Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Released on March 20, 2020 for the Nintendo Switch by Nintendo, and developed by Nintendo EPD, Animal Crossing: New Horizons brings the venerable life-simulator franchise into its third decade.

After my son, then six, had put an alarming amount of hours into Super Smash Bros. Wii U, he asked me a question I'd been waiting to hear for quite awhile: "Daddy, what's Animal Crossing?" I'd been looking forward to an excuse to pull out my GameCube, but this was the best one. He'd used Animal Crossing's Villager as a character in Smash Bros., and seen the Animal Crossing background and characters at Villager's stage. Now he was curious.

So glad he asked that before, "Daddy, where do babies come from?"

The time since has not only brought a full-on GameCube revival into my life, but saw my son and I playing plentiful hours of Animal Crossing, leading to him getting a copy of Animal Crossing: New Leaf for his 3DS. Eventually, he purchased and mastered every single Animal Crossing game released in America, including Happy Home Designer and Amiibo Festival (yuck!). Me, though? I've had too many other games on my agenda during that time period. I enjoyed playing the original Animal Crossing again, but I left the other Animal Crossing games to him...until now. As the announcements and trailers for the Nintendo Switch's Animal Crossing: New Horizons rolled on through the Internet, my son's excitement was contagious. Prior to 3/20/20, we each pre-ordered our own copy. Stuck in the house indefinitely? The last Animal Crossing game I played was released 18 years ago? Perfect timing, Nintendo!

I need a place to go outside without a mask on!

The basic format of an Animal Crossing hasn't changed in much in the last 18 years. In the original, you arrive to a new town by train, are assisted by intrepid raccoon, Tom Nook, and immediately find yourself in very concrete debt to Nook when he builds you a house. From there, you partake in various activities to make money to pay back Nook, who then makes further additions to your home, landing you in deeper debt to him. Meanwhile, you interact with the local villagers, and find joy in accomplishing menial tasks. That's the foundation of 2002's Animal Crossing...and it's the foundation of 2020's Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

If it ain't broke, will I ever not owe Tom Nook money?

With that being the case, the structure built on that foundation is quite more complex in 2020 than it was in 2002. Instead of rambling on about New Horizons' every minutiae, I'll just briefly talk about what sets it apart, and the one advancement I'm disappointed the game didn't make.

Thanks, K.K.! How did you get so smart?

Unlike previous games, where you'd start in a town that already felt a bit established, New Horizons puts the player on a deserted island, with Nook and sons, and a couple of new fellow islanders. The player is given the choice of several islands to choose form, and the game begins. The joy then, comes into making the undistinguished wilderness of the island into someplace thriving. After you customize your character's appearance, you're immediately flown to the island, and given orders from Nook. You'll plot out spots for the other two villagers and the spot for Nook's island services building. Eventually, you'll plot out the spot for the island store. Then you'll start earning something called "Nook Miles" by just performing ordinary Animal Crossing tasks: fishing, catching insects, chopping down trees, talking to fellow villagers, and a multitude more. These Miles are separate from the money you earn from selling things you've collected to the store, and actually make ordinary tasks like pulling weeds feel more rewarding...because you're finally being rewarded for doing them. You can still donate fish, insects, fossils, and artwork to the (vastly improved and magnificent) museum, or sell them to the store, but this new, more specifically tangible reward just makes everything feel more fulfilling. Once you've earned enough Nook Miles, which aren't difficult to accumulate, you can travel to nearby randomly generated islands to find prospective new villagers to bring to your island.

This flamingo looks happy...I think I'll leave her here.

And here's why this series is called "Animal Crossing." Beside your own character, which is a goofy, cartoonish looking human, the other characters in Animal Crossing are all...animals. New Horizons brings back the majority of characters from previous games, and a few more. In total, at the time of this writing, there are 402 possible villagers that could live in your town...though the most that you can have at any one time is ten. The characters represent many species, from rhinos, to cats, to cows, to penguins, to chickens--there are far too many to list here. Animals also come in different personality types, like snooty, jock, peppy, smug, lazy, and more. Their personality types determine how they relate to you and other villagers.

Who doesn't love a smug penguin?

You can also build a campsite to attract prospective villagers, but you've got to have an empty lot for someone to move into...unless you want to kick out someone else. Thankfully, for all those series fans who collected Animal Crossing Amiibo Cards and Figures during the Amiibo Festival dry period, those seemingly obsolete objects are now quite useful. You can use a character's corresponding Amiibo Card or Figure to summon them to live at your island. Considering the fact that whatever villagers show up otherwise is completely random, these objects, particularly certain Amiibo Cards, have become extremely valuable...quite a reward for the diehards...like my son.

I wish the New Horizons version of Tank was half as interesting as his description. Hey, kid, who else's cards do you have?

