On the list of ‘Games People Keep Asking For Sequels For’, Animal Crossing ranked pretty high on that list (maybe a few spots under Half-Life). Up until a couple of years ago, fans of the series thought their pleas would never be heard. Until Nintendo said, “we hear ya,” and announced Animal Crossing: New Horizons for the Nintendo Switch. After a rocky period with release dates being delayed, the game is finally here and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is my first foray into the world that everyone seems to love. That being said, I’d like to confirm that ‘everyone’ is me. New Horizons is such a wonderful experience. It’s definitely the first game I’ve played in a while (maybe ever) where the fear and threat of imminent death is non-existent. Because of this, the experience is strangely therapeutic. There are no timetables, no trying to beat the buzzer to accomplish anything. You can go as fast as you want or as slow as you want. You can spend hours creating paintings to hang on your wall (guilty). There are no expectations, and that’s what makes this such a welcome experience, especially given the current events happening in the world.
New Horizons offers tons of additions that are totally new to the series, for example, you can customize your villager the way you want them, and you can continue to customize them even when you’re hundreds of hours into the game. Another new addition, and my personal favorite, is the DIY system. This allows you to craft various things from tools to furniture and everything in between. As a fan of games like Minecraft, this is an addition I’m glad was added. Another big addition new to New Horizons is the ability to choose where other villagers’ houses or shops will go on your island instead of the game predetermining their locations. The previous way of doing things could (and probably would) end up absolutely wrecking whatever plans you had for that area.
The game is gorgeous. From the colors to the atmospheric lighting, to the beautiful animations, even the water. New Horizons runs at a crisp 1080p with 30fps and is easily one of, if not the, best-looking games on the Switch right now. The ‘in real-time’ element is something I found annoying at first, but as soon as I realized how much it added, and its pacing, I was a big fan of it. Because of this mechanic, the game offers AT LEAST an entire real-life year of gameplay, thanks to the seasonal fish/bugs/activities making the game a definite bang for your buck.
One of my favorite things (besides how addicting it is) is the attention to detail. I was amazed at some of the small things I noticed. For example, your fellow villagers not only walk around, but they also fish, catch bugs, and even run up and spark up conversations with you. While he’s not rinsing you of all your bells, Tom Nook can be seen reading a book, drinking a soda, or even dusting while in his idle animations. Leaves react independently to the wind, footsteps in the sand look different while it’s raining, the joycons rumble more or less, depending on how big the fish you’re catching is. New Horizon is full of incredible detail, and it’ll be fun experiencing them while I continue playing.
Obviously, the big con with the game, and I’m definitely not the first (or last) to bring it up, is the whole ‘one island per console’ ordeal. As someone who shares their consoles with multiple gamers, the fact that you can have only one island per CONSOLE is a little ridiculous and totally unnecessary. This just seems like another money-grubbing move from Nintendo. The online functionality is bad when playing with other people. It treats the first player as basically the only player, as player two is left with little to nothing to do. Player 2 can’t help the main player with tasks or finish projects. Any player after Player 1 is left relying on Player 1 to allow them to do anything, making the game’s co-op feature practically worthless.
The weapon degradation, while I understand why it was added, got pretty annoying at times, especially golden tools being able to break. The tools themselves are already a pain to acquire, so you’d think they’d be unbreakable. In addition to the degradation, the inability to craft multiple items at once is a flaw you may find annoying, as it forces players to craft, exit crafting to show off their creation, then go back into crafting to craft again.
Some of the inputs are also a little sloppy. Mainly, trying to put things a certain way in your home or on a wall or on the ground may take a few tries due to the lack of an aiming function. This can also apply to using tools. You go to hit something and your player might end up smacking one of their fellow villagers on the noggin with a net while trying to capture that elusive insect. Finally, there is no touch screen support while creating custom designs. I feel like that would have been a no-brainer, especially after the success of the stylus-using 3DS.
Aside from the big issue that is the ‘one island per Switch’, and the extremely flawed online play, my other issues were small enough that I was still able to have a lot of fun with the game. Animal Crossing: New Horizons offers an incredibly relaxing and therapeutic experience that delivers way more than what you paid for. Like I said earlier, the timing of the game’s release couldn’t have been more perfect. Any fans of the Animal Crossing series, or anyone who’s never touched the series (like me), should book a ticket for Tom Nook’s Island Getaway as soon as they can.
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