Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the Only Thing that Kept Me Sane Throughout 2020
March of 2020 was a rough month, to say the least. The world was plunged into a global pandemic that we weren’t prepared for, and the world seemed to fall apart around us. Every day, the news got more and more depressing. Right in the middle of all of this chaos, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the Nintendo Switch iteration of the Animal Crossing Series, was released on March 20th, 2020. Having been announced in 2019, fans eagerly awaited the release of the first mainline Animal Crossing game since New Leaf in 2012. Little did Nintendo know, this game would quickly become one of their best sellers (selling 22 million copies by March). This explosion in popularity, although partially induced by a global pandemic causing millions to have nothing to do but sit in their house all day, can likely be attributed to the vast improvements Nintendo has made on the model of the game. Animal Crossing games are known for being fairly similar to previous iterations, with small quality of life changes, a change of setting, and an overhaul of the graphics to bring them up to date. New Horizons broke this model, introducing updates to the way the game is played, the overhaul of the graphics to modern standards while still keeping in touch with the art style, the iconic soundtrack, massive boost to customizability, and a new take on character design set New Horizons apart, both from other Animal Crossing games and all games within its genre.
With so much attention on this game, Nintendo clearly knew it had to deliver. The game is more ambitious in its changes than any other Animal Crossing game, and adds many features that fans have been demanding for years. For one, the multiplayer for the game was completely overhauled from previous iterations, increasing the amount of people you can have on your island at a time and adding new activities for the players to complete. Although there are some issues with the system, the greater freedom the player has when visiting with friends outweighs these kinks in the system.
“The online play does have some unfortunate quirks… [with a] comically-long connection time that pauses the action for all players in the session (both for departures and arrivals)” -Andrew Webster , The Verge
Additionally, Nintendo introduced a whole new setting and also a more detailed pseudo-storyline to this game that was not present in any previous iteration. Although using the words ‘campaign’ or ‘storyline’ to describe the new cutscenes and developer-set goals would be generous, the game introduces a new mechanic which involves the player building up their islands reputation in order to attract new settlers. The entire game takes place on a deserted island that Tom Nook has purchased and has convinced your character to move to. You are tasked with turning this small, empty place into a bustling township. You place furniture, build buildings, collect materials (and use them to craft with the new crafting system), and invite villagers to join your community. New Horizons gives players almost total control over the look of their town, splitting from previous games which involved a pre-built town that could not be modified easily.
Another factor contributing to the vastly improved quality of the game, the graphics of New Horizons are both simplistic yet beautiful. They still do a good job at capturing the spirit of Animal Crossing, keeping the art style intact, while updating the graphics to modern standards. The sunsets and sunrises light the sky up in a beautiful array of purple and orange; the grass and trees sway elegantly on windy days; and water drips down buildings and off of trees when big thunderclouds roll in, drenching your island in rainwater. The textures are sharp and clear, and the models are very smooth and are far improved from previous games in the series. While New Horizons’ graphics are surely not revolutionary within the wide field of games, they are beautiful in their own right and appeal to a simplistic art style. Often when discussing art, we view realism and art quality as synonymous, but this is hardly the case. A piece of art does not have to be ultra realistic to be visually appealing, nor are all ultra realistic art pieces visually appealing. New Horizons is able to provide an escape from the chaos around us, by giving us a pleasant little paradise to run away to. I can legitimately plop a beach chair down near my cliffside house, and watch the sunset for hours in game. The game is visually stunning, and truly satisfies me as a long-time fan of the game series.
Similarly to the graphics, the soundtrack of the game fits very well with the entire game series. Animal Crossing has always operated its soundtrack on the model of ‘hourly songs’, where each hour of the day (ex: 1pm-2pm has a song, 2pm-3pm has a song) has a song assigned to it which usually has a tone that matches that part of the day. In the early morning and late at night, you often hear a soft piano or soft strumming of the guitar. The late morning and afternoon music is always very upbeat and energetic. Although I definitely find some of these tracks to be unpleasant, and several of them don’t capture the Animal Crossing feel, most truly immerse you into the Animal Crossing experience.
