In just a couple of more days, you’ll finally start your new life in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It’s by far one of the most anticipated games on Nintendo Switch and we had to pleasure of spending a relaxing hour on our new tropical island. Is this the game we’ve been waiting for all those years? Time to dig in!
Welcome to Animal Crossing
Since my time with Animal Crossing: New Horizons was guided by Nintendo, I didn’t get the same freedom as I would have had while playing it on my own. The reason for a more guided session is simple, this game is packed with content and what I was able to see and play during this hour would have been impossible if I was just freely roaming around. My first minutes in the game marked the arrival of my character on the island. Just like other games in the franchise, you start off small. During my first minutes, I had to gather resources such as branches to craft useful tools over at Nook’s workplace. It’s that same slower start the franchise is familiar for and yet there were some crucial differences in the start of New Horizons. Right from the start, you really get a lot of freedom and options. Getting to know your neighbors, crafting tools, catching some bugs or fish, and simply discovering everything your island has to offer. If you, for example, craft a pole, you can easily vault over the rivers of small lakes on your island. This seemingly small innovation really changes the way you start your adventure. Since you’re able to move around freely, chasing that bug or discovering new spots on your island was never this easy. It’s the core of an Animal Crossing game and I’m glad to see it’s still there, but that’s just the start.
Express yourself through fashion and home interior
Discovering your island and getting to know your neighbors a little better is incredibly charming and forms a crucial part of Animal Crossing: New Horizons but there’s a lot more than just that. Take fashion for example, never before did you have this many options. A quick visit to the Able sisters demonstrated the wide variety and creativity of the designers. There are tons of clothing options available and it seems that it won’t stop anytime soon now. Everything revolves around expressing yourself and with a multitude of available options, I think everybody will be able to create the alter-ego of their desires. Of course, there’s more than clothing alone. Just like in the real world, you can decorate your house to reflect your personality and in New Horizons, this feels like an entirely different game too.
When it comes to interior design, you can craft and buy an incredible amount of things, even with the small selection I’ve seen until now, it’s clear that this is the most complete Animal Crossing yet. Once you selected the furniture you want to place inside your house, the game transforms into a complete interior designer simulator. With a top-down view to arranging your furniture on the floor and a 360-degree view of the walls to hang things wherever you want, you’re given an insane amount of freedom to create the house of your dreams. It reminded me of the depth of The Sims, all incorporated in that typical cute Animal Crossing style. I can see gamers losing themselves in this deep interior designer for sure.
Claim the island
As if complete freedom over your character and house wasn’t enough already, Nintendo decided it was time to give players the tools to create the island of their dreams. Later on in the game, you’ll get the right certificate to start doing some drastic changes to your island, like terraforming, for example. Using the terraforming tool, you can decide where cliffs should rise and where cliffs should end. This can really change the overall look of the island and it’s only one of the powerful tools we got to play during this first hands-on sessions. Based on what I’ve seen this will be the most complete Animal Crossing yet. Customization really is the key to success here and it’s clear to see that the developers want you to customize it all.
It’s insane to witness how much content was packed in one hour, including some traditional elements such as the museum and other classic Animal Crossing features. This in combination with all the new tools will eventually result in some crazy creations if you ask me. The Animal Crossing community isn’t afraid to show off their skills and I’m pretty sure a lot of social lives will end once this game hits the market. I really can’t wait to jump back in and learn all the little secrets this game still holds, what I’ve seen and played in this hour was just the tip of the iceberg, which I’m well aware from. March 20th can’t come soon enough!
See the magic of New Horizons for yourself in our Direct Feed video footage below:
