Hello there winter game lovers of Roblox, WoodReviewer here to take a look at Roblox’s most recent event, the 2024/2025 Winter Spotlight. The Winter Spotlight returned to the classic event formula of actually having to play games to complete the event which means for the better part of the last week I’ve been ignoring my family in order to judge the wood grain of every single game in this event. Or atleast judge as much of the game as is required to complete the event. Unlike most of my reviews where I try to play a game to what I roughly consider to be their completion, I only played the games in this event until I completed the event goals. In some games with dedicated event modes this means I barely played the normal game. As a result any game that gets a pass here only gets a pass for the event. And as for the games that have bad wood grain? Well, a failure is a failure, and that counts.

Is it unfair that not having any bad wood grain doesn’t get a pass while having bad wood grain gets a failure? Yes, because this is my blog and I make the rules as I see fit. Anyway, here is a quick review of every game in the event in whatever random order I played them because that helps me organize the screenshots.

War Tycoon by GameFam

Honestly I have no idea why I chose War Tycoon as the first game to play. It was probably a combination of me wanting to just get it over with combined with the fact I could shut my brain off while grinding out a tycoon. So imagine my surprise when the event didn’t involve actually completing anything in the main tycoon area and instead consisted entirely of driving around the map looking for presents. This was bad for GameFam as in making the mission for the event “look across the entire map for presents” it basically gave me the freedom to look across the entire map for bad wood grain, like in this house I found that had bad wood grain on a ladder and the window frame.

But even if I just had to stay in the main tycoon area to complete the event there was still bad wood grain there in several locations, the first and most noticeable being on the cover for the basement right near spawn.

Tower Defense Simulator by Paradoxum Games

Tower Defense Simulator really went above and beyond with the event, adding a whole new game mode with custom fully voiced cutscenes. And even better, the new game mode had no bad wood grain that I saw. Unforantetly, I tried to complete the event before the difficulty was nerfed and in order to do that I had to grind out some better units in some regular game maps. One of these, The Deserted Village, had so much bad wood grain on the support for the shop stalls and barrels that it appeared on the thumbnail for the map.

And then inside of another map there was more bad wood grain on the legs of this sniper tower. Now, should these issues count because they were technically removed for bad completion by the time the Spotlight Event was over due to the missions being nerfed? Maybe. But I had to spend like 5 hours grinding out new units to beat the final boss before the nerf so I am keeping them in out of spite.

Blade Ball by Wiggity

Speaking of things done out of spite, this is the third event that Blade Ball has been involved with, and this stupid sign is still here with bad wood grain on the support post. When the lobby is this small and has been entirely reworked since the original The Hunt event it has to be spite that the devs are keeping this sign around. Especially since they repurposed it from its original text that was about crates.

But sign withstanding, don’t worry, there were other examples of bad wood grain in some of the actual maps. This lamp post, for example, has bad wood grain on the vertical support.

PETS GO! by BIGGames

As someone who has recently been playing Pet Simulator 99! in order to look at it to see if it warrants a review, I was a bit disappointed Preston added PETS GO! to the Winter Spotlight as I had no progress in the game that would have drastically cut back on how long it would have taken me to complete the event. However, BIGGames have once again shown that they are atleast semi-competent 3D modelers as I was unable to find any bad wood grain in PETS GO!

So good job Preston, I’m glad your anger is motivating you properly.

Dress to Impress by Dress to Impress Group

Dress To Impress by Dress To Impress Group

Showing that their proper wood grain in The Classic was a pure fluke, Dress to Impress once again failed to impress with their wood grain. In the main game that you first load into in order to teleport to the special event game mode these little dresser once again has bad wood grain on the counter top and the trim on the sides.

Unlike previous events where the new event had proper wood grain, this new event place seemed to be doing a speedrun of all the ways most games have bad wood grain, starting with these chairs that have bad wood grain on the supports.

And this sign post that has bad horizontal wood grain. All they are lacking is a wooden crate with bad wood grain to get the common mistake trifecta. But if these mistakes seem minor don’t worry, there is more. I took eight screenshots of possible examples I could have used and the note I made to describe the bad wood grain was just “yes” it was so bad. There are just 23 other games I need to get through here.

