Animal Crossing: New Horizons Review

I’ll preface by saying that, despite my current love for the company and its games, I was never a massive fan of Nintendo growing up. To me, all of their games felt too similar to enjoy. Pair that with the notion that, in my opinion, they had a few significant franchises under their belt but released the same game with a fresh skin each year. It was tiresome. At least, it once was.

But then along came Animal Crossing. I know what you’re thinking; Animal Crossing is the definition of a re-skinned game from Nintendo. You would be right, too. But the thing is, something about the carefree nature, drawn-out gameplay, and the outright lack of any complexity captured my attention. And with the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, I find myself sucked into the world once more, as I do battle with Tom Nook and his ever-increasing loans.

Our Take on Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Animal Crossing: New Horizons launched on the Nintendo Switch on March 20th, 2020. In just a few short months, players have amassed hundreds upon hundreds of hours in the game, despite claims that, according to many outspoken fans, there is less to do in this title than in previous iterations. Well, they’re right in some regards. We’re missing quite a few shops and features, which is a bummer.

That being said, New Horizons does a lot right. Nintendo introduced crafting and resource gathering features, both of which add a new element to the town-building adventure. What’s more is, you’re no longer landlocked. This time around, Tom Nook set his sights on an uncharted island in the middle of the ocean. Your goal? To colonize and beautify from shore to shore.

But that’s not all. Probably the most prominent new feature, and one we’ve all been craving for, was the ability to place items anywhere we desire. It’s entirely possible to decorate your neighbor’s lawn without their say so. You can create a beautiful park in the center of town, an orchard up north, and a lakeside campsite complete with lawn chairs and a grill for a tasty little barbecue. Or, you can terrorize your villagers like I do by placing cardboard cutouts outside of their windows at night and imagining their terror in the morning.

Absolutely Insane Amount of Items and Villagers!

As of this review, there are over 14,000 items or versions of fan-favorite items to select from to decorate your home and island. With monthly events, we fully expect that astounding number to rise in the coming months. Even better is, Nintendo intends to support New Horizons for many years to come. We hope to see a few new Japanese-themed sets, perhaps an Ancient Roman bedroom menagerie, or even waterborne items, like buoys to decorate our islands with.

Enough about the items, though. Let’s talk villagers. Right now, like this very moment, there are a total of 391 villagers, excluding unique characters, like Pascal, in New Horizons. This insanely colossal list of villagers is separated into personalities — four for females, four for males — that include Normal, Lazy, Sisterly, Snooty, Cranky, Jock, Peppy, and Smug. We all have our favorites. Does anyone enjoy a Smug villager? Banished from the island, we say!

In all honesty, we love the sheer numbers added to this game. I mean, 14,000 items and almost 400 villagers? That’s insane, right? The downside is, it’ll take you such a long time to find each piece and meet every villager that, surely as Nintendo planned, you’ll be playing New Horizons for years to come. Is that such a bad thing, though?

What’s Wrong With Animal Crossing: New Horizons?

Up to this point, we’ve only discussed positives about the game. It’s an enjoyable game, so there are many. But we’d be remiss to ignore the cons, too.

Let’s see; for starters, there’s the fact that Nintendo removed many shops from the game — shops we frequented in Animal Crossing: New Leaf on the Nintendo 3DS. You know, like Leif’s shop, for instance!

But that’s not all. Let’s talk about quality of life. Nintendo introduced the new crafting system, which I love, but never implemented a way to craft multiple items at once? Instead, when you build a log bench for your campfire, you’re treated to lengthy dialogue boxes and ‘continue crafting’ or ‘stop crafting’ choice boxes. It’s tiresome. Let me craft three benches and 24 fountains at once.

The final gripes we have with New Horizons you may overlook… or you may not. It’s up to you. Isabelle, we love you dearly, but I don’t want to hear about your magazine subscription or missing socks anymore. You’ve become a meme. It’s time to put down the microphone and enjoy the sunshine along one of our many scenic beaches.

How did you enjoy our Animal Crossing: New Horizons review? Did we miss something major? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to explore our countless New Horizons guides available today!