Animal Crossing: New Horizons released at possibly one of the most unique times it could have - with the World Health Organization announcing COVID-19 to be a pandemic ten days before its release, lockdowns became commonplace across the world and would last for the next several months. Now, almost two years later, it’s easy to look at the wild amounts of posts and stories about Animal Crossing that happened during those first months and compare it to the popularity of the game now. As the game reaches its two-year anniversary, some players who have finished their playtime may look back and wonder if the whole experience was worth it.
In the beginning, there was definitely buzz about New Horizons and its strict online co-op experience being the game to play during lockdown. Many critics and fans alike noted that it felt like a comforting space during a frightening event. With people having more free time than ever and unable to spend it outdoors, deg an island was cathartic for many Switch owners. However, the hype for the game has slowed over time, even with the new free 2.0 update and paid DLC boosting the game’s content.
New Horizons definitely capitalized on the fact that everyone was indoors, but that doesn’t mean the game was only fun because there’s wasn’t much anyone could do otherwise. Stardew Valley, Minecraft, The Sims 4, and other games were still at the height of the creative and life simulation genres. Animal Crossing’s ubiquity was due to the community’s use of social media to easily share the game's best custom designs and its multiplayer gameplay. The camaraderie that was present at its launch was real and helped the game find a larger audience, but many of the features included in Animal Crossing: New Horizons would have been a smash hit with the community either way.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Still Provides a Great Current-Gen Animal Crossing Experience
Beyond the initial rush of its release, the other contributing factor to the game’s success was the long wait players had to endure in order to get a new release. No proper entry for Animal Crossing existed on Nintendo’s previous console, the Wii U, and Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the 3DS was released in 2012, eight years before the Switch title. This game is currently the only way to play a modern Animal Crossing on console and a pretty well upgraded one at that.
Animal Crossing’s new island customization designs make it a much more substantial creative experience than previous games and one that is much more exciting to share with friends. Its portability still makes it easy to check in daily, even if players are away from their TV screens. The game provides the unique collecting and creative aspects of the Animal Crossing experience in HD and on home consoles.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Check-Ins Are Community-Driven & Fun to Do Daily
The reason the game probably took off is mostly due to social media and an implicit need to share codes with friends in order to progress faster. The rewards for checking in to Animal Crossing daily are still plentiful and the game provides incentives to check in not only with the game but also other players’ islands. Selling fruit and finding and buying New Horizons' turnips is an easy way to get income quickly and the game incentivizes people to chat with their friends to get better prices on both. Even one other person playing the game can double their furniture options for the day by visiting a friend’s island.
Regardless of how large the community would be for this game, there was always going to be an online playerbase that took advantage of the friendly systems. Even with local multiplayer, friends can cooperate and use Animal Crossing: New Horizons to make the grind for Bells and new objects easier. The game lets players build at their own pace, meaning that even without lots of free time people can continually pick away at long-term goals.
After COVID Lockdowns, Animal Crossing’s Creativity Still Thrives
While Animal Crossing designs have still found their way onto Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more, the act of creating an island on one’s own is cathartic and exciting. Not only are there now Happy Home Paradise facilities to design, but there is also still an entire island to fill with furniture and terrain to terraform. This initial surge of creativity shown online during COVID lockdowns helped push the game into the limelight, but there’s still a wealth of tools and customization to be found, even today.
Villagers’ Interactions in Animal Crossing: New Horizons Develop As Time Goes On
One of the best feelings that the game provides no matter how much free time someone has is watching villagers interact with the island itself, browsing around town or singing in the square. Talking to all the different types of villagers, growing relationships with them, and eventually earning their photograph and poster is fun and rewarding. While this aspect of the game was talked about on social media, it’s definitely one of the aspects that haven’t faded over time.
The large number of New Horizons' best villagers means that each player can look for and find their favorite while also getting the specific ones to make their island unique. Interactions with them are varied and giving gifts to them is a great way to trade items as well as make them happy. As the game goes on, villagers also create names for the player and start to ask personal questions that they the answer to. While having “friends” in Animal Crossing did seem like a way to stave off loneliness at first, the development of these friendships makes the game stand on its own.
Regardless of COVID lockdowns, it is hard to keep up sometimes with all the events that happen in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, so more and more people will fall off the game as time goes on. That being said, even if players don’t check-in and do every New Horizons daily task in 2022 or have time-traveled to see everything the game has to offer, it's given people hundreds of hours of enjoyment on its own merit. Along with the update, the game has more than enough content to justify its existence.
It wasn’t just a sign of the times - Animal Crossing is still a great game with plenty of reasons to play it then and now. The lockdown simply made it much more apparent that social media and sharing was the way that Animal Crossing would be experienced in the modern age. Even without the boost, the fact that Animal Crossing: New Horizons was on one of the most easily accessible platforms available and captures a more laidback yet involved atmosphere meant that it was going to be popular even without COVID lockdowns.
