I’ve always felt that Animal Crossing is this never-ending lifespan game. A title that doesn’t end because it’s just a virtual haven to escape to. So, how does one finish a game designed to not be finished?
Turns out Animal Crossing does have an “ending” or at least New Horizons does and after 32 hours of picking weeds, harvesting fruit, digging up fossils, and basically being the island handyman over two months, I hit a point where the credits rolled. And with those credits, my daily journey’s to my island haven of Scarif are over.
My history with Animal Crossing is a short one. My first game was Animal Crossing: New Leaf on the 3DS of which I put in about 24 hours of playtime. It was enjoyable enough but I eventually got bored and stopped showing up in my town and became an absentee mayor. And honestly, I felt my time with Animal Crossing was over at that point. I had no real plans to purchase Animal Crossing: New Horizons but then the world went to shit and everyone else was playing it so I gave Nintendo my hard earned bells and bought my ticket to indentured servitude.
Unlike with New Leaf, New Horizons doesn’t make you mayor of this little island paradise. Instead, you’ve been drugged by a shifty raccoon and flown to an island chain in the middle of nowhere. Everything here is operated by this shifty raccoon. He owns the travel agency that has scammed you in to coming here, he owns the land, he owns the construction company, he owns the bank, he owns the general store, he owns it all and you can’t leave. But he does make you the Island Spokesperson and tasks you with making his island a happy enjoyable place so that his favorite musician will come and play there.
How does one do this? By picking up seashells, harvesting fruit, digging up fossils, catching bugs and fish, and playing a horrid speculative market of turnips. In turn you’ll get bells which can then be spent on things on the island. You can buy items for yourself or the island. Simple but needed things like bridges or ramps cost $100k a piece. And guess what, unless you want to keep pole vaulting over rivers or climbing ladders to get up to ledges, you’ll need these improvements and you’ll also have to pay for them.
And to pay for them you’ll need to do all those chores, of which you’ll occasionally need other tools, which you can build. And you’ll be building a lot of them because they break constantly, even after you upgrade to better tools, they still break far too often and having to craft a new one while you are in the middle of something is a pain in the ass. It’s not fun.
And that’s kind of my issue with Animal Crossing as a whole. I don’t find it fun. I get that people do find it fun and they get great enjoyment out of building this impressive looking, if mostly not interactive dioramas, it just doesn’t work on me. Animal Crossing is a time waster and I can’t say I disliked my time with the game but generally speaking, after the first few hours of the game (where you are getting set up) it just kind of existed. The game for me became that thing I did while cooking dinner or when I had nothing else going on but felt the need to entertain myself for 20 to 30 minutes.
I did enjoy going to my friend’s house (pictured above) and his love for the game, and those of other friend’s who are playing the game and showing off their island paradises, was great to see. I’m glad it brings them tons of enjoyment. However, I’m going to enjoy maybe not venturing to Scarif for a bit and playing something that better suits my gaming needs and desires.
Played on: NSW
Time to finish: 32 hours
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