I expected big things from Animal Crossing: New Horizons when I bought it during the pandemic, and it delivered pretty much exactly what I expected, but nothing more. Compared to its previous installment, New Leaf, New Horizons definitely feels like it's missing some things, which is a bummer given how in depth New Leaf really was. Nevertheless, the game is still quite enjoyable—there aren’t many games out there that make you MORE relaxed.
Pros:
- Animal Crossing is an incredibly relaxing game, simply because the objective is simple: live a peaceful life. You water flowers, sell seashells, decorate your house, catch fish and bugs, dig up fossils, and so many more things with absolutely zero stress. If you are a person that plays a lot of stressful video games, Animal Crossing is perhaps the best way to unwind. The artstyle of the game is also very quaint and easy on the eyes, which is the best you could hope for with a game intended for relaxation.
- Keeping in line with the “daily life” aspect of Animal Crossing, the game progresses in real-time. Seasons proceed according to which hemisphere of Earth you play in, and each feature different things to do and see: winter lets you build snowmen, spring brings with it cherry blossoms, summer has special seashells, and you can look for mushrooms in the fall, among other things. Holidays spice things up as well: you have the big ones like Halloween or Lunar New Year, and even smaller ones like ‘International Museum Day’, with things to do on each one.
- In addition to seasons and holidays, rotating vendors spice up gameplay and give players something to look forward to. Celeste appears during meteor showers to give the player Zodiac-themed building blueprints, while the sketchy Redd appears at other times to sell you fine art (that is sometimes fake…). This isn’t all well and good though, see the cons for my other take on this.
- Save for real-time events, nothing in this game is timed. You do not feel pressured into doing ANYTHING and you can variously choose and ignore any of the paths laid out in front of them if they want to focus on something else. There are no objective markers to constantly remind you there’s something you haven’t done, and in no case will the game prevent you from doing something if you want to do something else. Hell, even the house loans don’t accrue interest! Truly, this is the ultimate “progression at your own pace” game.
- The fishing and bug catching mechanic is complimented by a museum that houses all of the creatures you donate to it, and it looks absolutely stunning. All of them are real fish and bugs accurate to their real-life counterparts, and in some ways behave like them as well. The museum curator, Blathers, can even give you small tidbits about them if you ask. If you love to learn, this is the mechanic for you—it's probably my favorite element of the game.
- A crafting system exists, and before you roll your eyes, it’s honestly pretty interesting. In addition to buying furniture, you can also make it from scratch with things like wood, weeds, and shells. Every once in a while, a villager can give you a DIY recipe, or maybe you can happen upon a recipe in a bottle that’s washed up upon the shore. None of the items they require are particularly difficult to get (unless we’re talking like recipes for solid gold furniture lol), and the process doesn’t take very long at all. You can also cook recipes, only using food instead of building materials. It's a great way to kickstart decoration.
- Perhaps the most radical gameplay shakeup New Horizons brings to the table is its massively increased customization and designing potential. Not only are there tons of furniture, flooring, and wallpaper options, but you can also place them outside instead of just in your house, and you can even go so far as to terraform your island by adding/removing land, water, and pathing. This is by far the most adored feature in the game, and if you enjoy making environments look pretty, this is probably where you’ll sink most of your hours into.
- There are a lot of small details in this game that add up to a lot of flavor. From the soundtrack changing to a different song corresponding to each hour, to weather patterns being partly based on the hemisphere the game is played in, to TV broadcasts playing different channels based on the time of day; plus a bunch of other things ranging from bugs chirping to tripping while you hold a balloon—you constantly learn new obscure details that spice things up.
- Animal Crossing encourages multiplayer much more than most other games I’ve played. Other players can give you custom clothing or image designs, and the stores on their island have different inventories than yours. You can also head over on Sundays for turnips to sell on your island, and even convince villagers moving out of their island to come to yours. While I’m sure people would play with their friends regardless, these are great bonuses.
Cons:
- The villagers in the Animal Crossing series have enthralled a lot of people with their designs and charm; though their dialogue and personalities in past titles have been pretty good, for whatever reason it's lacking in New Horizons. They cycle through the same small pool of lines every time to talk to them, only occasionally broken up by an interesting question or request. Even villagers you talk to a lot, who say different things based on your friendship with them, don’t quite add enough to be as interesting as they used to be.
- My least favorite element of this game is the lack of unlockable buildings and expansions. New Leaf had around seven buildings you could unlock by assisting their vendors, and four expansions to the basic shop that also unlocked new vendors within them. Compare this to one shop expansion and two unlockable buildings in New Horizons. Some of the New Leaf vendors return in New Horizons to sell things every once in a while, but there is no way to get them to permanently reside on your island.
- While I did praise the degree to which you can customize your island, coupled with things like shallow villagers and the lack of unlockable building expansions, it feels like the only significant thing you can do once you’ve played the game for a while. If you aren’t interested in island design, you’ll hit a point where the game becomes a whole lot of nothing to do. (Not to mention that with only 5 slots for furniture in the upgraded shop, progress on that front is also really slow.)
- The relative lack of long term goals places undue weight on “dailies,” which are activities that refresh everyday (money rock, shaking trees, digging up fossils). With nothing to look forward to, you begin to notice the monotony of dailies in addition to tiny flaws that are greatly magnified when they’re all you have to do, like how you can’t craft fish bait in bulk, for example. This game does have inherently fun gameplay, but you have to work for it, which is not something I would say for its predecessors.
