Animal Crossing: New Horizons Review
In my review of The Longing, I mentioned that the release of the next Animal Crossing was fast approaching and now the time has finally come. I was extremely happy when Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released last Friday, but on top of the normal reasons to be happy for a long-awaited game release, there was an additional layer caused by the chaotic state of the world these days. Having now been safely cloistered in my apartment for 12 consecutive days, I was grateful to have New Horizons to turn to, because what better remedy for the world-wide quarantine blues is there than an escape to an island filled with friendly and adorable animals.
In Animal Crossing: New Horizons players become the newest resident of a previously uninhabited island that has recently been purchased by the infamous business-raccoon Tom Nook. Once on the island, players are more or less unleashed, free to spend their time with the variety of activities available to them. These activities are more or less not changed since the debut of the original Animal Crossing in 2001: players can collect the various aquatic and insectile life as well as prehistoric fossils present on the island to be donated to the local museum or displayed at home, tend flower and fruit gardens for fun and profit, build and decorate their dream homes, and hang out with friends both real and virtual, all in real-world time, as is the standard for the Animal Crossing series. On top of this standard, New Horizons has a few new ideas, some of which are actually good.
To me, the best change New Horizons makes to the Animal Crossing series is the incredible level of customization it offers to the players. At the beginning of the game, the player is allowed to do something never seen before in an Animal Crossing game: decide their own appearance. This may seem unremarkable to many, but previously a player’s appearance was effectively decided by a personality quiz given by a nosy cat. The player isn’t bound to their choices made at the beginning, as the player can change every aspect of their appearance at any point in the game so long as they are in front of any mirror, whether they own the mirror or not. A wonderfully progressive aspect of this is that players aren’t asked their gender or orientation, only asked to select a “setting” which seems to only affect pronouns, and this choice places no limitation on what clothes, hairstyles, or accessories the player can wear. After initial appearance is set, players are given a choice of four islands to call their own and what to name their new island to make it feel that much more like home. After landing on the island, players are allowed to choose where their house will be as well as the location of all other residents’ houses and incoming businesses forevermore, making sure the player can build an island utopia to their exact desires. On a smaller scale, players are allowed to personally customize furniture that will go in their house with the use of an easily acquired item. Not every furniture item can be crafted, and those that can are only customizable in specific ways, but these personal changes make the pieces feel more personal. This was possible in the previous game, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, but it was limited by cost, expensive components, and the schedule of an ornery llama. Unquestionably the greatest customization feature is the ability to change the geographic layout of the island. Once the tools are acquired, players are able to raise and lower the height of the ground, reshape existing water features and create new ones, and construct bridges, stairs, and ramps to open up easy access to new parts of the island. There are some areas players aren’t able to affect this way, but they’re few and far between, allowing players to carve their islands into truly impressive and preposterous shapes.
Though not as impressive as the suite of customization options, New Horizons’ next cool idea is the introduction of a new currency called Nook Miles. Separate from the game’s standard currency of Bells, Nook Miles are points players earn by doing activities that don’t often result in a lot of Bells, allowing players to gain a sort of income for alternate styles of playing. Broadly speaking, there are two ways to acquire Nook Miles: through the Nook Mileage program and the Nook Miles+ tasks, the first being available from the start of the game and the second unlocked as soon as the player moves from their tent into a house, which is usually done by the second day at the latest. The Nook Mileage program awards players large sums of Miles when they reach major milestones, such as having caught 40 unique kinds of insects or watering 100 flowers. On the other hand, Nook Miles+ tasks award far fewer Miles but are easier to accomplish, tasks such as speak with three neighbors or catch any five fish. The two methods work together to provide long-term goals for players to work towards while also providing small dopamine-charged bursts of satisfaction in the immediate future. Unfortunately, I think the Nook Miles program falls on its face because there isn’t much of interest a player can do with the Miles. There’s a catalog of goods players can buy with the Miles, but what’s available isn’t that compelling and almost never changes, so if a player doesn’t want any of them, they’re rarely going to find a use for them outside of changing them out for Bells. I hope as the game receives future updates, more items that can be purchased with Miles are added, because at this point I don’t bother myself in earning them, and I’m only eight days in.
Speaking of New Horizons’ shortcomings, there are a bevy of small, annoying choices that Nintendo made when making this game. The most notable of these is the fact that every player who plays Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the same Switch will all be forced to live on the same island. This won’t matter to some people, but Nintendo is notoriously family-oriented and this decision essentially forces some groups of fans to decide between buying additional Switches or making each player have a diminished experience by sharing it, especially considering only so many resources spawn on the island per day. In the same vein, players are able to play together on the same Switch in local multiplayer, but all players other than the first player won’t have access to their inventory or be able to pick up items. I don’t know how to program video games, so I have no idea how hard it would be to make these things possible, but it definitely made playing second player to my girlfriend less than ideal. The last thing that annoyed me about New Horizons was the fact that when player’s use the games crafting menu to build furniture or tools, they can’t craft multiples of an item even if they have the required materials. This meant that when I needed to turn 10 clams into fish bait, I had to craft each one independently which was both frustrating and time-consuming.
Though Animal Crossing: New Horizons has annoying flaws, I don’t think they genuinely impede the core game experience. Further, I think the changes made in New Horizons not only greatly improves the experience that series veterans will have but also does a great job of appealing to newer players who had issues with the game’s signature aimless gameplay, specifically with the Nook Miles program. All in all it’s worth the $60 price tag, especially during these times of social isolation and limited income.
Buy this game at full price
It’s worth every penny they’re asking
