Summary
Animal Crossing: New Horizonscame when many people were cooped up inside their homes to quarantine from the COVID-19 virus, offering players a chance to temporarily retreat on a picturesque island where worries could simply disappear. This relaxed island settingAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsplopped players on was the perfect place to set a game that players are supposed to return to time after time, and it will likely hold a special place in many hearts because of that.
Animal Crossing: New Horizonswill be a hard game to topnot only because of the improvements it added to the series but because it will likely not come out when many people needed a game like it. That doesn’t mean it can’t be a great follow-up that takes the games in another new direction.
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The Next Animal Crossing Game Could Be About Building Upon a City
An interesting direction that the nextAnimal Crossinggame can take is to have players return to a city environment as the concept has not been tackled since 2008. AlthoughAnimal Crossing: City Folkmight be showing its age, it still stands out from the rest of the series by revolving around taking trips to the city, even while the player lives in a small town.
What made the game special was the host of activities included, like bidding on furniture, attending the theater to learn emotions, or gaining prizes by talking to Phineas. Since this is beforeNew Leafintroduced many new town-building mechanics, the options for what to do in the city might seem limited from a newer audience’s perspective, which means it has potential to improve. The story justification for the player being given this power could be that they found themselves in a position to make important decisions, such as being a mayor again or even getting hired as an urban planner.
One of the best parts ofNew Horizonsis determining the village’s layout, and this could very well likely transfer over to a city setting. By combining the variety of shops and activities players can do in the city with more freedom to decide what goes where and what storefronts open up, many ofthe best parts fromNew HorizonsandCity Folkcould be neatly implemented into the game.
This does not mean that the small community feel in the player’s home has to go away either, as they can still live in a smaller town outside the city where more traditional elements of the series such as building up a house and going fishing can be the focus. Implementing a city like this would add to the game without sacrificing the slow small-town feel the series is generally known for. It could also create a different tone as players go back and forth, with one of the settings bringing back some ofthe bluntness from previousAnimal Crossinggames.
It can even tie into how villager personalities are handled in the nextAnimal Crossing, with certain types being drawn to one setting or another, further adding to the potential contrasts. Certain acts or gifts that are appreciated in the city might not be in the village and vice versa, playing into a theme of small-town versus big-city mindsets.
Whatever direction is taken, the next game will undoubtedly improve upon many of the things players loved inNew Horizonswhile introducing new features that make it a worthwhile successor to that game.The world ofAnimal Crossingis among the most lively in games, and there are many places it could still potentially go in the future even if it would be nice building up an entire city.
Animal Crossing: New Horizonsis out now on Switch.
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