Objective rating: 4 stars
Subjective rating: 4 stars
Pros:
- Animal Crossing is an incredibly relaxing game, simply because the objective is simple: live a peaceful life. You water flowers, sell seashells, decorate your house, catch fish and bugs, dig up fossils, and so many more things with absolutely zero stress. If you are a person that plays a lot of stressful video games, Animal Crossing is perhaps the best way to unwind. The artstyle of the game is also very quaint and easy on the eyes, which is the best you could hope for with a game intended for relaxation.
- Keeping in line with the “daily life” aspect of Animal Crossing, the game progresses in real-time. Seasons proceed according to which hemisphere of Earth you play in, and each feature different things to do and see: winter lets you build snowmen, spring brings with it cherry blossoms, summer has special seashells, and you can look for mushrooms in the fall, among other things. Holidays spice things up as well: you have the big ones like Halloween or Lunar New Year, and even smaller ones like ‘International Museum Day’, with things to do on each one.
- In addition to seasons and holidays, rotating vendors spice up gameplay and give players something to look forward to. Celeste appears during meteor showers to give the player Zodiac-themed building blueprints, while the sketchy Redd appears at other times to sell you fine art (that is sometimes fake…). This isn’t all well and good though, see the cons for my other take on this.
- Save for real-time events, nothing in this game is timed. You do not feel pressured into doing ANYTHING and you can variously choose and ignore any of the paths laid out in front of them if they want to focus on something else. There are no objective markers to constantly remind you there’s something you haven’t done, and in no case will the game prevent you from doing something if you want to do something else. Hell, even the house loans don’t accrue interest! Truly, this is the ultimate “progression at your own pace” game.
- The fishing and bug catching mechanic is complimented by a museum that houses all of the creatures you donate to it, and it looks absolutely stunning. All of them are real fish and bugs accurate to their real-life counterparts, and in some ways behave like them as well. The museum curator, Blathers, can even give you small tidbits about them if you ask. If you love to learn, this is the mechanic for you—it's probably my favorite element of the game.
- A crafting system exists, and before you roll your eyes, it’s honestly pretty interesting. In addition to buying furniture, you can also make it from scratch with things like wood, weeds, and shells. Every once in a while, a villager can give you a DIY recipe, or maybe you can happen upon a recipe in a bottle that’s washed up upon the shore. None of the items they require are particularly difficult to get (unless we’re talking like recipes for solid gold furniture lol), and the process doesn’t take very long at all. You can also cook recipes, only using food instead of building materials. It's a great way to kickstart decoration.
- Perhaps the most radical gameplay shakeup New Horizons brings to the table is its massively increased customization and designing potential. Not only are there tons of furniture, flooring, and wallpaper options, but you can also place them outside instead of just in your house, and you can even go so far as to terraform your island by adding/removing land, water, and pathing. This is by far the most adored feature in the game, and if you enjoy making environments look pretty, this is probably where you’ll sink most of your hours into.
- There are a lot of small details in this game that add up to a lot of flavor. From the soundtrack changing to a different song corresponding to each hour, to weather patterns being partly based on the hemisphere the game is played in, to TV broadcasts playing different channels based on the time of day; plus a bunch of other things ranging from bugs chirping to tripping while you hold a balloon—you constantly learn new obscure details that spice things up.
- Animal Crossing encourages multiplayer much more than most other games I’ve played. Other players can give you custom clothing or image designs, and the stores on their island have different inventories than yours. You can also head over on Sundays for turnips to sell on your island, and even convince villagers moving out of their island to come to yours. While I’m sure people would play with their friends regardless, these are great bonuses.
Cons:
- The villagers in the Animal Crossing series have enthralled a lot of people with their designs and charm; though their dialogue and personalities in past titles have been pretty good, for whatever reason it's lacking in New Horizons. They cycle through the same small pool of lines every time to talk to them, only occasionally broken up by an interesting question or request. Even villagers you talk to a lot, who say different things based on your friendship with them, don’t quite add enough to be as interesting as they used to be.
- My least favorite element of this game is the lack of unlockable buildings and expansions. New Leaf had around seven buildings you could unlock by assisting their vendors, and four expansions to the basic shop that also unlocked new vendors within them. Compare this to one shop expansion and two unlockable buildings in New Horizons. Some of the New Leaf vendors return in New Horizons to sell things every once in a while, but there is no way to get them to permanently reside on your island.
- While I did praise the degree to which you can customize your island, coupled with things like shallow villagers and the lack of unlockable building expansions, it feels like the only significant thing you can do once you’ve played the game for a while. If you aren’t interested in island design, you’ll hit a point where the game becomes a whole lot of nothing to do. (Not to mention that with only 5 slots for furniture in the upgraded shop, progress on that front is also really slow.)
- The relative lack of long term goals places undue weight on “dailies,” which are activities that refresh everyday (money rock, shaking trees, digging up fossils). With nothing to look forward to, you begin to notice the monotony of dailies in addition to tiny flaws that are greatly magnified when they’re all you have to do, like how you can’t craft fish bait in bulk, for example. This game does have inherently fun gameplay, but you have to work for it, which is not something I would say for its predecessors.
Objective rating: 4 stars
Subjective rating: 4 stars