Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer

 3DS
User Score
6.9

Mixed or average reviews- based on 136 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 65 out of 136
  2. Mixed: 49 out of 136
  3. Negative: 22 out of 136
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  1. Sylveon
    Apr 3, 2016
    4
    Hardcore Animal Crossing fans WILL be disappointed if they play this game. The game is boring, even with the "Oh-So-Cool Amiibo feature". The game is extremely repetitive, and pointless. You don't even get rewards or anything after designing a house well. This game should have been cheaper.
  2. ashford
    Oct 1, 2015
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I downloaded this game because it was Animal Crossing and because I have absolutely loved every game. I kind of figured that home decorating would be the focus here, and since I love that aspect of the AC games, I thought I would like this. I wasn't prepared for the disappointment. The game is not challenging. At all. If a client asked for a blue house and you gave them a pink house... you'd still get raving reviews. I would have liked to have seen some more challenge and thought put into the IN-GAME-rating system so that I could feel like I needed to put effort into playing. There's isn't a risk of getting a bad review and therefore there isn't any real reward. The collector in me feels no joy when new items appear to use. This is because I really don't have to do anything to "collect" items... I could just open up the characters' "must have items" and say "ok! I'm done!" I hate that there isn't a town. I can't walk around a town and see all the houses I've decorated lined up in the places I've put them. The only way to see them is if I drive there. It would have been amazing to decorate a complete town. Alas, no. After completing a home I just have this empty feeling that my work is sitting somewhere I will never really see because I can't see it in a town. You can't interact with the characters. Not really. The conversations all seem to be the same too. I paid the same price I would for a full AC game yet there isn't any player interaction but I have to pay MORE for these silly little cards? No. That doesn't even interest me. In fact it kind of irritates me because of the price thing. Speaking of player interaction... What is the big deal with collecting emotions? I will never see another live player... this just feels like a waste of game space. I could see this game being around $25-$30. It's something you could casually do when bored and the design aspect of it is amazing. I love how they've made decorating so easy. And I love you can decorate exteriors. I would love this idea to be implemented into the next full Animal Crossing game but I never want to see another AC dedicated to just one aspect if it will be this disjointed and un-challenging. In fact it would be very neat if each character you created could have a different job... One be the mayor... the other a designer... etc.

    So if you're looking for something mindless to do to pass the time... wait until this goes on clearance.    … Expand
  3. mushroom128
    Sep 27, 2015
    2
    This game is not worth 40$. its a terribly shallow game with no replayability. you can't even make your own house or do basic stuff like change your clothes. there is no rating system so no matter how you design the house the villager will compliment you. their banter is short and is really lazilly done. this doesn't feel like a Nintendo game at all.