“All I can hear are the waves and the wind rushing through the trees as the game’s soundtrack takes a minimalist turn” -Russ Frushtick, Polygon
Admittedly, I feel that this soundtrack is probably the weakest of all of the Animal Crossing soundtracks (with the exception of the theme song and all of the old building themes that were revamped for the game) but that is saying a lot, as the other tracks are very appealing to listen to and create a unique feel for the game that is not easy to live up to. Another feature of the game that returned in New Horizons are the concerts that are given every Saturday night by the game’s musical prodigy character K.K. Slider. K.K. Slider is a dog character who is credited as the writer and singer of all of the various songs that you can purchase for your stereos in your house or around your island. He also takes a vital role in the aforementioned pseudo-storyline, as the ultimate goal of increasing your island’s rating is to attract K.K. to play a concert on your island. K.K.’s character puts a face to the game’s music, and makes it feel more real and authentic. The existence of a character like K.K. really adds to the depth of the game, and sets Animal Crossing apart from many other games.
In addition to the updated art style and soundtrack, New Horizons reaches new heights within the series for its vast improvements to customizability. With clothing alone, the game adds thousands of new clothing items and also entirely revamps the custom design system, allowing players to design their own clothing such as shirts, sweatshirts, hats, pants, and more. In addition to more clothing options, New Horizons allows far more customization of both furniture itself and where you place it.
“I recreate a pixel art design of Waluigi I find online, and suddenly I have a Waluigi bed in the middle of my house.” -Russ Frushtick, Polygon
In previous Animal Crossing games, these custom designs were limited to canvases hung on the walls or to specific outfits, but now I can see my creations all throughout the island which shows how much Nintendo has expanded on the previous games in this respect. When playing New Horizons, I feel like I have total control. Unlike in previous games, I get to choose where every buildings goes; I get to place furniture both inside my house and everywhere on my island; and I get access to a terraforming tool which allows me to build roads/paths as well as shape the cliffs and rivers on my island to my heart’s content. The sky is the limit in New Horizons.
In addition to its unique allowance of players to express creativity, Animal Crossing is famous for its large cast of NPC characters, with a total of 412 unique non-player characters. The villagers (any of the 391 characters that can live in your town) come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and species’. While the basic model for a character is similar to every other character of their species, the design of the characters face, their color, and their clothing styles are all unique. From the clown sheep Pietro, to the gray cat with heterochromia Raymond, every villager has a unique design that gives you insight into their personality. In addition to unique character designs, each villager also has a house that is specifically designed for them. Every house is different. Some are relatively normal houses that match the villager’s style, while others are themed rooms (like Pietro’s circus themed room, or Lucky, who is a mummified dog, with his tomb themed room). This wide array of distinctive characters allows for every player to have a different experience, and to fill their island with villagers that match their aesthetic. Although players have been disappointed by the repetitive and uninteresting dialogue that has been used in this game, my hope is that the developer will improve this over time. With so many characters, it can not be easy to write that many lines, which is why each personality type has a set of lines that every character in that personality group uses regardless. I hope that over time, the developers plan to add more dialogue specific to each villager to create a more immersive environment and help the player feel more connected to their individual villagers.
While there are definitely many valid criticisms of New Horizons, I can say with confidence that I believe it to be the best game in the series, and I would also (highly subjectively) claim it to be the best game ever made. I will acknowledge that I have a strong bias towards this game, as I grew up with the series and it has been a staple of my life since I was very young. However, I believe that even someone skeptical of the game can acknowledge the many improvements made by Nintendo, and that this game will be popular for a very long time. The sheer amount of love that this community has for the game is a good indicator of Animal Crossing’s appeal, that being to a world which is stuck inside.
“…playing New Horizons this weekend was the first time in months that I didn’t think about the coronavirus…” -Kaity Kline, NPR
What many didn’t expect was for the game to continue selling high volumes even after lockdown orders began to rescind and people began going back to work and school. Animal Crossing was most definitely helped by the pandemic, but it would have been a huge success regardless. I hope that Nintendo continues to support this game, and that updates are regular as they have suggested, because New Horizons, while not perfect, is a great example of how even old series’ can still be adapted to a modern audience.