Animal Crossing is a curious series. One about anthropomorphic animals settling down in a growing village, digging up fossils and donating them to a museum, planting fruit trees to eventually harvest them for either sustenance or some extra cash, and being in debt to a Raccoon real estate tycoon father of two. If summed up to someone who has never played the series before, you might be getting more than a few raised eyebrows.
Truthfully, Animal Crossing is certainly about much more than that. It’s a game mostly about relaxation, with goals you mostly make yourself and just enjoying daily life in how you see fit. The first game to hit a Nintendo console since 2008’s City Folk, New Horizons brings all the joy of a simple life back again, but with so many improvements that for the first time, even fans who might be turned off by the “play it your way” mentality might find a lot to like here.
New Horizons drops players on a deserted island with nothing but a tent, two other Islanders and Tom Nook’s Resident Services tent. Its humble beginnings only highlight just how much the game and island evolve over the course of your daily sessions.
Tom Nook’s tent eventually gets rebuilt into an actual building, and various other services make their way to your Island, such as the Able Sisters Shop for clothes, Nook’s Cranny for all your basic needs, and the museum which is just so fantastically grand in New Horizons that even walking through it while mostly empty, is a sight to behold.
The structure largely remains the same as previous Animal Crossing games. After a few days you’ll find a rhythm of shaking down fruit trees, digging up fossils or treasure, checking in on your animal villagers, catching some bugs and fish, and ultimately deciding whether to sell them for extra bells (money) to get rid of your ever-growing debt to Mr. Nook, or donate them to Blathers the museum curator.
However, there are plenty of extra duties that will ensure that there’s always some sort of progress to your island, whether it’s building a public campsite to attract more animal villagers to your island, or sprucing up your island to eventually attract the iconic K.K. Slider to come and perform there.
What helps even further for those who need a little extra nudge in the right direction, is the introduction of Nook Miles. This new form of currency is layered on top of built-in Achievements of tasks that you’ll eventually find yourself doing, such as planting different fruit trees, popping treasure balloons, etc. Even better, after a few days, you’ll get access to Nook Miles+ which are basically constantly rotating smaller tasks, such as hitting rocks, catching bugs and fish, or talking to your neighbors.
These Nook Miles can then be used in Resident Services for some awesome upgrades, such as expanded inventory space or a tool wheel that allows you to select tools on the fly without going into the inventory screen, as well as some cosmetic extras, such as new hairstyles. Eventually, you’ll even use them to build various structures around your up and coming island village.
They are ultimately a fantastic guide to always ensure you have some sort of goal to work toward if you ever start feeling like you’re unsure of what to do next, and as someone who falls into that category, I definitely appreciated this.
Another new addition is the introduction of crafting, which has its positives and negatives. Being able to craft furniture from scratch is certainly neat, and adds another option of acquiring specific furniture and accessories you want without having to wait for them to show up in the shop. The same goes for tools. You can certainly buy them from Nook’s Cranny, but you can also just craft them yourself.
This is where the downside comes and will surely annoy some players, but tools can and will break, depending on their item level. You can craft and buy flimsy tools that will break after a short while using them, but you can also upgrade them to sturdier tools that still break but after a much longer time. This wouldn’t be that big of an issue if you could flat out craft the better tool right away, but instead, you always have to go through the process of crafting the flimsy one first, and then use that to upgrade it to the more sturdy tool and so on. It’s a tedious process that takes longer than it should.
Eventually, players will unlock to fully customize their island by full-on terraforming. Sure, it’s not as simple as freely drawing terrain, and will instead need to be done block by block, but it’s a neat way to add even more customization and a completely unique and personal touch to your island. This also extends to being able to move stores and residents to new spots, in case you ever decide that your current layout isn’t working. It’s wonderful.
Switching gears to one of the best additions is the ability to fly to random islands by spending Nook Miles for a plane ticket. These locations can yield some exotic flora and fauna, not found on your island, which can of course yield to more bells and an easier time filling up your museum. These islands will also have random animal villagers exploring them too, and if it’s someone you find a liking to, you can invite them to live on your island. It’s brilliant.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons also features a multiplayer mode, which is both awesome and yet raises a few eyebrows. Starting with the negative first, all subsequent players on the same Switch system will need to live on the first player’s island, which means each player can’t have their own island to live on. It’s a baffling choice for sure, but there are some inherently good things that stem from this.
Due to sharing an island, it means that each player will get to enhance it in a co-operative way, such as all contributing to the same museum, and filling it up faster. Players can also play together at the same time, in local co-op, with one player acting as the leader, and the rest not really being able to do much outside of picking up items. It’s well suited for younger players who might just want to experience Animal Crossing with their parents, but for older players, this will definitely feel a bit too limiting. Thankfully passing the leader baton is super easy.
Of course, there’s also online play, for those with individual Switch systems wanting to visit their friends’ island, and there the options are far more open than they are with local co-op. Needless to say, I didn’t do a deep dive into playing online with others that much so my experience with that feature is very limited.
The charm of Animal Crossing is, of course, playing it over a longer period of time. Sure, logging in every day has its appeal and you will certainly be doing so in the beginning, but eventually, you’ll find that compulsive need lessen. Then it’s all about coming back for special events.
Right now, because it’s almost Easter, Nintendo implemented Bunny Day within Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which is a limited-time event where players can find eggs around their island and use them to craft special furniture and decorations themed after the event. And this will obviously continue throughout the year for other major holidays, such as Halloween and Christmas.
The Verdict
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is easily the most personal and customizable game in the franchise. The introduction of crafting adds a fun new layer of obtaining new items, even if it means tools don’t last forever anymore. Nook Miles are another genius addition that are sure to guide players in a direction, whenever they’re feeling lost or overwhelmed. It’s not a fast-paced game, nor will you be duking it out with 99 other villages for island supremacy, but those looking for a more relaxed game that rewards you the more time you put into it, I couldn’t think of a better title jump into and unwind, especially given the worldwide pandemic.