BedWars by Easy.gg

BedWars returns from previous events, and much like The Hunt and The Classic BedWars use of almost exclusively smooth plastic through most of its maps for things that resembles wood allows it to pass this event with flying colors.

Or atleast that was what I was thinking until I actually started to play the new game mode and noticed these wooden planks acting like a bridge. Do you see that? Wooden planks. With exposed end grain. And the grain on the end grain does not match the grain on the top so that the gaps in the planks line up. Sorry BedWars, you were so close but now you get to go into the corner of shame.

NFL Universe Football by Voldex

The NFL and real football returns with NFL Universe, a rebrand of the game formerly known as Ultimate Football from The Games Event. Unforantetly part of the rebrand did not include rebranding this score sign in the main lobby with proper wood grain.

In fact they not only had bad wood grain on this old sign, but they doubled-down on it by adding a brand new sign with bad wood grain on it pointing users to a teleport for their non-Winter Spotlight winter event thing. Maybe. It wasn’t part of the Winter Spotlight so I didn’t investigate it.

Warrior Cats: Ultimate Edition by Warrior Cats RP

Some games on Roblox I enjoy playing. Others I know that I would have enjoyed when I was younger but now I am no longer interested in. Then there are game which are just complete enigma to me. Warrior Cats, a game where you role-play as a cat, belongs to the later group. But wood grain isn’t an enigma to me, and the piece of wood on the top of this crate has bad wood grain on the face towards the camera.

Elemental Dungeons -by Malt Games

A game which I had never heard of before, Elemental Dungeons impressed me by not just having a custom wooden plank texture in several areas of the Christmas map.

But also by having normal wooden blocks that all featured the correct wood grain. Of course this game needs a massive asterisk before the devs get too excited as there is clearly a bunch more to see in the game outside of just this event, but would you believe me if I said this was the last game I reviewed where I couldn’t find bad wood grain? Spoiler I know, but they deserve a bit of credit.

Welcome to Bloxburg by Bloxberg Development

My Bloxburg review is coming soon and I don’t want to spoil it too much, so I’m just going to focus on the stuff added specifically for the new event even if I saw more when I spawn into my house. Anyway, the major issue with the event area was with the shop wagons which have bad wood grain on the window shutters and the wooden plank trim around the wagons.

They do get some bonus points back for finally being a game that has proper wood grain on a sign, but that doesn’t raise them up far enough so that they aren’t a failure.

Heroes Battlegrounds by more awesome games yo

A new game to the Roblox event circuit, Heroes Battlegrounds is an anime fighting game that has custom animations and partical effects for several different fighting classes. Despite all of that effort put into making decent fighting visuals one area where the game is deeply lacking: Proper wood grain. This bench, for example, has terrible wood grain.

But that is a regular bench for the game. In the spirit of trying to focus on just Winter Spotlight event items, I present this. No further comment is needed.

RIVALS by Nonsiy Games

RIVALS, a major FPS game that debuted a few months ago that I somehow completely missed, has a custom winter lobby for the Winter Spotlight. It doesn’t come through that well in screenshots, but this wooden pillar has a custom wooden texture. Only the wood grain is incorrect, with the grain waping around the beam instead of going up it vertically.

This can be seen slightly better on the fire place, where the mantel leg has improper wood grain on both sides, along with the decorative pillar next to it also being bad.

Driving Empire by Voldex

Since the initial The Hunt event Driving Empire appears to have been almost completely rebuilt, now featuring entire new materials. Or atleast I think it was rebuilt. Regardless, the game has seen a major visual overhaul over the last ~7 or so months yet it still has bad wood grain on these sign posts for when you buy user houses.

Another issue specifically with the event part of the Winter Spotlight event was this house at the north pole area that had bad wood grain on these shelves. Both these issues are super offensive as both are a simple fix with MaterialFlip.

Sonic Speed Simulator by GameFam

In the entire history of me reviewing games, both random games and in Roblox events, GameFam has never had a game that had proper wood grain. Their first attempt with War Tycoon already failed, and their second attempt with Sonic Speed Simulator also failed, with this sign having bad wood grain on the top face.

