Animal Crossing: New Horizons will be revisiting in 2021

• Posted by Crawforddefine Crawforddefine September 21, 2021 - Filed in Games & Gaming - #What Jack Will Do on Halloween in Animal Crossing: New Horizons  - 1,040 views

   

   

  Eventually, I began to play less and less as I felt the pull of other new releases, and by August 2020, I had completely stopped playing, content with the state of my island and my overall experience up to that point. Recently, however, I made the decision to return to my virtual slice of paradise in order to see how Animal Crossing: New Horizons was faring and whether it was still worth returning to. And, after returning to my island for a few weeks, I'm left with a mix of emotions.
  
  Nintendo has also updated Animal Crossing: New Horizons with a ton of new items to collect and use over the last year, and I've had a lot of fun getting my hands on as much of it as I can during my recent return. More options for outfits and decorations are always welcome, and I appreciate that Nintendo has continued to add them well into 2021.
  
  On the other hand, the fact that Animal Crossing: New Horizons lacks meaningful progression systems makes it difficult to remain invested in the game. The fact that you're working towards things over time is ultimately what makes Animal Crossing's slow burn approach to game design so satisfying to engage with. This is something that Animal Crossing: New Horizons could learn from New Leaf. In that game, there were several community structures, shops, and events that could only be unlocked by spending time with villagers, decorating your town, doing favors for specific characters, and investing large sums of Bells. In addition, there were five different upgrades that you could unlock for Timmy and Tommy's item shop. What Jack Will Do on Halloween in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

   

  In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the only shop that can be unlocked is the Able Sisters clothing store, and you can only upgrade Timmy and Tommy's shop once. Why not give players the option of working towards unlocking Brewster and his coffee shop, or a beach clubhouse owned by Kapp'n? These are the kinds of objectives that kept me playing New Leaf for more than a year, and achieving those objectives was incredibly satisfying. These objectives, aside from customization, are not present in New Horizons, which is a shame.
  
  

   

   

  

  New Horizons, on the other hand, is in desperate need of some new content. While the changes Nintendo has made to the game are welcome, it would be nice if the developers updated the game's events so that they have more depth and aren't as simple and generic as they are now (for example, Toy Day only requires you to give random gifts to villagers rather than figuring out what each person wants by asking for hints, as you did in New Leaf). Villagers also repeat dialogue lines on a very frequent basis, despite the fact that their personalities differ, which makes many conversations tedious. Villagers also no longer assign you to interesting quests such as burying time capsules or delivering presents; instead, they assign you to boring fetch quests such as "bring me this item."
  
  Most of these issues went unnoticed during my time with New Horizons in 2020, primarily because I was distracted by the game's positive vibes and didn't realize how lacking the game's progression systems and content variety truly were at the time. However, now that the honeymoon period has passed and I've had a few weeks to evaluate the game with a much more critical eye, the flaws are readily apparent.
  
  In the end, I've enjoyed returning to Animal Crossing: New Horizons for a few weeks, and if you enjoy relaxing games, it's still one of the best Nintendo Switch games available. However, the game is in desperate need of an update, and until Nintendo releases one that adds more goals to work towards as well as more varied content experiences, I'll be extending my New Horizons hiatus.
  
  Let us know what you think.
  What do you think? Do you agree with me that Animal Crossing: New Horizons requires more depth and variety, or do you believe the game is fine as it is? Please notify me if this is the case. If you haven't played the game yet and would like to, it is available for $60 on the Nintendo Switch.