It may not be much of a surprise to the gaming community but for those of us who are Animal Crossing fans, we are a particular kind of crazy. Incredibly passionate, we are all about our debt-inducing, animal-befriending, real-time life sim such that fans have been combing any available New Horizons footage, weeks and weeks after every trailers drop. Before the Switch game was announced, with every Direct or passing E3 the fan base collectively held its breath (or formed a summoning circle of AC worship) for a whisper that our favourite getaway title would be coming back. In the longest wait for a game in the franchise (over six years), it’s understandable that March 20, 2020 cannot come fast enough (only 113 days to go). We are excited about automatic item stacking, dynamic weather, HD graphics (oh classic table how far you have come), holes looking ten times better, crafting, sheep wearing sweaters, digging up whole trees, animals’ clothing having sleeves, placing items wherever we want, picking where villager’s houses go, wind in the trees, new hairstyles, pupils and even kneecaps. Yep, kneecaps.
In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, your player has more detailed kneecaps, allowing Tom Nook to easily bash them in after you fail to pay your debt pic.twitter.com/mtmpnRIQM0
— Beam (COMMISIONS OPEN) (@BeamhasReturned) October 20, 2019
The visual upgrades in this upcoming title are astounding to say the least and should enrich the experience that is Animal Crossing to a new level. Unlike previous titles this game is set on a deserted island that you’re free to shape from the get-go and this seems to have everyone excited. While I’m sure many were worried about what the next game would be like while we were patiently (or not so patiently) waiting to hear about it, this significant change has been received with great enthusiasm. This excitement is particularly powerful in the wake of a chunk of the Pokémon fanbase being particularly toxic and angry lately because of various changes in the latest entry Sword and Shield. As fans and gamers we should count ourselves lucky when we get a new game in our favourite franchise, and should calmly criticise rather than hound developers when they try to do something different. It prides me to see so much love from AC fans despite the wait we’ve had and the time left to go because of the titles delay due to crunch. All I will say is please Nintendo, give us another trailer soon before we run out of pixels to dissect, and make the wait till March 20 a bit more bearable. Until then, dream away, brainstorm ideas for your future islands and make more fan art AC fans.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons releases exclusively on Nintendo Switch on March 20, 2020.
When Eleanore isn’t trying to figure out how the Earth works she’s trying to pay off her loan in Animal Crossing, complete her Pokedex or finishing one more RPG or platformer. She is a lover of great characters, cute or creative art styles and awesome game soundtracks.