    2/10
  4. nalukima
    Oct 1, 2015
    4
    Although I'm a huge fan of the Animal Crossing series, this game thoroughly disappointed me. There is no real motivation, as you can obtain no items, clothes, or money. It gets very repetitive, as well. After playing for only a few days, I already am finding myself bored with the game. The villager reactions (to your designs) are pretty much all the same. There's not much to do, as well.Although I'm a huge fan of the Animal Crossing series, this game thoroughly disappointed me. There is no real motivation, as you can obtain no items, clothes, or money. It gets very repetitive, as well. After playing for only a few days, I already am finding myself bored with the game. The villager reactions (to your designs) are pretty much all the same. There's not much to do, as well. In the regular animal crossing games, one can go fishing, dig fossils, swim, dive, garden, shop, talk to villagers (who actually have important things to say), etc. In this game, you can only design houses and visit places (where you can literally do nothing, but stare). It's just so boring. Also, it doesn't let you save until you finish up an entire day. So, basically, if you're in the middle of designing a house, you can't save. Which sucks. The only cool things in this game include: you can completely customize your character's facial features/change your skin color, you can add 'sound' (not music, but actual sound effects) to a room, and you can change the design of a store-including the interior and exterior (but you cannot shop there or really do anything with it). This game is not nearly as well done as most of the Animal Crossing games and I wouldn't recommend it.… Expand
  5. Maxx86
    Oct 29, 2015
    2
    Short review here:
    The game's idea is quite nice: you have a job, and your job is to design other people's house (or well.. animals, actually). As you progress with the game, you'll unlock more furniture and gain access to more prestigious projects, which can be further expanded if you choose to buy the amibo cards for it.
    Whether you like this kind of game is solely a matter of personal    Short review here:
    The game's idea is quite nice: you have a job, and your job is to design other people's house (or well.. animals, actually). As you progress with the game, you'll unlock more furniture and gain access to more prestigious projects, which can be further expanded if you choose to buy the amibo cards for it.
    Whether you like this kind of game is solely a matter of personal tastes, but there's an horrible element that makes me give this game a solid 2.
    In-game customers give you one or more criteria to follow, such as "I want my house to be stylish", etc etc, which is nice. The thing is that, whatever you put in their house is just... fine. It doesn't matter if you make their house an absolute disaster to live in, your customers will always be happy.
    So... what's the purpose of playing this game? Being a good and happy home designer? No, it really doesn't seem the case.
    I mean, i'm not judging the game on its difficulty level, because yeah, it doesn't have any, but that's also an aspect to boils down to personal tastes...
    The thing is that every game should reward a player's effort. It's the effort that matters, in any game. And Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer doesn't make any difference whether you choose to put a lot or absolutely no effort on it.
    Thanks for reading and sorry for my bad English    … Expand
  6. Silverzapper
    Jan 30, 2016
    4
    Just to get this out of the way i'm a huge Animal Crossing fan. I would say it's my favourite series. Unfortunately this game lacks what makes the others so addicting. I am aware this game is a spinoff but it failed to grab my attention for more than a few days since designing rooms is ALL you do. I have a lot of fun designing houses in the main series but it is FAR from the only thing youJust to get this out of the way i'm a huge Animal Crossing fan. I would say it's my favourite series. Unfortunately this game lacks what makes the others so addicting. I am aware this game is a spinoff but it failed to grab my attention for more than a few days since designing rooms is ALL you do. I have a lot of fun designing houses in the main series but it is FAR from the only thing you do. I would say this game is more like an art program than an actual game. But hey at least it's better than Amiibo Festival.… Expand
  7. TJ_of_Carolina
    Jan 9, 2019
    4
    Disappointing. After completing the facilities of the main town, which likely won't take long, all there is left to do is make houses for the oodles of random villagers. There is no grading your performance so you can just put down the 3 or 4 required items and your villager will still love it. It's very open ended but not in the usual good animal crossing way where you have the choice ofDisappointing. After completing the facilities of the main town, which likely won't take long, all there is left to do is make houses for the oodles of random villagers. There is no grading your performance so you can just put down the 3 or 4 required items and your villager will still love it. It's very open ended but not in the usual good animal crossing way where you have the choice of many activities and can set your own goals. You don't have your own house, which would have been nice, instead after logging your work for the day, night automatically goes to day. There are villagers in town and you can visit past villagers you've designed homes for but there is much less dialogue than in the main games and they repeat themselves more often. You can upgrade your equipment and unlock new mechanics for home design with the Happy Home Handbook, but just like the facilities this can be finished pretty quickly and after that there isn't much to keep the player motivated… Expand

Awards & Rankings

32
#32 Best 3DS Game of 2015
9
#9 Most Discussed 3DS Game of 2015
13
#13 Most Shared 3DS Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
66

Mixed or average reviews - based on 60 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 60
  2. Mixed: 41 out of 60
  3. Negative: 1 out of 60
  1. CD-Action
    Dec 16, 2015
    65
    Despite vast content and high level of polish I actually can’t find any convincing reasons to play it. [12/2015, p.72]
  2. Nintendo Enthusiast
    Nov 17, 2015
    50
    Overall, Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer proves to be a substantial disappointment for the franchise. Yes, the game does make large strides in the designing element of Animal Crossing, but it fails to create any sort of experience that is even remotely engaging or captivating.
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  3. games(TM)
    Nov 7, 2015
    50
    Ultimately, Happy Home Designer feels more like a mini-game from a main Animal Crossing title, albeit one that controls like a dream. As a cheaper eShop release designed to spark interest in collecting the cards it would have been fine, but as a full price game its one-trick-pony style is far too repetitive for some.
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