Aside from the game's island theme, advanced customization is New Horizons' greatest asset. The game does a great job of doling these options out to you over time. You'll eventually gain the ability to build bridges over rivers and ramps up cliff sides, making more of the island accessible, or simply more easily accessible. Further down the line, you'll have the chance to alter the island's terrain, gaining the ability to shape rivers and cliffs themselves. You can also plant flowers and trees, and place other objects you've collected all around the island. This, as well as bringing in more villagers, is all at the service of increasing your town's rating--the more advanced your town becomes, the higher your town's star-rating rating grows.

Or you could just go fishing.

And I haven't even mentioned the biggest change here--items can now be crafted. You can easily collect materials like wood and stone around the island, and then, if you've learned a recipe, craft a specific object with them. You can learn recipes from other villagers, find them washed up on the beach, buy them, or shoot them out of balloons floating through the sky (with your slingshot). This goes for not only complex objects like a dining room table of swimming pool, but your tools, like your fishing rod or shovel. Tools break after prolonged used this time around, but you can also eventually learn to aesthetically customize them to your liking...and you even get Nook points when you've broken enough of them!

Not sure what is going on with my pants in this photo.

With so many options and things to do, Nintendo has greatly advanced the "endless game" feeling of the 2002 original. New Horizons essentially goes on forever. That's great for my son, who will likely put over 1000 hours into the game. In my case, as I like to tangibly finish a game and move on to the next, Nintendo has put in place de facto ending this time. Once the player's town has achieved a three-star rating out of five, which occurs roughly 50 hours into New Horizons, they gain access to terraforming, and start to receive weekly visits from Animal Crossing's resident troubadour hound, K.K. Slider. Slider gives the town a musical performance...and the credits roll.

Let it never be said that I don't finish a game before I review it. Excluding bad ones. And technically, this one.

However, at that point, the game doesn't end unless you want it to...and I'd be lying if I said I don't still play New Horizons for a few minutes each day. Even once you earn a five-star town rating, there's still the matter of getting the highest rating for your house, which you can decorate and customize to a remarkable degree. You can also keep taking out and paying higher and higher loans from Tom Nook, as he continues to give your home new additions (side-rooms...upstairs...basement...). Your island is also big enough to that just customizing it all the way through once could take hundreds upon hundreds of hours...not to mention all the redesigns you'll want to do. Then there's the matter of finding the perfect mix of villagers...the ten you think you'll be most happy with....or maybe you'll want to meet all 402. The options go on and on, and Nintendo will be adding new elements into the game for the foreseeable future. New Horizons absolutely never ends...and considering it takes place in real time, with the seasons changing (bringing new fish and bugs to your island), and all major holidays celebrated in different fashions, your playtime diverges from a measurement of hours to...years. And it's all a blast!
Well, almost all...

Pictured: some of the folks who make up the "almost."

If there's one element of Animal Crossing that's barely advance at all in the last 18 years, it's villager AI. Your interactions with your island's citizens are the most basic imaginable. You can approach them to talk, but if you're expecting much more than "Nice weather today!" or "I need to workout," you'll be gravely disappointed. While the different villager personalities are distinct, your actual interactions with the individual villagers are not..."Nice sunset, but not as nice as me" says your smug character, right before your jock tells you "Nice sunset...I need to workout." At some point, these goofy animals are going to have to get a little bit smarter. It turns out that New Horizons is not the game to make that happen. Considering the progressive nature of the game's title, that particular element's stagnation is a letdown.

You disappoint me again, duck!

And while it's solid, I also find the music to be a little lower than the quality of the previous games. It's still got that Animal Crossing chill vibe, but the hourly themes feel more similar, simplified, and less memorable than those of previous games--and there's no standout late-night melancholy theme like most games have. It's mostly bland, minimalist acoustic guitar-centric stuff, with only a few outliers.

Thankfully,  K.K. songs, like the megacool K.K. Cruisin," carry over from previous games...and you can play them in your home...or anywhere.

Visually, though, New Horizons is quite pleasing. Nintendo kept the spirit of previous games intact, while adding just enough oomph. Little things like the animals' fur and clothing are more highly detailed, while elements like water look more realistic without betraying Animal Crossing's general style. I have no graphical complaints. In fact, the only other thing I can complain about is the fact that there aren't any playable NES games found in this game like in the 2002 original.

Since I'm making arbitrary comments, here's a picture of an Atlas Moth I caught, just because I feel like it.

That's an unfair nitpick--but while they're all easily available now on Nintendo Switch Online, those NES games will always give the original 2002 Animal Crossing a component unique from subsequent Animal Crossing games...all the games in the franchise have a similarly unique element. Speaking of Nintendo Switch Online, you can visit other New Horizons players' towns all over the world. Local play options even let you play with someone in close physical proximity.

Though you could also just hang out alone in the museum butterfly room.

Without a doubt, 2020's New Horizons is objectively better than 2002's Animal Crossing. It advances the original game's ideas to the point that it's nearly perfect. But for those of us with an affection for the original...or any of the other games in the franchise, it's nice to see that the older games get to keep their unique identities intact...and subsequently, this once oddball series has now become one of Nintendo's most iconic.

SCORE: 9.7/10