You may have been expecting it for weeks now…for how can we not review our most favourite game? Animal Crossing: New Horizons really, really needed a review here on LadiesGamers, but the problem was: how could we tear ourselves away from the game long enough?
Well, I managed….here are my thoughts!
Animal Crossing, Animal Crossing, how do I love you?
Let me count the ways:
- Cute animals.
- Calming music.
- Bright colours.
- Many outfits.
- Town customization.
- Set collection.
- Japanese-inspired stuff.
I have now played the main Animal Crossing game on every single console it has been on (Animal Crossing on GameCube, Wild World on DS, City Folk on Wii, New Leaf on 3DS, and now New Horizons on Switch), and I can confidently, personally, say that New Horizons is the best iteration of the series yet.
Every Slight Nuisance Fixed
Everything that was a slight nuisance in older versions has been “fixed” in this game. “What are you talking about specifically, Ash?” you ask. Well, for example: once you get a house you instantly have a storage space you can put things in (before you had to wait until you owned a wardrobe of some kind, heck on the very first Animal Crossing you could only store a few things in a wardrobe. I remember having a basement FULL of different wardrobes just to hold all my extra clothes and special items).
Another example: you can expand your pocket size so you can hold more items. Not having to run to the Nook’s Cranny every five minutes to dump items is really nice. AND, the fact that I can now sell items after hours is even NICER (sure, the little Nook’s take a cut, but it seems fair to me!)
Again, another example: the addition of the magic clothes-swapping wand so that I can save my favourite outfits and switch into them whenever I want. That’s a HUGE one for me, because I love doing things like putting on a rain-outfit when it’s raining. Or wearing a special holiday suit during the holiday. Bunny Day just happened in my town, and I HAD to run around in the Bunny Day dress, hat, and bag just because!
The first Animal Crossing was still an amazing game; and honestly, it was mostly those quality-of-life enhancements that have been added into New Horizons that the game needed. But, only three weeks in and there is one thing that niggles at me: the fact that you can only craft one thing at a time. So if I have 15 manila clams in my pocket, I have to watch the DIY crafting animation 15 separate times to make 15 fishing baits. If I could just craft all 15 at once if I wanted, that would have been amazing!
I’m sure other tiny little niggly things will come as I continue to play, but they’re so small, and all the other things they fixed totally make up for it.
Cuteness Overload
One thing I especially love about New Horizons is all of the added CUTE little things your villagers do. They will sing, they will run around pretending to be airplanes, they’ll sniff flowers (or things, for example, my cat Kiki sniffed my fish-drying rack; which makes sense because cats love fish!). They’ll walk around eating doughnuts, sandwiches and lollipops, or drinking a can of juice. They’ll put on glasses to read books about flowers while investigating a flower to discover what kind of flower it is!
It’s so cute I can’t even stand it. It fills my heart with a fluffy, warm, joy.
Customization Options In Abundance
A new part of the game that I didn’t think I would really care about is the Island Designer.
I’m not a big fan of games like Minecraft; I guess I didn’t play with Legos enough as a child. But once I unlocked it, I had a really good time creating sidewalks and parks for my villagers to enjoy. I really loved watching my island become a beautiful town.
I am also a huge fan of the DIY portion of the game. Every time I see a balloon-present slowly floating by, I get excited and hope that it is a special DIY for a cool item set.
It’s frustrating having a really cool DIY pattern, but not having the materials to make it: I’m looking at you Robot Hero and Ironwood Kitchenette. But it’s fun planning out the various rooms in my house based on what I will be able to craft in the future.
I am also a HUGE HUGE fan of customizing. Every time I make or get a new item, I like to check if it can be customized. I got a few of the Shell set items, and I loved that I could change the colours. I now have a pretty cool shell patio area in my backyard.
The fencing too! I am so proud of my house; my backyard all wrapped up with some fancy Japanese-looking fencing. My outdoor bath just sitting under the sakura trees. It’s all so sublime, relaxing, and lovely. This game is some of the best de-stress material I’ve ever had.
Loving the Animal Neighbours to Bits
If you haven’t bought it yet, then FOR SHAME! Naw, just kidding! If you haven’t bought it yet then it’s likely that you know this kind of game isn’t for you. Otherwise, I’m sure you HAVE already bought it and are playing around on your very own town right now.
I know the internet is full of things like a “Villager Tier List” stating which villagers are the best to get. I am of the mind that every single cute little animal villager is the best, and you should just live with the ones that make you happy. I, for example, LOVE the octopi and hamsters. In my original GameCube game all I wanted was for Octavian to move to my town (he was the only octopus at the time), but he never did… My friend gave me a Zucker amiibo to borrow, and I was SOOO HAPPY!
Then, literally the day after Zucker moved into one of my empty plots, cute little Soleil moved in at random to another plot. I am in Animal Crossing heaven!
What Other Conclusion Can There Be?
I know this review was basically a long rant about what I love about this game. But honestly, if you’re still on the fence about buying it now, then I can’t recommend it enough. Especially in these COVID19 times; if I have to be self-isolated, at least there are a bunch of cute and friendly animals that want to see me every day.
If you’ve made it to the bottom of this review, thank you. I will now explain the screenshots: I’m not even kidding, every time I took a screenshot I caught my character mid-or-full-blink.
JUST LIKE ME IN REAL LIFE! Spooky…
Final Verdict: I LOVE IT! So…..Two Thumbs Up! 
Thanks for the review – although I have to say it probably wasn’t the toughest one you’ve had to write! ; )
My “top three” list:
1. Clyde! The first time I saw him acting like an airplane, I knew he has to be on the island forever!
2. Blather’s museum – love how my donations are displayed!
3. Larger pockets. And it still cracks me up how EVERYTHING fits in your pocket!
I’ve played this every day (for relatively short periods of time) since it was released. Looking forward to the Island Designer tools…and did you say you have an in-game cat? I have the cat bed and litter box ready to go!
It’s the little things in the game that I find so amusing. Like my animal neighbor Flora running on the beach, and leaving bird-feet footprints in the sand. The level of detail is really astonishing, and that’s what makes this series so amazing! And oh yes and the pockets! Though I’m still short on space so often.
I DO have an in-game cat! It’s just a tiger bobblehead my friend gave me, but I put it on one of my shelves and then put the pink cat-play-stand up. I also got a pink thing of “cat grass”; if I find a pink cat bed and litterbox, I am going to make my tiny tiger-bobble-head-cat-pet the BEST little spot!