Title: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Studio: Nintendo
Release Date: March 20, 2020
Available: Cartridge, online download
When Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out for the Switch on March 20, 2020 the public was raving about the graphics and gameplay. Personally, I was excited for it, but I could not play it at the time. Once I did get the game, everything was up to snuff and more.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons, like other Animal Crossing games, is a, mostly, freeform experience. You can walk around your community, fish, catch bugs, collect seashells, dig for fossils, and interact with your neighbors. As you do this, you accumulate money (otherwise known as ‘bells’), which lets you get a bigger house and fill it with decorations. You can also customize the island with tools and objects.
Instead of moving to a new town, Animal Crossing: New Horizons puts you on a “deserted” island. You’re a customer of Nook Inc.’s Deserted Island Getaway Package, where you and two random animal friends settle on an uninhabited island. This means you start with tents instead of houses, and you can craft items instead of simply buying them.
Everything takes place in real time. When you play during the day, it’ll be daytime in the game. When you play at night, it’ll be nighttime. The seasons also change with the year, though you can choose to live on an island in the southern hemisphere for reversed seasons. There is a common misconception that changing the time on your switch console to time travel in Animal Crossing is considered cheating, but it is simply up to the player whether or not they want to take advantage of this feature.
The controls are quite different from anything else I’ve played, but this was also my first game on the Nintendo Switch Console, so that definitely is to blame for that. The graphics are something to show-off as well. Every individual leaf on the trees shutter in the wind, the shadows are accurate to the lighting, the creatures have incredible detail, compared to past games, and
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is fun, relaxing, and simply very chill. You won’t feel pressure while playing, and you probably won’t get much of a sense of competition. If you’re looking for structured goals and a distinct progression towards a specific end, you won’t find it in this game. What you will find is a big island you can customize and develop and trim to your heart’s content, with plenty of things to build, buy, and place wherever you’d like.
Of course, Tom Nook and his nephews, Timmy and Tommy, are still there to help you get used to your new island lifestyle, so you can sell fish, bugs, and seashells, and buy tools from them, in addition to building your own tools. In fact, after a few days on your deserted island, the tents are replaced with houses, the Resident Services tent is joined by the classic Nook’s Cranny shop that is run by Nook’s nephews, and you’ll have a full-fledged museum where you can donate fossils, creatures, and art. The player is able to turn the deserted island into their very own Animal Crossing town.
Therefore, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a well thought out, endearing, and possibly the best game from the Animal Crossing series. The details are immaculate and the characters are vivid. Perfecto.
Carter Corps News 