Oh, You found my portal did you? Yo

Oh, You found my portal did you? You'd think you would have learned your lesson by now. Hmm. Let's try something a little more challenging, shall we?"

— Maxwell greeting the player

A Cold Reception is similar to a Sandbox world, except the seasons change very quickly. A rainy 6 days of summer followed by a snowy 3 of winter makes exploration difficult. In addition, daytime will never exceed one third of the day, and significantly less during winter. Players are more vulnerable to insanity and freezing as you have to face near-constant rain or snow and much less daylight. Due to the seasons being so short, it is unlikely to see a Deerclops in the first several winters.

There will always be at least one resource which is very rare. Sometimes the level generated will not have many Saplings, but a lot of Spiky Bushes instead; other times Grass might be either scarce or there might be plenty, but it's all pre-picked and needs to be fertilized. This makes it difficult to survive the winter with traps . There also might be no trees, only stumps everywhere. Your food sources are limited; there are few Berry Bushes (if any) and Carrots can be rare. Also, when farming Berry Bushes and other plants, there will be a far greater chance of an unfortunate lightning strikes (due to the near-constant rain), so lightning rods are a necessity.

When complete, this level should feel similar to a survival level, but with increased pressure on all players' resources. At least one thing will be on an island connected by a bridge that serves as a Guardian Pig checkpoint which can make it quite tough to get to. However, this means that players will also find a Pig King on the island. The constant rain also means that players will most likely be getting quite a lot of frogs at first but players can use them to their advantage as well as the most abundant food source.

Tips:

If this is your first level try to learn as many Recipes as you need, because you will keep them through the Adventure Mode.
It's important not to attack Frogs when other Frogs are nearby, because all Frogs will chase and attack you. Try to kite the Frogs until they give up chasing you.
Alternatively, you can trap Frogs and they will supply a consistent food source. Other Frogs in the area will not aggro when you trap them provided you do not attack them.
If this is not your first level, prepare a farm (in the previous level) to place, as the plentiful rain makes crops grow incredibly fast.
Keep in mind that Straw Rolls and Tents are very useful to skip the night and replenish Sanity level during this mode. However, it is important to remember that sleeping restores sanity at a cost of Hunger and is not highly recommended due to the low food sources.
There are a few sources of food on the level. There are a lot of Rabbit Holes on the map. Tallbirds are on the map as well, and if you find it they generally fight Frogs. If a Tallbird does not die to Frogs, kiting and killing it is a good skill that will bring Meat, Tallbird Egg, and Frog Legs if any Frogs were killed by Tallbird. And last, but not least, usually Beefalos. All of these methods increase Naughtiness, so be wary of Krampus !
There are several areas that are blocked off by Spider Dens. Building 6 or more Traps and luring wave after wave of Spiders into it is one way to clean it. Another is to attempt to burn the Spider Dens down, but this is only recommended when the Spider Dens are in a Forest, where you would first light a tree on fire. You can also run in, plant a Pine Cone as close to the den as possible, then return when it is grown and light it. If you just started and your area does not provide resources to make Traps, you can try and run through the Spider Dens at cost of Health and Sanity.
It is possible to travel to Archipelago, The Game is Afoot, or King of Winter, which has an infinite Winter. Taking with you Rabbit Earmuffs (worst), Winter Hat (okay), or Beefalo Hat (best) will help greatly in those levels.
Keep on your feet in the day/evening by stopping only to pick up food and the bare minimum for tools. Use every other night to set a campfire by trees so players may chop trees and cook carrots. Between those nights, keep moving by Torch, using reduced vision to gather Twigs and Cut Grass, and to shave Beefalos. Make a base only if this is your first world and you need to prototype useful items, or it's the 4th one and you want to prepare for the next world.
An Umbrella is highly recommended because your Sanity will drop very very quickly in the near constant Rain.
With rain comes lightning, so WX-78 will have trouble with sanity unless using an umbrella. Carry cooked Green or Blue Mushrooms, picked during dusk and night.
Consider gathering Flowers and using them to craft a Garland. Picking Flowers will restore Sanity and Garland will help combat Sanity loss due to Rain and forgoing sleep for the first few days. If you manage to get a Science Machine and x6 Si