Midwinter is a post-apocalyptic first-person action role-playing game with strategy and survival elements for the Atari ST, Amiga and PC.

The ensuing diamond dust covering the Earth brought about global cooling and consequently major economical, political and military tumult.

The manual describes how the island was settled between 2060 and 2081 by waves of survivors and refugees from the mainland, and the formation of the local militia called Free Villages Peace Force (FVPF).

The player takes control as the protagonist, FVPF commander John Stark, is ambushed by one of General Masters' units of missile-armed snowmobiles.

Stark, initially armed only with a handful of grenades, a sniper rifle and a pair of skis, must make his escape, alert the rest of islanders, and resist the invasion.

This is done by travelling around Midwinter, recruiting civilians and other available members of the FVPF, and mounting a guerrilla warfare campaign to stem the tide of Masters' troops and ultimately stop him by destroying his headquarters in Shining Hollow, in the extreme south-east of the island, before his forces capture all of the major settlements on the island.

Characters can find or salvage snowmobiles which are substantially quicker and usually armed, but have trouble with rough terrain and are lost when wrecked.

Cable cars provide fixed transport routes into mountainous regions, where hang gliders can be found allowing characters to fly limited distances.

The difficulty level of the game is modified by enabling the enemy to use mortars fire (guided by spotter planes) and/or attack aircraft.

"[9] In their 2009 retrospective article, Edge staff wrote: "Playing it felt like time travel – a sneak peak[sic] at the blueprint that showed how games were going to be.