There was never a real chance that Animal Crossing: New Horizons wasn’t going to be a hit. The game, for Nintendo Switch, is the latest installment in a beloved franchise, so it’s about as sure a bet as you can hope for.
However, Nintendo could not possibly have predicted that New Horizons would also capture the zeitgeist as precisely as it does. It’s an immersive life sim built around voluntary isolation at a point in time when much of the world is in at least their third week of social quarantine. It’s a level of coordination between life and escapist fiction that would seem contrived if this wasn’t really happening.
In New Horizons, your custom character opts to purchase a vacation package from series mainstay and tanuki “businessman” (read: extortionist) Tom Nook. He sends you to your very own desert island, where you can explore it at your leisure, and eventually develop it from a single campsite to a thriving community of NPC villagers.
However, as is Nook’s wont, you do end up going in debt to him in exchange for your island getaway. The primary driver of New Horizons is to go out and earn money to pay off that debt, by collecting bugs, foraging for salable goods, building equipment, tending a garden, or whatever else you might find that you enjoy.
Like previous Animal Crossing games, New Horizons is primarily about setting your own goals. It’s a “sandbox game,” where you’re surrounded by things to do and weeks of potential playtime, but can prioritize for yourself what you want to pursue. While you can get stung by wasps if you aren’t careful, there are no failure conditions or violent activities in New Horizons. It’s meant to serve as an absorbing, pleasant distraction.
Many reviews of New Horizons are currently works in progress, as several major features of the game such as the multiplayer servers weren’t active until today. Most of the reviews are specifically based around going through New Horizons’s solo content, which at time of writing has earned it a score of 91/100 at review aggregator Metacritic.
Some of the critical highlights include:
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons Review – The Only Debt You’ll Want to Stay In (USGamer, Caty McCarthy, 4.5/5)
“Animal Crossing: New Leaf remains the pinnacle of the series, but New Horizons brings with it a bunch welcome quality of life changes, such as terraforming the island to your every whim. The addition of crafting isn’t a burden as I worried it would be. In fact, it becomes a fun objective to work toward, effectively diversifying the usual chores of selling bugs and fish to pay your never-waning debts to that rascally raccoon. With real-world headlines more harrowing than ever, there’s never been a better time to go on vacation within Animal Crossing: New Horizons.” - Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a much-needed escape from everything (Polygon, Russ Frushtick, unscored)
“Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a respite from the current state of the world. I find my general anxiety slowly subside as I run through my town, water my plants, and build furniture for the sassy chicken gentleman living down by the beach. It’s exactly what I need right now.” - Animal Crossing: New Horizons review – a magical vivarium, and one of Nintendo’s best games yet (Eurogamer, Martin Robinson, “Eurogamer Essential”)
“How can you fail to be sucked into a world that’s at once so mundane yet so magical?” - Animal Crossing: New Horizons review in progress (EGM, Mollie Robinson, unscored)
“Now, I want to be clear: I don’t have faith that Nintendo will have totally scrubbed the game of the needless annoyances that have long plagued the series. For example, why do tools still use up inventory space? Sure, it’s less of an issue now that we’re given more room in our pockets, but there’s just no player-focused reason to keep with that tradition—especially now that you’ll need more room for collecting crafting materials. Still, I appreciate the changes that have come, and remain hopeful that more are waiting.” - Animal Crossing: New Horizons – The Kotaku Review (Kotaku, Ian Walker, unscored)
“This island is a promise. Life isn’t supposed to be better or worse here, it’s just supposed to be different. It has its own rhythm and pace.” - Animal Crossing: New Horizons review: a chill life sim that puts you in control (the Verge, Andrew Webster, unscored)
“New Horizons still maintains the charm and style that have made Animal Crossing so beloved, but with a newfound sense of purpose: the satisfaction that comes from building something from nothing.”
2020 has been a relatively slow year for video games up until this weekend. While many previous years’ first quarters have been at least somewhat busy – a lot of big third-party games tend to come out directly after the holidays, presumably to avoid having to go directly up against that year’s Call of Duty sequel – the release calendar this year has been quiet since Bandai Namco’s anime RPG Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot in early January.
March 20 marks the point at which things start to speed up, however, with the release of both Animal Crossing and id Software’s Doom Eternal, followed by Valve Software’s Half-Life: Alyx next week. April 3 sees the debut of Capcom’s horror remake Resident Evil 3, followed by the hotly anticipated Final Fantasy VII and, at an unspecified point in the month, Microsoft’s Minecraft Dungeons.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a system exclusive for the Nintendo Switch. It’s available now for $59.99, in a physical retail edition as well as a digital download via the Nintendo eShop. Players who buy the game digitally before April 30 will also receive a voucher for 7 free days of Nintendo Switch Online, which is required for the game’s online multiplayer.
