Animal Crossing: New Horizons

 Switch
User Score
5.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 6617 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,370 out of 6617
  2. Mixed: 571 out of 6617
  3. Negative: 2,676 out of 6617
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  1. lolo2178
    Mar 20, 2020
    5
    While the game itself is great, really relaxing and gorgeous, i can't ignore one thing that ruins the whole experience for me and a lot of other people as seen by the different user reviews.

    That thing is that you only have 1 island per console. This decision limits to one person being able to enjoy the full experience. It also nukes any creative control of the island, since you have    While the game itself is great, really relaxing and gorgeous, i can't ignore one thing that ruins the whole experience for me and a lot of other people as seen by the different user reviews.

    That thing is that you only have 1 island per console. This decision limits to one person being able to enjoy the full experience. It also nukes any creative control of the island, since you have the other users
    house and furniture. I hope nintendo can soon fix this big issue, because for now, this killed any intentions i had to play the game.    … Expand
  2. ouschmitz
    Mar 28, 2020
    7
    Updating my review - sharing a single island stinks, and I wish both of us in our house could have an island to place things where we wished, however my previous low review was a bit too harsh. The additional islands make resource sharing easy, so at least both of us can play the game. I really wish Nintendo would push out an update to allow saving 1 island per user account though ...
  3. Drud
    Mar 20, 2020
    7
    Im Currently 18 hours in, with over 2 months worth of time skips. Game seems worse than its predecessors, Overall its a fun experience, but its limited in ways that i can only believe are to allow more copies to be sold before people can see the lack of content. Im on my 4th house expansion with a town of 6, shop upgraded. And it seems like im at the end of the museum collection. TheIm Currently 18 hours in, with over 2 months worth of time skips. Game seems worse than its predecessors, Overall its a fun experience, but its limited in ways that i can only believe are to allow more copies to be sold before people can see the lack of content. Im on my 4th house expansion with a town of 6, shop upgraded. And it seems like im at the end of the museum collection. The little things that made the previous games feel special are missing, while new mechanics are in place to create a facade of advancement. Tons of things are missing from previous games that have become staples. Removal of the stat system for catches also removes half of the excitement of catching the same stuff over and over since you cant get a New best because size simply no longer exists. Controls could have been improved alot for this game, There are no touch functions despite having alot of use in many areas, such as home design and patterns or basic inventory management. Information is sparse. The game expects you to understand what your doing and why your doing it with zero direction for majority of the game. Honestly if this was any other game it would score much lower and i haven't even gotten into the multiplayer aspect both locally and online.… Expand
  4. mercurysmessage
    Mar 20, 2020
    6
    An awesome Animal Crossing Experience. Being able to build out your island the way you like is an awesome feature. It's almost like having a crossover episode between Minecraft and Animal Crossing.

    The only negative is the one Island per console. If we could have even one per User I would have given this game a higher score.
  5. YoungerReviewer
    May 5, 2020
    7
    I was very excited for this game and when I got it I was hooked. But that feeling only lasted a few weeks and after that I put down the game and didn't pick it back up. Enjoyed it but thought the wonderful experience would last longer. Eventually you'll get bored.
  6. glittergoose
    Aug 24, 2020
    7
    Initially, I could not put down this game. I spent two weeks after getting a "4-star" island rating trying to raise it to 5 but... I hate it now. I hate the way my island looks and feels. I look to other player's 5-star islands and it is not my jam. I've ruined so much of the natural beauty of my secluded island to please Isabelle, but she's never satisfied. Can't even start a fresh islandInitially, I could not put down this game. I spent two weeks after getting a "4-star" island rating trying to raise it to 5 but... I hate it now. I hate the way my island looks and feels. I look to other player's 5-star islands and it is not my jam. I've ruined so much of the natural beauty of my secluded island to please Isabelle, but she's never satisfied. Can't even start a fresh island without deleting all my progress. Do I really want to back to a time when I only had one outfit?… Expand
  7. vxtxlxj
    Aug 29, 2020
    7
    It's a good game with beautiful graphics but it gets quite boring after some time and it just doesn't grip me as New Leaf did.
  8. Almonds
    May 18, 2021
    6
    I love Animal Crossing, but this game just feels like a let down.

