Animal Crossing: New Horizons is now available to play, exclusively on the Nintendo Switch. Arriving just in time to treat some light depression while we’re locked inside our houses, it should be enough to keep us busy while the nice institutional ladies are done explaining we aren’t allowed to participate in any Smash Bros. Ultimate tournaments moving forward. Oh, and what’s that about some flu going wild?
Anyway, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is an unassuming sequel, but this is a pretty unassuming series, and we mean that in the best possible way. Just slap some squiggly lines to a blob of your preferred color, call it Wilson, or whatever, just don’t let it give you stock advice, and enjoy your stay on this tropical paradise. Amazingly, a tropical paradise hasn’t been an Animal Crossing setting until New Horizons.
Nintendo obviously wanted to exhaust more obvious and inviting settings for its game about being a carefree and moderately Eco-friendly inhabitant of this beautiful planet. You know, such as a 16×8 stretch of smudgy textures, a dark forest, a Metropolismania ripoff, another dark forest, a pile of leaves next to a reasonably lit forest, and the $80 Alcatel smartphone running Android 1.6 you bought Grandma for Christmas at the post office before moving to environments with less obvious potential like-oh I don’t know-A TROPICAL PARADISE.
But yeah, enjoy your time in New Horizons and don’t forget to cross as many animals as you can, uncle Mario will be keeping score!