Stuff We Like: Animal Crossing New Horizons

Look, I’m not saying Nintendo orchestrated this virus just in time for the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but it’s quite the coincidence considering that this is all I’ve been doing in my free time. I seriously think it’s the only thing keeping me sane and my relationship with my boyfriend alive at this point.

To sum up for the uninitiated, ACNH is a video game on the Nintendo Switch where you help manage an island. There are shops you can acquire, villagers with different personalities, a house to decorate, etc. If you’re familiar with Stardew Valley, it’s quite similar to that. Pretty chill, really cute, and it has an extraordinarily nice and wholesome community.

Many of us at SBTB HQ are playing it and we’d love to share some kind words about our experience and perhaps a few photos of our islands!

Elyse: Aside from this game being incredibly soothing, it’s also allowed me to connect with niece and nephew while in quarantine. We typically get together every week so not seeing them has been really rough. We’ve been playing together at night and it’s been tons of fun. Except my nephew doesn’t weed his island and it irritates me. DO YOUR CHORES.

I’m not very far in the game, but I find digital fishing and butterfly collecting and apple picking to be so relaxing. Right now I’m more interested in finding specimens to fill the museum than I am in building my house or a store. Who knew I’d be beholden to an owl? Or that I’d owe a raccoon a ton of money?

Susan: This is my first Animal Crossing game, so I have no idea what I’m doing. And…that’s fine! Muddling my way through New Horizons has been really relaxing instead of stressful, which is exactly what I needed from it. It helps that a lot of my friends got into Animal Crossing just before I did. We’ve got a shared fandom again! One with minimal stress, but that gives us an opportunity to do something together.

My only problem is that I’ve gotten a little too sucked into the design app. There are hashtags on twitter FULL of beautiful designs, like these blue moon dresses, and I am trying to recreate all of my favourite Lindy Bop dresses…. What I’m saying is that I haven’t been doing my chores either, but one of my friends finds weeding to be the most relaxing thing in the game so it’s less noticeable!

Maya: Also an Animal Crossing newbie! I was playing a whole bunch of Stardew Valley before this and I find the game mechanics in Animal Crossing to be way chiller and less addicting. With Stardew Valley it was easy for me to get sucked in for more hours than I had intended because the game makes you want to play just one more day, but with Animal Crossing it doesn’t feel bad to put it down when you need to or want to (because, just for an example, you are supposed to be working and not getting distracted after checking what price Timmy and Tommy are offering on the Stalk Market).

In terms of ethical game design, I like a game that you can grind if you want to grind or you can pop in for 20 minutes a few times a day (or less!) and still feel like you are having a fun time. And I certainly prefer games that nudge you to remember how much time has passed like Animal Crossing does by having the time pop up on the screen if you stop moving for a few seconds and by having the time of day inside the game be synced to the time of day out there in the real world.

Which is all to say, on day one I landed on a deserted island, just me, my friend Tom Nook, his sons Timmy and Tommy, and two other new friends. We all looked around the island and saw that we could turn it into paradise. And then a Victorian dress fell out of the sky, a nice owl named Blathers told me I could collect some fossils, and I realized that I could play this game like I was Minerva from A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au | Scribd ). And so I did.

My girl Minerva loves to dig up fossils!

I have definitely only started getting into the island customization part of the game–K.K. Slider should be doing his concert soon, so I’m still waiting on all the magic terraforming powers–but I am really and truly amazed at all the things I have seen people be able to do. Mostly I’m focused on gardening and getting my hybrid flowers growing. So far for my hyacinths I’ve been able to breed the pink and orange variations.

Since we’ve been talking about it on our Pink Palace Slack, I wanted to ask how folks felt about the first big event–Bunny Day. It was kind of lackluster for me–the drop rate for eggs was pretty disruptive to my fishing and the outfits you could make were overwhelmingly disappointing. Did anyone have any positive experiences with it?

Otherwise, Animal Crossing has become an integral part of my day. Once I’m done with work, I walk a few feet from my desk to my couch, turn on a podcast from one of the many by the McElroy family and check in on my island. I fish, catch bugs, dig up fossils, chase down cherry blossoms floating in the wind, and give presents to my neighbors. And every once in a while, I get a little tipsy and wish upon a shooting star. Who could begrudge that kind of existence?

Ellen: I played the original GameCube Animal Crossing for HUNDREDS of hours with my childhood best friend/worst enemy (he was my neighbor so we were inseparable even though we wanted to murder each other a solid 50% of the time), back when to visit someone else’s island meant you had to put their memory card in slot 2. Back when your avatar character weirdly had horns, and Mr. Resetti yelled at you for resetting the game after something bad happened. I haven’t played every single AC game, but I’ve played most of them. So for me, Animal Crossing: New Horizons feels like I’m being transported back to the best parts of my childhood. At the same time, there are enough fresh new mechanics (like DIY recipes and terraforming!) that it’s also a novel experience.

For me, what’s great about Animal Crossing right now is that it’s such a low-stakes way to be creative. I get to design and curate a wardrobe, an adorable house, and an island complete with gardens, neighborhoods, parks, and beaches. While I sometimes have visitors, the main audience is ultimately me. For someone who worries a lot when I do other creative pursuits whether other people will enjoy what I’m making, it’s wonderful to be able to give myself permission to just do what I like with my island.

At the same time, I’m enjoying the robust online community that’s sprung up around Animal Crossing. Lots of social media acquaintances are sharing pictures of their islands, designs, and island experiences, which is fun. I’ve even participated in some item trades through Instagram, which is fun.

While most of the new aspects of the game are enjoyable, I have to say, Maya, that I HATED the expansion of Bunny Day. It used to only be one single day, so it wasn’t a huge deal in terms of disrupting resource-gathering. That was MUCH better. Plus, Zipper is really creepy and all the egg furniture is ugly.

I’m also keeping my fingers crossed that they bring back some additional NPC characters like Katrina, the cat fortune-teller.

Amanda: Bunny Day was an absolute nightmare, but I so love collections and themes and I doggedly crafted every damn thing to get the grand prize.

One of my very favorite things is changing my clothes each morning. Have I been doing that in real life? No, not at all, but I’m a sucker for the in-game fashions. Also, the game allows you to wear user-created clothes and some people are so damn talented. Reddit has great resources, as well as the Twitter account Susan mentioned earlier.

A website called Nookazon launched recently to help facilitate trading and item hunting and it’s been so awesome. Big thanks to the team who tirelessly run it and develop updates. All the people I’ve been able to trade with have been so kind and at times, it makes me feel like maybe the world isn’t trash? Maybe? I’ll compliment someone’s island, they’ll comment on my cute clothes. IT’S JUST SO WHOLESOME.

I’m currently in the midst of designing my island and accruing the items I need for the rooms in my house. So far, my bathroom and kitchen are mostly finished.

Here’s a brief tour!

My island entrance. I celebrated my birthday by acquiring a hot dog costume.

My pink and white twee bathroom:

My witchy kitchen:

My grand museum entrance:

My zen garden:

Yes, I do change my character into pajamas every night:

Who says romance is dead?

I think Ellen really nails it; it’s low-stakes. There aren’t boss battles and it’s as intense as you want to make it. Some players use time travel to reset the game clocks and catch rare fish and bugs only available during certain seasons.

But many of us are happy with the routine of hopping on, collecting our fruit, watering our plants, and popping whatever mystery balloons that come floating by (inarguably my favorite part of the game).

Have you been playing Animal Crossing? Tell us all about your island!