[Review] Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Casual, Cute and Debt
I still remember every time I came home from school or every time I went to bed, I opened my Nintendo DS and played Animal Crossing: Wild World to see what’s up in town, meet every neighbor, or just wander around looking for fossils, fish, and insects to donate to charity. the owl who owns the museum. Even though all you do in the game is chore After all, Animal Crossing has its own way of keeping you entertained and rewarding your hard work.
We are now officially on the platform Tiktok! Follow our Tiktok account at @gamebrott.com to find various information and our other interesting video content.
Animal Crossing may not be as big a franchise as Mario or Zelda, but it left so many memories for me and no other franchise can provide the same experience. A dozen years later, New Horizons is released and reuniting with all the old characters and knowing some are retiring feels like nostalgia-blast for me. But not just relying on nostalgia, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a major expansion and improvement that fixes many issues in the old series and makes it easier for newcomers to get interested in trying the game.
Relax with new life on a stranded island
Like previous games, the premise of Animal Crossing: New Horizons remains simple. You signed up to live on a small island owned by Tom Nook. Together with 2 other villagers, you will turn a stranded island into a beautiful island that attracts other villagers to live with you. The main requirement is of course money, and you will need a lot of money. But take it easy because Tom Nook always provides a mortgage every time you settle your previous debt.
If you’ve played the Animal Crossing series before, then you know what to expect. The foundation of the gameplay in this series remains the same and arguably nothing has changed. You go out looking for fossils, fish, insects and do various chore others, interact with NPCs who have their own unique characters, and continue to dig holes and cover holes with the capitalist Tanuki.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons had a slow start. After Tom Nook gives you the tent, there’s not much to do in the first 3-4 days. But be patient and live your new life because once you are given a variety of new equipment and options to beautify your island, you will be confused about what to do in each playing session.
Besides the setting that changes from a city to a stranded island, the big change in New Horizons is the addition of features crafting, because all games need to be Minecraft now. The game has hundreds of DIY recipes that you can get in various ways, from giving it to a neighbor, buying it through Tom Nook’s digital store, getting it from ordering bottles that are stranded in the sea or ordering bottles that float in the sky with balloons. Even though it’s already very cliché for modern games added system crafting, the addition of this feature seems reasonable in this series. Not only does it match the theme of being stranded on the island that the game stretches out, but also adds to the function of each natural resource you get from wood, stone, to weeds, creating new activities to do when the city is quiet and you’re confused about what to do.
Debt, Debt, Debt
Just like in the real world, you will not be able to run from debt in this game. But don’t worry, Tom Nook doesn’t ask for interest, time, and debt collectors break into your house when you forget to pay. The only consequence of not paying off debt is that your house won’t be able to be renewed, and you’ll never be satisfied with your current home because there’s always new furniture you want to add. Therefore, you inevitably have to pay off debt if you want your house to be more beautiful and be able to show off on social media.
Earning money in New Horizons is still the same as the previous game. The main source of income is from selling the natural resources that you get at Nook’s Cranny which are now expertly taken by Tommy and Timmy. With the crafting system, you don’t have to sell raw materials anymore, you can make finished goods and sell them at a higher price. This is one of the reasons why the crafting system is an appropriate feature for this series even though it is very cliché.
In addition to paying off your mortgage debt, you also need money for the island’s infrastructure needs. Since Tom Nook is too stingy for the island development he sells and your neighbors don’t care to help you financially, all the infrastructure on the island is the result of your donation. 19 years old and the people at Animal Crossing still haven’t taxed it seems.
Not only bells, New Horizons also introduces Nook Miles, a digital currency that you get from doing certain checklists that the application determines. Basically it’s just achievements cashed in, and it’s a clever way to reward players for playing longer. You can also exchange miles for cool items for city decorations.
A Serenity Fantasy
Broadly speaking, this game is just a collection chore which you have to do every day but the game offers a fantasy of a quiet and perfect life. Seeing villagers who always smile, doing actions that might be boring in the real world but fun here because it’s very simple to do and also wrapped in cute cartoon visuals, and seeing the progress of the island that you build, Animal Crossing continues to give a satisfying impression behind the results of your hard work. which is conducted.
You can build your dream house, dream island, and be praised by all the islanders and meet potential new neighbors who can be anyone. There is always a dopamine reaction to your brain that pushes you to keep doing chore every morning, every afternoon break, every night to achieve these results. This has been the specialty of Animal Crossing since the first game, and is still the reason why fans love the franchise so much.
Oh yeah, let’s talk about customization. New Horizons offers great flexibility and freedom in customization. Starting with your character, you can now customize it freely and without gender restrictions. Not that you have to wear girls clothes, but it’s still something for those of you who care about that kind of thing. Although personally I’m not a person who likes to change clothes, but in this game I do it almost every day because of how easy and free the options are.
For room customization, games also provide the same freedom. As long as there is space, you can remodel the contents of the house as you like and if you run out of space, you can put it in the yard or even be kind enough to put it in a neighbor’s house. You can also remodel the island as you wish as if it were yours, with the terraforming feature that you will get later, you can not only place decorations along the island but also adjust the layout of the island.
Cute Visuals and Great Music Relaxing
When it comes to Animal Crossing, the first two things that come to mind are the cute visual style and the music ambient which calms the players.
Whether you play docked or portable, the visuals of Animal Crossing: New Horizons look pleasing to the eye with the color palette and cute designs of each character. The game has 4 seasons that offer their own visuals and all of them look beautiful with the weather effects plus the day/night cycle which adds to the aesthetics of the game.
When it comes to music, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is back with an incredible collection of music. As usual, each hour has its own music and everything fits perfectly into the atmosphere of being on the island. Music in the morning is actually more upbeat with a louder guitar beat, while the music at night is slower and more relaxing to make you want to sleep. Guaranteed in the next 2 or 3 years, each of these music will become a nostalgic memory of the players and included in the compilation “relaxing Animal Crossing musics for study” on Youtube.
Very annoying negative
New Horizons is far from perfect. There are still some things that may be trivial but get more and more annoying the longer you play. The main problem is that you can’t create multiple items in one click. At the beginning of playing this may not be a big problem, but for me who has played before the release date, having to make fishing rods one by one starts to feel annoying.
The issue of one island by one Switch, which is now the subject of player protests, has also become a confusing decision by Nintendo. Although the game will give you a lot of playing time, just having one very narrow island still makes you wonder. Not only that, if you have a sister who wants to play, she will be forced to live on the same island as you, not have her own separate island. Indirectly Nintendo forced each family member to have their own Switch and one copy of the game per console. A very greedy tactic from Nintendo.
Verdict
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a game that requires dedication. I’ve only been playing for a week and I don’t feel I have the right to make this review. But from the experience of one week I can describe what my playing experience was like and what you should expect from this series. If you like Animal Crossing, then this game is ready must buy when the price is back to normal. For those of you who have never played Animal Crossing before, maybe New Horizons is the right start to start playing this franchise.
Post a Comment for "[Review] Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Casual, Cute and Debt"