“Animal Crossing: New Horizons” creates feelings of satisfaction and joy, as players’ in-game island home sets them up for great amounts of fun in creating a paradise for themselves.

Within the game, players are able to pick from four islands in which they choose to live. From there, the player begins their deserted island experience, building homes and inviting anthropomorphic animal villagers to live with them. All of this is set within the game’s traditionally cute and cartoony atmosphere. Also, the game follows real time, so players will have a day and night cycle depending on their time zones. 

The villagers in the game are sometimes randomized, but there are many diverse characters of all different shapes and sizes. However, the only issue I’ve noticed is that the characters are kind of one-sided in behavior when players engage in discussions. 

The game gives players some basic objectives and achievements while turning their islands into the ultimate living space, including homes, stores and even a museum. It’s set up as a hybrid between a tutorial and free play at first. After having all that, each player’s gameplay experience gains full independence. 

The player’s ability to upgrade houses requires them to pay off the debts that come with each upgrade, but as they progress through the game, users are able to turn a small house into a grand place to call their own with customizable wallpaper, flooring and tons of furniture that come with it. This is possible with the multiple DIY recipes that can be collected.

With the DIY recipes, more items are to your availability, like nets for bug catching and fishing rods for fishing. Other stuff includes slingshots and ladders, all while also using your newly crafted furniture and items to fully deck out your island.

Character customization can also be achieved through the grand diversity of clothes selections that can be purchased from the collectable currency in the game known as “bells.” Players also have a custom clothing design available to allow creative talents to be presented on the clothes you wear. 

Bells can be obtained in a very diverse matter, from selling any item one might find along the way, to finding lucky spots on the ground with bells buried in them. Burying the bells you dig up where they were found can grow literal money trees five days later in real time so you’ll gain triple the amount of one’s bells found originally.

A new in-game mechanic called Nook Miles is basically the game’s daily goal system. It’ll give users a set of objectives for when they start off in the game. They can either earn them for daily activities that change after every 24 hours, or the main objectives where they build progress by reaching goals with a certain errand’s overtime. These Nook Miles can be redeemed for clothes and furniture. It’s also the only way to access the Miles Ticket, which will allow users to fly to random islands and collect resources to bring back to the home island.

“Animal Crossing” provides the gamer with so many possibilities, whether if that’s customizing their island life personally or across the island. It truly is an enjoyable game that is sure to keep Nintendo Switch owners entertained.