Back in late 2016, I had so much fun with what time I had with New Leaf - the previous game in terms of mainline games. And when I heard the news of this game coming soon, I was excited to play it.
Unfortunately, I missed out on this game during its hype and its immense popularity in the COVID era, but better late then never, right? I started my journey in August 2023 and ended on December 2023 for my thoughts on this game with zero time manipulation via the Switch's internal clock.
This game is a blast to play when you need to zone out, relax and talk to your animal villagers. The concept of going on an island for home instead of the usual towns was a fresh idea that I don't think any other Animal Crossing games have done, besides NL for Tortimer's Island. The gameplay is just catching bugs and fish for Bells or the museum, expanding your island with items/shops, buying furniture to decorate your home, and even selling your soul away to Tom Nook to pay off your house debt. It's essentially a game based on real-life...a life sim!
New gameplay changes to this game were the NookPhone that allows you to freely look at apps that give you access to the camera, seeing Nook Miles that you can use to access features like Kapp'n's mystery islands, spending on furniture, and for flying with Dodo Airlines to a Nook Mile Island via tickets. But on top of that, use the NookPhone to freely terraform your island at will, access Nook Shopping at anytime, and even more.
One other new addition that is devisive for the game is crafting your own items via materials at a bench. At first, this was a cool gimmick that was new to this game, but afterwards...the crafting feature was rather redundant when you could buy or claim the items you needed. It was only mandatory when your tools break, which that got really annoying afterwards.
The multiplayer in New Horizons always never disappoints as you can visit your friends islands, or even their dream islands thanks to Luna, and play...2 minigames with them, but you can also make up your own creative games thanks to the terraforming. Only issue with the terraforming I keep mentioning is the unlock criteria needing to be 3 stars on the island, but it can be easily done via planting a stupid amount of flowers.
When it comes to special events in the game, or holidays via the real-time clock, these were rather lacklustre compared to New Leaf and its sheer amount of items you get through them. The fishing tourneys were lame, Halloween was okay...didn't have many rewards, Turkey Day was decent, Toy Day was not as impactful as it was my favourite holiday in NL, and the recent New Year's Eve was mid.
One more gripe I have is the lack of content this game has which is beaten like a dead horse at this point. Yeah, it had free updates later on, but still had less content compared to other titles. Harv's Island was a nice addition, as it can be helpful with getting characters like Kicks and Redd over for special items, clothes, and artwork, but that was an okay area. The Roost added as the last update was bland, but his coffee kicks ass though.
I will still play this game throughout this new year until August 2024 to experience the rest of the holidays and special events, but for what I've discussed, I still stand by to my thoughts for this.
Unfortunately, I missed out on this game during its hype and its immense popularity in the COVID era, but better late then never, right? I started my journey in August 2023 and ended on December 2023 for my thoughts on this game with zero time manipulation via the Switch's internal clock.
This game is a blast to play when you need to zone out, relax and talk to your animal villagers. The concept of going on an island for home instead of the usual towns was a fresh idea that I don't think any other Animal Crossing games have done, besides NL for Tortimer's Island. The gameplay is just catching bugs and fish for Bells or the museum, expanding your island with items/shops, buying furniture to decorate your home, and even selling your soul away to Tom Nook to pay off your house debt. It's essentially a game based on real-life...a life sim!
New gameplay changes to this game were the NookPhone that allows you to freely look at apps that give you access to the camera, seeing Nook Miles that you can use to access features like Kapp'n's mystery islands, spending on furniture, and for flying with Dodo Airlines to a Nook Mile Island via tickets. But on top of that, use the NookPhone to freely terraform your island at will, access Nook Shopping at anytime, and even more.
One other new addition that is devisive for the game is crafting your own items via materials at a bench. At first, this was a cool gimmick that was new to this game, but afterwards...the crafting feature was rather redundant when you could buy or claim the items you needed. It was only mandatory when your tools break, which that got really annoying afterwards.
The multiplayer in New Horizons always never disappoints as you can visit your friends islands, or even their dream islands thanks to Luna, and play...2 minigames with them, but you can also make up your own creative games thanks to the terraforming. Only issue with the terraforming I keep mentioning is the unlock criteria needing to be 3 stars on the island, but it can be easily done via planting a stupid amount of flowers.
When it comes to special events in the game, or holidays via the real-time clock, these were rather lacklustre compared to New Leaf and its sheer amount of items you get through them. The fishing tourneys were lame, Halloween was okay...didn't have many rewards, Turkey Day was decent, Toy Day was not as impactful as it was my favourite holiday in NL, and the recent New Year's Eve was mid.
One more gripe I have is the lack of content this game has which is beaten like a dead horse at this point. Yeah, it had free updates later on, but still had less content compared to other titles. Harv's Island was a nice addition, as it can be helpful with getting characters like Kicks and Redd over for special items, clothes, and artwork, but that was an okay area. The Roost added as the last update was bland, but his coffee kicks ass though.
I will still play this game throughout this new year until August 2024 to experience the rest of the holidays and special events, but for what I've discussed, I still stand by to my thoughts for this.