    Visually, this game looks FANTASTIC. There are so many small details that affect the world around you like the wind speed, how trees and other objects look in the rain, the sounds of different kinds of shoes walking across the ground, it’s great. Terraforming is nice, putting furniture outside is cool, and crafting is    I love Animal Crossing, but this game just feels like a let down.

    Visually, this game looks FANTASTIC. There are so many small details that affect the world around you like the wind speed, how trees and other objects look in the rain, the sounds of different kinds of shoes walking across the ground, it’s great.

    Terraforming is nice, putting furniture outside is cool, and crafting is a fun idea. I actually really love how this game starts out. I love that each day the island is growing, you get new items, and meet new characters as they slowly come to your island. But I feel like after this “tutorial” ends, I don’t really want to play anymore. In New Leaf your always building up stuff even after the beginning. I feel like New Horizons just stops in giving you major reasons to play the game.

    Villagers are also a major issue. I never feel like actually interacting with a villager anymore. If I do I just mash the A button barely processing what the villager is saying because they’ve already said this exact thing a million times before. They just aren’t interesting to talk to. I also hate that when you give them items, they seemingly always accept it. This behavior just comes off as so fake to me that I don’t like it. Please just say “no, this isn’t my style” or something. Animals clearly have preference as sometimes they’ll wear the clothing you give them and other times they’ll wear it one time and just place it in there house the next day to never be used again.

    I also find that furniture sets have less variety. So many items have been removed from New Leaf, it’s sad. Speaking of which, why did they completely cut gyroids from this game??? I thought before New Horizons that they would never remove Gyroids because they were in every single Animal Crossing game beforehand. But yet, here we are.

    Also why is there only one shop upgrade? Seriously? And this can be done in like 1 month... Also why is Mable the only one to get a store, what about Kicks and Leif? Couldn’t they have been a similar thing to how Mable worked?

    When this game can out, it was SUPER bare bones. Though this game was heavily reliant on updates for content... so okay I guess. Until you realize that most of the updates focus on some one day event that has already been in the previous Animal Crossings game. It’s disappointing how much new content were in these updates.

    As many people have described New Horizons as a Happy Home Designer sequel. And that’s really what this game is. It focuses a lot on customization. But that’s not really my favorite feature. It’s the villagers. New Leaf didn’t really have the best villagers. I thought, “they can’t get any worse right? They can only get better.”

    Well... guess my “hopes” were too high.

    This game is fine on its own but Animal Crossing has been separating the main theme it started from, which is “family, friendship and community.”    … Expand
  9. becster95
    Apr 28, 2020
    7
    I really like this game, but I think there is a lot of room for improvement I have played just about all of the AC titles at this point and this in my opinion is the second best (New Leaf first).
    -There is a big lack of variety in dialogue with the villagers in the sense talking to them more than 2x per day gets them all mad and complain that the island is not big enough for the two of    I really like this game, but I think there is a lot of room for improvement I have played just about all of the AC titles at this point and this in my opinion is the second best (New Leaf first).
    -There is a big lack of variety in dialogue with the villagers in the sense talking to them more than 2x per day gets them all mad and complain that the island is not big enough for the two of you.
    -Not enough buildings. As of right now there are only 2 shops and all other NPC's only visit once in awhile on unpredictable schedules.
    -What is the point of Isabelle announcements at the start of each day if she's not going to tell me when I have visitors like Sahara or Celeste just to name a few. I have defintely missed days with them on my island simply because I did not know they were here.
    -Rugs sold from Sahara cannot be placed outdoors, why bother buying these if they can only be placed in my house when they would go PERFECTLY with the furniture I set up outside? Big opportunity missed there...
    -Buying clothing from the Able Sisters shop is so time consuming, especially if I'm visiting someone else's island in the sense that I can only purchase one type of clothing at a time (ex buying the same shirt in multiple colors, I have to enter and exit the changing room several times). If there are other people waiting to use the single changing room available, it really slows everyone down.
    -The crafting / DIY setup is really great, but I'd like to be able to craft multiple items at a time and have my in home work bench connect to what's in storage in home. Having all the materials in my pockets and trying to craft just takes up too much space (even with fully expanded inventory).