Granted they aren’t alone in having bad wood grain on a sign, but what they are alone on is having a fence that has proper wood grain on one face but bad wood grain on another face.

EDITORS NOTE: They might not be alone but I haven’t finished all the games yet so even if another game does have this I’m not going to change it. Sorry, but I am just an editor, I don’t make the rules.

Royale ️High by callmehbob

As someone who chose their avatar in 2008 and hasn’t changed it since, Roblox dress up games aren’t my cup of tea so I am always happy when their event involve anything buy fashion stuff. Unforantetly that happiness then turns to anger when they do something stupid like adding signs in the event area that have bad wood grain on their posts.

What makes me even angrier is when I can’t figure out how to get to the event and find even more bad wood grain while randomly wandering around the map, this time on on the legs of this chair and table combo.

Greenville by Greenvile, Wisconsion

One of the few role-play events that added an entirely new event mode for the event, Greenville’s new event area included several new houses, most of which feature a table in the garage that has bad wood grain on the table legs. On the plus side, atleast the chairs at these tables don’t have bad wood grain. Granted that is because there are no chairs, but I have to look for positives wherever I can.

Ok, enough with the positivity. Another issue Greenville had was with this billboard sign which has bad wood grain on both the vertical and diagonal supports. Along with the feet that the sign stands on because of reasons.

Toilet Tower Defense by Telanthropic Development

The second and the easier of the two tower defense games in The Winter Spotlight, Toilet Tower Defense improved on Tower Defense Sim by having some bad wood grain right inside of the main spawn area on the stretcher of the table, the table top, and on the footplate of the stool. Wait, did I say improved? I mean was just as bad.

Unlike Tower Defense Sim, which was able to keep all of the bad wood grain out of the main event area, Toilet Tower Defense does have bad wood grain inside of the special event mode. It may be a bit hard to see but the wood grain on the railing is bad. And the railing posts. And the ceiling supports. And the drawers. And the window frames. And the horizontal support above the window. Really just a poor showing overall here.

Creatures of Sonaria by Twin Atlas/Sonar Studios

The first game to be made by the people behind the Winter Spotlight, Creatures of Sonaria is one of two games in this event made by Sonar Studios/Twin Atlas. This was one of the hardest events for me to complete as the first three servers I attempted the event on were bugged out and I kept dying randomly, including once when I was flying in the air and started to drown. So I am not going to be nice on this game. Sorry, but I’m just following my rules I make up as I go along. Anyway, the problem here is with the tree bark. On trees, tree bark should always go in the same direction relative to where the tree’s base is. So if the grain goes from the base upwards, it should always go away from the base of the tree on all parts. If you can’t tell on some parts of this tree the grain wraps around the branches, while on others it follows the direction that the branch grows.

Fisch by Fisching

Another game that is both new to me and new to Roblox events, Fisch is a game about fishing that was named by someone who really likes the letter “c”. If you didn’t see my post on New Year’s Eve, the leaderboard sign near spawn has bad wood grain on both the vertical supports and the upper face of the horizontal supports.

But bringing this back to only focusing on stuff made specifically for the Winter Spotlight event, thee legs of the chairs and table in Santa’s workshop all have bad wood grain. There is also some extra bad wood grain thrown in on the diagonal support in the corner of the tables.

Emergency Response: Liberty County Police Roleplay Community

Emergency Response: Liberty County is a game where you can role-play as one of several public works departments, including the DOT, firemen, and medical personnel. You can also be a police officer and shoot at people. However those were really difficult and involved thinking to complete the event so I chose to fisch for an hour instead because that is also an option. The dock where you fisch off of was horrible, with bad wood grain on basically every face besides for the front face of the railings.

But let’s just ignore the dock for a minute since it was an old asset and not made for the event. This Santa’s Workshop was presumably built just for the Winter Spotlight so it is entirely fair game. And it has a ton of bad wood grain both outside and inside, so the dock being old isn’t a good excuse.

Dragon Adventures by Sonar Studios/Twin Atlas

Remember a few games ago where I complained that Creatures of Sonaria was really glitchy and took me much longer to complete than it should have? Well, I am still angry about that and now Dragon Adventures will suffer. The actual event stuff in Dragon Adventures was fine, however as I found in previous events the trading hub world has bad wood grain inside of the restaurant area.

