By Devonne Tourre, Co-Editor-in-Chief
My love for Animal Crossing started back in my late middle school and early high school days, when I had lost my 3DS for the third time and had just acquired a fourth one. While each 3DS system that I owned was loaded with games that I loved, one had me snagged on its fishing reel and caught in its bug net—it was Animal Crossing, and specifically Animal Crossing: New Leaf.
That game feels like years ago, and I’d been patiently waiting to hop back into the series. I was starving for a new mainline game, as were the series’ avid fans. Little did we know that we’d received a huge surprise on June 11, 2019. Enter Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the next mainline title in the Animal Crossing series. Fans and myself received a trailer during Nintendo’s E3 presentation, and I was completely overjoyed. To see an Animal Crossing game that was so lush with pretty graphics, contain a wonderful theme song, and filled to the brim with new and amazing features seriously brought tears to my eyes.
This new Animal Crossing game breaks the series norm in several ways, but the big one is that players are living on a deserted island, offered in-game as a “deserted island getaway package,” provided by Tom Nook, the series’ money-grubbing tanuki. However, some familiar features do return, such as building a house, common shops, and holidays, among other things. Animal Crossing: New Horizons features a brand-new crafting system brand new to the series, which has players running around on their island gathering crafting materials from trees, rocks, flowers, and more. These items can even be customized further with the player’s own patterns and colors. Don’t worry though—there are still buyable items that use Bells, the series’ currency. However, there is a new set of currency introduced into the game—Nook Miles, which are used to pay off the island getaway (similar to the loan payments in previous titles) and to travel to other islands to get different amenities and other animal villagers. I could go on and on about this game, but most of it I want you to figure out for yourself—that’s truly the magic and fun of Animal Crossing.
Whether this is your first Animal Crossing game, your foray back into the series, or simply your first video game, I cannot recommend Animal Crossing: New Horizons enough. If I had to choose one feature that I love, it’s that all of the Animal Crossing games move in real-time—so if it’s raining outside, it might be raining in the game too—it’s what makes this game so personal for me.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons releases physically and digitally for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite devices on March 20, 2020.