    This seems like a long list of complaints, but the good really does outweigh the bad!    … Expand
  10. XV_
    Apr 18, 2020
    7
    Once again I was allured to Animal Crossing more than ever, it was fun, it was great, but soon, slowly but truly its charm disappeared a fair amount.

    I'm not a fan of review bombing, but I'm surely counting negative aspects that a lot of people are complaining about, if not for them, this review will be easily a 9 or so, but as it is, I believe a 7 is a fair score, without further ado    Once again I was allured to Animal Crossing more than ever, it was fun, it was great, but soon, slowly but truly its charm disappeared a fair amount.

    I'm not a fan of review bombing, but I'm surely counting negative aspects that a lot of people are complaining about, if not for them, this review will be easily a 9 or so, but as it is, I believe a 7 is a fair score, without further ado my thoughts are as follows:

    Starting with the positive things, NH is as ever an incredible time if you're up to the task of giving your heart to it, long gone are those days when you could only customize your house, now the full island has customization, and almost every furniture or item is placeable wherever you want, and it gives a lot of freedom and customization. As it was in New Leaf where you could make public structures, like arches or statues, now they're just items like it should have from a long time ago. Another good addition is its new point system called 'Nook Miles' in which you have to meet certain requirements like achievements and you'll be rewarded with miles, this system comes as unique achievements and a daily wheel of minor achievements that can be done over and over, in contrast with past entries where at a certain point you simply turn off the game because you didn't have more things to do for that day, these miles can be exchanged for several things like furniture, clothes or unique DIY recipes, this new mechanic in form of DIY is easily one of the most enjoyable things in NH, they come as gifts from villagers, message bottles, rewards, etc, the fun part is that you need certain items to make them, so a lot of your time will be invested in acquiring items to make your recipes, pure joy.

    By far, the best thing that NH has to offer is terraforming, although it has its limitations, it's easily the most entertaining addition: do you want to make your island like a crater? maybe a fortress? or how about a city? the limit is your determination and creativity (and maybe at times money), but it surely is the thing that a lot of veterans were waiting, think of it as a Minecraft ripoff, but with Animal Crossing makeover.

    As for the negatives, there are a lot of issues that can be resumed into 4 main problems, at least to me, they weren't a problem at first but everything went a little downhill once you notice them. First and the most common issue for everyone is the one island per switch, when the official trailer launched and stated that this game will be multiplayer with a common island I was really into, I and my partner were daydreaming about the things and possibilities of playing co-op, turns out that the local multiplayer is more a gimmick and the second player is basically a background PC, although the biggest issue is that the only the 1st resident can advance through the "main quest" so good luck if your 1st resident is not as active as you. The second issue is its online mode, if you're playing with one friend is just serviceable, but if you're going to play with two or more persons (friends or internet people) you'll notice that every single time a person arrives or leaves your island, every player that is in the island have to watch an unskippable (quite long) cutscene, not only that, for some unthinkable reason, you can't navigate through menus or inventory in that particular moment, otherwise, the cutscene will be delayed. this is a serious problem particularly if you're planning to play this with several friends or if you're into the stalk market, prepare to loose 15-20 min per arrival.

    My third issue is more a quality of life issue, you see, Animal Crossing have ever being a game about of time, you have to wait a lot in order to have the best of it, but, at this point, selling, buying and navigating through menus is quite a burden, not only that, there are too many nitpicks to list in here, but, certainly it seems more like the game is keeping you away from having fun, is not like there aren't a lot of things to do, so it feels more like cheap padding than anything.