Is this unfair? No because I make the rules and can do whatever I want. Maybe if the other game wasn’t so broken for me and didn’t make me so angry, or if they would have fixed the bad wood grain on the trim anytime in the last 7 months this wouldn’t be a problem. Oh and just as an added bonus, here is some more bad wood grain, this time the end grain on some planks, that I found for the first time during this review.

EDITORS NOTE: This is the fourth time the rules for this blog post have changed, but that wouldn’t matter if games simply didn’t have bad wood grain in them.

Emergency Hamburg by Emergency Hamburg

Emergency Hamburg by Emergency Hamburg

One thing that makes my job difficult is that I always have to use disclaimers because most Roblox devs have no idea how wood grain works. As an example when I did my deep dive on cylinders in my Advent Calendar I stated that cylinders by default almost always have proper wood grain unless you do something stupid like union them together. Now I don’t know what the devs of Emergency Hamburg did, nor am I calling them directly stupid, but they did something stupid to cause all of these cylinders to have bad wood grain.

“But WoodReviewer, it is technically possible for those parts to be sticks with bark on the outside.”

Yes, that is possible, but I’m fairly certain that wasn’t the intention. Plus even if that were the case it wouldn’t help the devs as this sign post also has bad wood grain on it meaning no matter what is going on with the cylinders the game is in the bad wood grain bin.

a dusty trip by Jandel’s Road Trip

The penultimate game that I reviewed in the Winter Spotlight, a dusty trip once again has bad wood grain in the lobby. It starts out with the classic combo of having a chair and table set all have bad wood grain on the vertical supports.

With a nice added bonus of having more bad wood grain on the sign behind the server selection area.

But if that isn’t enough for you as you want something that is actually in the new winter game mode this ladder in the first boss area should satisfy you.

Bee Swarm Simulator by Onett

The last game in the Winter Spotlight, I could go over the wooden beam that I’ve gotten Bee Swarm Simulator in previous events, but this event forced me to progress pass the starting area so I was able to uncover some more bad wood grain in some later areas. Like the support beam on this sign post that has bad wood grain. It was locked behind an area I was previously unable to get into before but now I have grown as a bee keeper to find more offenses that Onett has made.

Oh, also I found some bad wood grain on one of the targets for the golf balls that I somehow missed during the last event. And it also features bad wood grain on cylinders somehow. Seriously, stop unioning cylinders everyone.

The Winter Spotlight Hub by Twin Atlas

And atlast we come to the final part of the Winter Spotlight, the actual hub. For those of you who have seen my Twitter, Blusky, or YouTube account should know that I almost instantly found bad wood grain as soon as I spawned into the game, but if you missed it here it is.

But that wasn’t the only sin that Twin Atlas committed, they also had more wood grain throughout the hub. This included on this bench, which has bad wood grain on some faces of the boards that make up the seat.

But one interesting thing is the wood grain is bad on all of the faces the same way meaning they are individual bricks that are bad, not one large union or mesh. That should make fixing the bench with MaterialFlip super easy.

Another issue closer to spawn was the bad wood grain on this door frame, where the vertical segments are all bad.

And last but not least, the hand on this snowman is terrible. The cross grain on most of it is terrible, and while I might be more forgiving if the grain was atleast partially diagonal the fact it is purely horizontal looses any good will I might have had.

So, how was the wood grain in this event? It was terrible. This game is a direct downgrade from The Haunt, which had 22 games with 3 of them having proper wood grain. The Winter Spotlight had 24 games, 2 of which lacked bad wood grain. That’s only 8% of the games. Compared to the the Haunt at 18% of the games having proper wood grain, 20% in The Games, 25% in The Classic, and 17% of the games in The Hunt this is by far the worst showing of any of the Roblox events since their revival last year. Like it isn’t even close. I’m sure someone is starting to get ready for the next Easter Hunt and my only hope is that some of the serial offenders of bad wood grain start getting removed from the event. Or atleast give devs some of the signs I made from my Advent Calendar so the bad signs stop.

EDITORS NOTE: 10 of the 24 games in The Winter Spotlight had bad wood grain on signs.