(I already published a version of this, but I wrote it while I had writer’s block, so I wasn’t satisfied with it. I like this updated version of the post way better.)
During the pandemic, lots of people discovered Animal Crossing for the first time. As a long-time fan of the franchise, I loved the idea of playing the games.
I didn’t play New Horizons when it came out simply because I didn’t have a Nintendo Switch at the time. I was really on the fence about getting one, but the Animal Crossing Switch was cute enough to sway me. I was lucky enough to get one when they restocked, and the first game I bought was Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Unfortunately, it wouldn’t take long for me to lose interest in this game. So how did New Horizons fail to capture me like past iterations of Animal Crossing?
A Synopsis
If you’re reading this post, I assume you have probably played New Horizons, but if you haven’t, here’s a quick rundown.
You, a two Villager, and the Nooks all move to a deserted island. When you get there, it somehow becomes your responsibility to make the place into an island paradise.
You are tasked with placing buildings, decorating fields, and building bridges. It doesn’t take long for Tom Nook to reveal that the goal is to make the islands pretty enough lore in the musician K.K. Slider there to perform a concert.
Technically, you’re finished with the game at this point. After all, the credits roll do during K.K.’s performance. From here, you enter the post-game content that the New Horizons is known for: Island Décor.
If you have enough free time and creativity, you can make your island look however you like. There is an in-game mechanic for measuring how nice your island looks. If you work hard enough, you turn your island into a five-star masterpiece.
Other than decorating your island, there are a couple of things you can do. You can try to collect all the fish, fossils, bugs, and art for the museum. You can pay off and expand your house. You can max out your friendships with the other Villagers. You try to fight the never-ending infestation of flowers.
There is also an achievements system, so you can try to unlock them all. You will likely unlock everything just by completing the tasks I mentioned above.
I Don’t Care About These Villagers
In the original version of this post, I talked about how the game suffers because of New Horizons‘ focus on co-op gaming. The game expects you to decorate your island and shoe it off to your friend.
This results in a lot of the stuff in this game feeling like an afterthought to the decoration and co-op mechanic.
NH Villagers feel one-dimensional. It doesn’t matter if they’re a Jock, Lazy, or Snooty. Most interactions boil down to the same couple of things. They’ll greet you with personality-specific dialogue then give you a random gift without you having to say much to them. Their friendship feels empty and unearned. These Villagers are just cutely designed vendors.
I don’t really feel like I can connect with them like in the other games. I remember how I used to go to visit them after Nook’s closed. I wanted to see if they needed me to deliver any packages. Maybe I could catch a fish for them. Maybe I’ll already have a bug they want to buy. Sometimes they just want to gossip about another villager. Whatever the interaction was, they were the reason that I played Animal Crossing.
New Horizons does occasionally have the Villagers give you errands, and sometimes you’ll find a lost is
Even the mobile game, Pocket Camp, had more interactive Villagers than New Horizons. After you do enough tasks for Villagers in PC, they give a little cutscene where you and the Villager enjoy the fish barbeque or fruit tart together. The closes NH gets to something like that when you see the Villagers doing their own thing in the town square.
Speaking of character interaction, half the actual vendor animals are gone, and the ones who stayed lost most of their personalities. I think Isabelle is the best example of this. In New Leaf, she was your assistant, helping you run the town. In New Horizons, she is an administrator who stays locked behind a desk except for special events. I guess she’s not that different from Mayor Tortimer now that I think about it.
Sable is probably the only one who is still interesting, but her friendship pretty quickly becomes a means to an end. After you receive her final design, she runs out of new dialogue. The only reason I keep talking to her is because of sentimentality.
I miss going to the city and meeting new people. I miss the pelican postal workers, the dog police officers, and Kapp’n. They weren’t just NPCs to me. They were my neighbors, my friends, and sometimes my rivals.
Out With A Whimper
The game is too short. Technically, you could finish NH in less than a week.
In the older games, the main goal was to fully pay off your house. This goal could take you months, if not years, to achieve. Thought that was probably due to me being a child when I started playing.
In this game, all the things that were the main gameplay elements before are now just post-game content.
That kind of takes the wind out of my sails. What’s the point of trying to collecting all the fossils. In the end, the game just goes, “Thanks for wasting your time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯Buy Nintendo Online.”
I Didn’t Signup For HGTV
My biggest problem with the game is that I hate decorating. It’s boring. (´。＿。｀)
I get that this is the whole focus of New Horizons, but it has always been my least favorite part of Animal Crossing. Honestly, it’s probably the old Happy Home Academy’s fault That I hate decorating. They always gave me bad scores even though I thought my house looked cute.
That doesn’t really matter anyway because I like the natural aesthetic of my island, so I don’t really want to change things. (Also, there are some major quality-of-life issues with the island remodeling mechanic.)
I did see the games shifting towards being more design-focused. That is the whole point of the Happy Home Designer game. Pocket Camp has a healthy blend of decoration and character interaction, though the Villagers are still pretty one-dimensional here (they are just better at hiding it.)
In Conclusion
There are things that I would change about this game, but that would potentially be an “If I Could Rewrite” post.
P.S. I found a Jaiden Animation video where she explained her feelings about Animal Crossing, and she has similar feelings about the Villagers that I did. She seems to actually like design, so she is pretty positive about New Horizons. Here’s the video if you want to check it out.
Until next time, see ya!
I Think Thinks 