    The last issue and the one that I hate the most and it seems that no one is talking about, is its "free updates", when the first official trailer launched with its terraforming promises, it also mentioned something that bothered me a lot, the fact its main events will arrive as free updates as if they need to be charged or something, in past entries these seasonal events wherein the main game, so it feels way too worrisome that now they're extra, if this game was a MMO or online specific, I wouldn't mind but, it's more like I paid full price for a game that is not finished, so if you're like me and want to play this game in some years, good luck finding those "free updates".

    If you took your time to read this whole thing, I appreciate it a lot, even if you agree or not, I like this game a lot and have played 100 hours to this point but, is important to address its issues.    … Expand
  11. ConsoleArgonaut
    Oct 13, 2020
    6
    This opinion on the game is without including the new updates!

    I hated this game for one reason: It absolutely wastes your time in every aspect of the game. Why can't I craft multiple items of one type at once? Why is the inventory so limited from the start? Why are there always so many clicks you have to do for everything? Also, Nintendo. Why can't I cloud save this game? I would    This opinion on the game is without including the new updates!

    I hated this game for one reason: It absolutely wastes your time in every aspect of the game.
    Why can't I craft multiple items of one type at once?
    Why is the inventory so limited from the start?
    Why are there always so many clicks you have to do for everything?
    Also, Nintendo. Why can't I cloud save this game? I would like to uninstall it and come back to it later once there are quality of life updates, but I still have to have the icon on my switch no matter what? That just seems wrong.

    Verdict: This game would be great with enough quality of life updates. As it stands tho it's a giant waste of time.

    Rating:
    Gameplay: 1/5 - Time wasting
    Level Design: 4/5 - Great looking islands with nice exploration.
    Soundtrack: 5/5 - Fantastic
    Story: 2/5 - Everything this game needs, but nothing special
    Graphics: 5/5 - Beautiful.
    Length: 5/5 - As long as you want to. Played it for 30 hours and was still on the start of the game.
    Replay Value: 2/5 - There's no real reason to start over again since you'll repeat everything just with other characters on your island.
    Enjoyment: 1/5 - It just got frustrating the more I played.

    Overall rating: 25/40 => 6.25/10 => 6/10    … Expand
  12. djplanetb
    Sep 12, 2020
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Look, this is a very cute and diverting game. I got it when it came out even though I had never played another AC game before, though I have put many hours into Stardew Valley so I thought it would be a good fit. Then the pandemic came and I got into it especially at the beginning. Didn't even time travel until late May or so. I've bred all the varieties of flowers, collected all the fossils in the museum and just finished getting all the artwork too (I'm not some sucker that's going to not TT and wait 3 frigging years of real life to get all the art), terraformed my island several times over, so it's not like I don't appreciate what is in the game. The problem is the seeming hatred Nintendo's programmers have for the players of this game. Talking to Gulliver or Gullivarr, you literally have to hit the A button almost 20 times to get through the dialogues to get your task from them. This is similar for interactions with EVERY NPC that isn't an island villager. Why does Kicks even come to islands? He never sells anything worth having and that's just one more day until you can get some useful like Redd on the island. Crafting DIYs is a pain. I gave up crafing bait probably back in July, once I had caught all the fish available to that point. IF I ever pick up the game again (and it's less likely every day), I will never craft bait again OR terraform again. Terraforming is one island pixel/cell at a time. Like everything in this game, it is beyond tedious. This isn't so much a game as a part-time job and about as enjoyable after the shine wears off. I'm to the point where I cringe every time I hear the Isabelle music when starting up the game, then close my eyes and hit the A button until she's done saying nothing... again.

    Back to the villagers... so boring. It's like you're supposed to talk to them every day, but when you do 9 times out of 10 they say the EXACT same thing they said yesterday. Reading online about how the villagers have been dumbed down and made nicer since the earlier games makes it seem like a really poor choice. When you get to the late game - having plenty of bells in your account and upgrading the house and shops to the max, and having the villagers you want - there's NO reason to go to other islands with Nook Miles Tickets. I now have about 150,000 NMs and NOTHING to spend them on. And I have a few achievements left to earn more but they are grindy AF and it would take me another 100 or 200 hours to get them (I'm ashamed to say I've played this over 500 hours, but I blame that on the pandemic). Not interested.

