.

• Snowcap Express Delights — Festive hubs where pilots trade Frost Medals for rare avatars, limited cosmetics, and hidden holiday lore.

Phase Two: New Year Challenges Arrive 7 January 2026

Just when pilots think they have survived Christmas, MOONTON Games flips the calendar and adds more. The second phase begins on 7 January 2026, carrying the festival into the new year with fresh objectives, refreshed rewards, and new opportunities to strengthen squads.

New Year Feature	What It Does
Year of the Pilot Missions	New objectives that grant boosted Recruit Tickets and Power Cubes
Festival Shop Refresh	A refreshed assortment including exclusive Story Cards and rare avatars
Double Daily Rewards Reset	Daily log-ins grant even more Gold, Diamonds, and EXP for the New Year run

That table is essentially a polite bribe for returning players. The game wants pilots back in January, and it is willing to open the reward vault to make that happen.

Post-Launch Momentum and Why It Matters

Acecraft has not exactly been quiet since launch. The game topped iOS Free App charts in 34 countries, which is a fancy way of saying a lot of thumbs have been very busy. The Snow Cap Festival blends seasonal cheer with meaningful gameplay and worldbuilding, encouraging both new and returning players to deepen their mastery of Cloudia.

The two-phase structure keeps pilots engaged through the holidays, proving that a live-service seasonal update can be generous and chaotic in the best possible way.

Final Approach

Acecraft’s Snow Cap Festival began on 23 December 2025, and the second phase lands on 7 January 2026. The game is available worldwide on iOS and Android, so nobody has a good excuse to miss the snow-covered bullet-hell fun.

As snow falls across Cloudia and a new year approaches, the message remains simple: whether a pilot returns for Sylas, chases festive rewards, or flies through the holidays with friends, there has never been a better time to take to the skies. Just try not to get hit by a Hat Spirit while reaching for a snowflake. ❄️