The entirety of the Animal Crossing franchise is based on an interesting idea for gameplay; players live in a digital world with NPCs, existing day to day next to them as the land grows into something more than it was originally. The franchise has been going on for quite a while, and its most recent console title of Animal Crossing: New Leaf enjoyed a celebrated status on the Nintendo 3DS. It’s finally time once again to live in the digital world with Animal Crossing: New Horizons that is slated to drop on the same day as Doom, likely leaving many articles to everyone about which outside what, and how that somehow reflects society as a whole.
With ACNH dropping on March 20th (one month from today), Nintendo took to the internet for another Nintendo Direct, exploring a few more of the mechanics that will be available to play with when the title fully releases. If you’d rather just watch the Nintendo Direct, yourself, that’s easy too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcsiD3nNzA4
Everyone is already likely tracking that New Horizons will prominently feature crafting from various resources around the island; from building new items to decorating the already made, be prepared to get a few digital calluses from the number of trees and rocks you’ll need to break apart to get the tools necessary.
Today, Nintendo showed us that we’ll be going far beyond simply building a new dresser, though. You can build and interact with the island itself, digging out cliffs, building stairs and ramps onto them.
Bridges aren’t anything new, as that’s been the primary means of crossing rivers and developing walkways throughout your town in titles past, yet the varying terrain heights along with means of navigation; that’s new, and it looks fantastic in scope and presentation.
Nintendo is also looking at developing a companion application for players smartphones, which will allow them to communicate in-game using the keyboard of the phone, and also scan QR codes from the comfort of your phone to import new designs. Something had to give in order for QR codes to offer designn exchange as easily as the 3DS did with New Leaf; it might seem a little clunky, but it’s an option.
Amiibos and the Animal Crossing cards have been confirmed to operate within the title, allowing you to request villagers to come and live on your own deserted island.
With the ability to plan where residents will live, take community buildings and place them where you want, and customize the land to your liking, it finally seems like we have an ability to be as meticulous as we choose when it comes to building our own digital slice of the idyllic life. Doom doesn’t stand a chance.