    To sum up: It's a pretty game with no soul and in the end, will bore the cr*p out of you.    … Expand
  13. CaptianGinyu
    Dec 11, 2020
    5
    While I understand why people like this game... it's just not for me. I just couldn't keep playing it, and I just ended up moving on to other games. To me there just wasn't a whole lot to do, and every time you thought you were doing something cool you would have to wait a day for it, and don't even get me started on the menuing... Honestly, my favorite part of the game was catching bugsWhile I understand why people like this game... it's just not for me. I just couldn't keep playing it, and I just ended up moving on to other games. To me there just wasn't a whole lot to do, and every time you thought you were doing something cool you would have to wait a day for it, and don't even get me started on the menuing... Honestly, my favorite part of the game was catching bugs and fish, and while I can see why people like this game, it was just boring to me. My advice: wait for a big sale, or even better, just buy Stardew Valley.… Expand
  14. Swerv
    Dec 30, 2020
    5
    This is the first review I have written. Im not normally one to write reviews although I depend on them for all purchases. AC is not a bad game but while others find it enjoyable, I find it more of a chore with Nintendo forcing me to play the game the way they want.

    1) One island per switch is annoying. This tied with the fact that only ONE person can do things like move / build    This is the first review I have written. Im not normally one to write reviews although I depend on them for all purchases. AC is not a bad game but while others find it enjoyable, I find it more of a chore with Nintendo forcing me to play the game the way they want.

    1) One island per switch is annoying. This tied with the fact that only ONE person can do things like move / build bridges, stairs, & housing plots makes it extremely annoying when the island "rep" stops playing. Also, my partner & I have different tastes & playstyles. Forcing one island per switch was a terrible idea (but im sure they just wanted to force people to buy more Switches)

    2) Load times are LONG. Breath of the wild, which is more intensive and large then this game, loads up in like half the time. One of the biggest reasons I dont play anymore, is because it just takes so long to get into the game and do the daily tasks.

    The amount of dialog you have to sit through repeatedly + lack of bulk crafting added to the load times adds up.

    3) Outside of events, the game is pretty stale. The amount of villagers keeps things interesting but after a week you heard all of Isabelle's basic greetings. Your person says the same cringy line EVERY TIME you find a fossil, catch a fish, ect.    … Expand
  15. ehtaco
    Aug 13, 2022
    6
    I feel like Nintendo tanked this game quicker than it needed to with the terrible seasonal updates and whatnot. They got lazy and lowkey straight-up lied and falsely advertised the longevity of this game in terms of 'new' content. The "one island per Switch" thing is also pure garbage. Feel like this game deserves a 4-6/10 due to the wasted potential here, but I can't deny the amount ofI feel like Nintendo tanked this game quicker than it needed to with the terrible seasonal updates and whatnot. They got lazy and lowkey straight-up lied and falsely advertised the longevity of this game in terms of 'new' content. The "one island per Switch" thing is also pure garbage. Feel like this game deserves a 4-6/10 due to the wasted potential here, but I can't deny the amount of time both my girlfriend and I put into it. Though she probably had a much better experience acting as "player one" and essentially being the person who had full control of the island. Being P2 on someone else's island blows.… Expand
  16. CodaHensley
    Dec 2, 2022
    5
    A very addicting game when you're doing the 100% grind and logging on every day, but the minute you take a step back and realize how pointless the things you're doing and how long it will take you, it becomes pretty disheartening. A cute game, but plenty of games are cute. Animal Crossing is just a time sink, plain and simple.
  17. BritainButNot
    Oct 6, 2022
    5
    After around 150 hours of playing, it pains me to give such a low score. But ACNH simply failed to meet many of the reasonable expectations that previous entries gave fans. New Horizons was a less complete, polished, and expansive game than New Leaf at launch, despite the latter releasing almost a decade earlier on far inferior hardware. Not to mention the the island aesthetic feels oddlyAfter around 150 hours of playing, it pains me to give such a low score. But ACNH simply failed to meet many of the reasonable expectations that previous entries gave fans. New Horizons was a less complete, polished, and expansive game than New Leaf at launch, despite the latter releasing almost a decade earlier on far inferior hardware. Not to mention the the island aesthetic feels oddly isolated and claustrophobic.… Expand
  18. Crimson9
    Dec 25, 2022
    5
    This game doesn't have a lot going for it. Its pretty bad in almost every single way, and is worse than pretty much all its predecessors and the similar games.

