Animal Crossing: New Horizons is an island life simulation game. Your main objective is to earn money to upgrade your home and improve the island to attract new characters to live there, but this doesn’t really do the gameplay justice. For me at least, I’m just enjoying myself
in the day-to-day activities of the island, and doing this usually results in having the resources I need to progress. So, what does a typical day in Animal Crossing look like?
Welcome to Ynys Galon, Heart Island, so named for its heart shaped pond at the base of the hills. Grammatically it probably should be Ynys Calon but Welsh isn’t my first language so Anyway, each morning I’ll pick myself out an outfit, check the post, then dash off to talk to my neighbors. If the shops are open I’ll see what’s in stock today, before heading out to explore the island. I’ll catch some fish, and butterflies, dig up a few fossils and take them to Blathers at the museum. If I’ve got the time, I’ll buy myself a plane ticket and fly to a mystery island to gather more resources and maybe catch a few rarer creatures for my collection.
There are some simple story elements and progression to the game. As the days go by you will be able to add new buildings to your island and unlock new abilities. When you start out you are unable to cross the river, but soon you’ll have the pole, and later the ladder added to your arsenal. Before long you’ll be able to improve your island with bridges and ramps to make exploration easier and even remodel the landscape to really make your island how you want it.
Let’s talk about the art direction for a moment. I love the cute character design, both of
the humans and… most of the animals. Looking at you, Zipper. Everything is so bright and colorful and cheerful and exactly what the world needs right now. My favorite thing to do at the moment is fishing. I share an island with my boyfriend, which is great and it’s really fun to play together, but he seems to have amazing luck finding rare fish and I need to find some things first so I fish as much as I can.
It can get a little repetitive after a while, so then I change things up and go hunting for Atlas Moths and tarantulas. As well as playing together in local multiplayer, you can visit your friend’s island or invite them to visit yours. I don’t think I would have used this feature
much if I was able to visit my friends in real life right now. But at the moment I am loving visiting my friends and chatting in a different context than a video call. And it’s a great excuse to play hide and seek.
There are elements of the game that are a little frustrating in their implementation. The eggs come to mind (if you were playing during the run-up to Egg Day, you know what I mean) but also things like not being able to craft in bulk. Making fish bait is incredibly tedious so
I generally try to make do without and just hunt for fish that have spawned on the island
already.
I have played Animal Crossing games in the past, I had Wild World on my DS back in the day, and I’m definitely enjoying New Horizons a lot more. I’m not sure how much of that is due to
the current lockdown situation but it definitely is a great game to sink a few hours into when
you’re stuck inside in a flat with no garden or balcony. I have played at least an hour a day since the games’ release and I still have so much left to do!
I’m nowhere near finished building my museum collection, my island can have many more new residents before it’s full and my house is still only a bungalow. I think it’s a great relaxing experience that is extremely accessible to players regardless of ability or gaming experience and I could not be happier about awarding Animal Crossing the best relaxing game I have ever played.