    On the other hand, its very cute.
  19. SatinFoil
    Jan 1, 2023
    7
    When I first got this game back in March 2020, I got super addicted to this game! Really fun and if you have a switch, I recommend getting it! Especially if you haven't tried animal crossing games before, as if you get bored (you will see why I said that in a sec), you might be motivated to try the other animal crossing games! However, I started to get bord of playing after completing myWhen I first got this game back in March 2020, I got super addicted to this game! Really fun and if you have a switch, I recommend getting it! Especially if you haven't tried animal crossing games before, as if you get bored (you will see why I said that in a sec), you might be motivated to try the other animal crossing games! However, I started to get bord of playing after completing my island. And by that, I meant I didn't play it as much as before. I still played it really activly due to the active updates. (And I'm sure you see where this is going.) about a month or so after they released the 2.0 update aka the final update, I got bord and had nothing to modivate me to play it. Once that happend, I started playing new leaf (the previous animal crossing game) on my 3DS, and enjoyed that a lot more then new horizons (after the final update). Another pro to the 3DS version, is that you can buy more save files, aka, buy more animal crossing carts (as on 3DS, games you bought on retail have the save data stored on the cart, while new horizons the save data is stored on the system either way, I think), so that means, one save file per cart. You may wonder "why don't you just delete your save data?" Well, if you do that, shortly after, you will relize the mistake you made, and will get nostolgic for your oid town (in acnl its towns, not islands), so its worth the extra money. I'm going to stop now, because its becoming more of an acnl review more than an acnh review.

    Conclusion: It was fun while it lasted, but I prefer new leaf right now.    … Expand
  20. davidb1080
    Aug 2, 2020
    5
    At first I loved this game because it was addicting and relaxing but overtime the game became tedious and boring. Pros: -addictive -easy
    -relaxing -slow-paced Cons
    -tedious -tons of inconveniences that shouldn’t be in the game —if you share a switch with someone you have to share an island with them
  21. Zezuca
    May 15, 2020
    5
    I'm generously giving this a 5/10, because the gameplay is full of flaws and ages terribly.

    This title's multiplayer "feature" is complete and utter garbage. First off, every single time a new player joins, a lengthy cut-scene (about 40 seconds) will display to EVERYONE on the island. Also, no one is allowed to use Nookphones or have a dialog while a new player tries to connect. Then,    I'm generously giving this a 5/10, because the gameplay is full of flaws and ages terribly.

    This title's multiplayer "feature" is complete and utter garbage. First off, every single time a new player joins, a lengthy cut-scene (about 40 seconds) will display to EVERYONE on the island. Also, no one is allowed to use Nookphones or have a dialog while a new player tries to connect. Then, comes the biggest issue: the game DOES NOT SAVE while another person is visiting your island. Imagine you've been playing with your friends for one hour or so, and suddenly your connection fails (even a second is enough). Every player will be disconnected and ALL the progress made by EVERYONE in the last hour will be COMPLETELY ERASED Even the host will lose all the progress. The game only saves at two moments, when in multiplayer: when a player leaves or when someone arrives on your island.

    Then, there are the crafting mechanics. Poorly thought and limited, you cannot craft more than a single item at once. If someone needs 15 fish bait, the player will need to craft fish bait 15 times, go through the lengthy dialogues 15 times and endure the cut-scene 15 times. This issue is somewhat fixable by having a Turbo controller.

    What can't be fixed is the lack of recipes. I've only got one recipe a day by opening the bottles that come ashore, and a random villager will also gift you a random recipe once a day. I have got duplicates on many occasions. And that's about it for obtaining new recipes. You'll need a thousand years to complete the recipe list.

    This game has a ton of new fishes and different species. But to get them all for your museum, you'll need to travel using Nook Miles Tickets. While those aren't particularly expensive, there's only about 1% of chance of visiting an island with different fish or bugs. I'm 70 hour into the game and NEVER managed to travel to an interesting island. Most of the times, players'll get sent into a small island that has the exact same resources as the home island. So, if you think exploration is a forte in this game, rethink.

    Then comes the arbitrary limitations: players are not allowed to send more than two letters a day, cannot purchase or view custom designs when someone is visiting, cannot terraform when online, trading or giving fish or bugs in any way is not possible. Redd will only sell a single piece of art a week (original or false). Terraforming is full of limitations, such as not building waterfalls in a diagonal or leveling the edges of an island.

    Building mechanics are mediocre. The house interior is very customizable, and player designs are very well used in the game. But the lack of crafting recipes and the Nook store's 4 itens a day limitation will cripple your creativity. There are nearly no counters or tables to furniture the house.

    Getting attached to villagers is also not recommended, as they'll randomly move away, even if you talk to them everyday and create friendship bonds, the'll eventually leave you. I like to think that each villager is a tickling bomb, when their internal timers reach zero, they'll vanish from my island and a new random'll take up their space . There's also no getting around to this.

    So, the good things: the graphics are really cute, well made and unique. The music is also very good, the new mechanics (although sloppy and poorly thought) are a welcome addition to the series. There has been some good quality of life improvements, such as inventory space and item catalogues. But all in all, the problems of this game overcome the improvements. And they have added interesting new content via updates, although nothing was game-changing.

    I can only recommend this to VERY enthusiast newcomers into the series that have never played sandbox videogames before, or to die-hard Animal Crossing fans that are willing to swallow its many problems while paying 60 dollars for a clearly unfinished game that lacks a lot of polishing. Even though, a warning for those people: like Pokémon, this game has NO CLOUD SAVING. If something happens to your console or the save data gets corrupted somehow, your island is done for. Users cannot manually backup the save, because it's stored inside the console (not on the gaming card, not on the SD Card memory).

    I have played this for about 70 hours, but the frustration with the lack of polish and overall unfinished or pre-test project feeling this game has is too much for me to keep on playing. I now seriously consider selling the cartridge to get something else. This game is nowhere as polished as Breath of the Wild, and its quality is substandard for a console-seller title. A lot of people will hop into ACNH because of the hype and, like me, will be frustrated when they realize this game ages like milk.    … Expand
  22. Average_user
    Mar 30, 2020
    7
    Hi, as a 14 year old with two siblings I have a few problems with this game. I have been so hyped for this beautiful game! So when I heard my mum had let us get the game for being good during her stay at the hospital, I was ecstatic! This game is £49.99 and it is worth every penny. It is stunning. The best looking animal crossing game ever. Once downloaded, my brother let me watch him IHi, as a 14 year old with two siblings I have a few problems with this game. I have been so hyped for this beautiful game! So when I heard my mum had let us get the game for being good during her stay at the hospital, I was ecstatic! This game is £49.99 and it is worth every penny. It is stunning. The best looking animal crossing game ever. Once downloaded, my brother let me watch him I was so excited seeing him play and I was dying to make my own island. However, I soon realised I couldn't do that. There is a limit of one island to a console. Now I understand the reason. It is a great business technique but it is just unfair. My mum was barely able to afford the one we have now and me and my siblings will not be able to share the one island. It'll cause too much frustration. Resource limitation and progression differentiation is irritating to say the least. Me and my sister won't have the same choices and things that my brother will get because he is the representative. I love animal crossing because it's a chill game. I can take my time and do what I want on my own file. But this makes it impossible to have as much fun as I'd have on New Leaf. I seriously just want to give up and let my brother have his fun and it breaks my heart. In this current time with this pandemic I just wanna go to a deserted island and forget what's is going on since I can't see my friends. But this limitation will tear me and my siblings apart which is not what we need.
    I don't want to drag this game because it doesn't deserve that. It has been amazingly developed and it has so many positives! I wish I could give it 10/10 but I can't. This one island per console is too unfair and too expensive. This game is advertised for families with kids and most kids will have siblings who will also want to play the game and that is not including the parents. Now, I don't know about you but my family can't afford 4 switches. I hope Nintendo fix this so I can give it the 10/10 it deserves!    … Expand
  23. swavmirj
    Apr 15, 2020
    5
    TL;DR: This game locks out anyone wanting to share a console with a household by removing core game functions (story progression, infrastructure tools) to players 2 to 8, and only allows for complete collection of elements if players engage in local co-op with other game owenrs or they subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online (see below for details).

    4.5 out of 10 seems a fair score to give    TL;DR: This game locks out anyone wanting to share a console with a household by removing core game functions (story progression, infrastructure tools) to players 2 to 8, and only allows for complete collection of elements if players engage in local co-op with other game owenrs or they subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online (see below for details).

    4.5 out of 10 seems a fair score to give a game that put in a huge amount of effort to create a beautiful, well executed, addictive game that alienates half its player base. For each player in a household to have the full experience, you would need to spend $408AUD per person ($79 for a copy of the game, $329 for a Nintendo Switch Lite). Safe to say, no game is worth $408.

    Here are some of the features that players 2 to 8 on a single game miss out on: Story elements, bundles of free recipes, and island editing tools (infrastructure projects, moving buildings/houses, terraforming).
    This would be the equivalent of BotW only allowing the first person to boot the game to fight the Divine Beasts and Fight Ganon, but allowing all other players to collect hearts, stamina, and resources for player one.
    Or, it would be the same as only allowing the first player to boot up Super Mario Odyssey to collect moons, while every other player could only collect coins.

    Furthermore, none of the promotional materials, nor any reviews of the game have indicated that collecting all the materials within the game is capped for anyone looking for a purely single player experience. As an example, a single console and island has access to a maximum of half the fruit species available unless they engage in local co-op with another owner of the game, or subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online. Datamining revealed that players visiting Mystery Islands will only be exposed to their Native Fruit, and a "Sister Fruit". No matter how many Mystery Islands you visit, these will be the only two fruits you'll be exposed to.

    The shady nature of the promotions around collecting, combined with the lack of autonomy given to all players beyond player one, is why this game is getting slammed by players. That is why such a beautiful game, with addictive gameplay, does not deserve the full praise it deserves, when it is so clearly trying to force people into purchasing multiple copies and consoles to fulfil the experience.    … Expand
  24. Savarunl
    Apr 7, 2020
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game is great in some aspects, and really bad in some others/
    What i really like in the game:
    - The detail of everything in the game
    - The, mostly, well written dialogues
    - The relaxing vibe of the game

    What i dislike in the game:
    - Having the same dialogue every time for basic functions (this is also the rare case where the dialogues are not well written, surprisingly) like selling things or turning something in to the museum
    - Being allowed only one island per Switch
    - The apparent randomness of some things like stacking items (some stack to 99, some to 10, some don't stack at all, etc.)

    What really grinds my gears in the ame:
    - The horrendous multiplayer. Clicking through 8 dialogues, watching an obnoxious cutscene that also plays for ALL other players in the island you go to and not being able to do basic things when your island is open for other players.
    - The speed at which tools breaks, even the improved ones. Making tools over and over and over get's RALLY tedious after a while.
    - The placing of items outside your house is absolutely terrible, where you have to hope that you 'aimed' correctly. This get's more apparent when you want to move, for example, a house, and you misplace it by 1-2 tiles, after which you have to pay to move it again.

    All in all, i have some enjoyment at times in the game, but the mentioned issues really keep me from enjoying the game to the fullest. If some those points would be improved upon, this game would be magnificent, but for now i can not give it more than a 6/10.    … Expand
  25. kuehnau
    May 14, 2020
    5
    It's Animal Crossing. It's always been Animal Crossing. And while they add some quality of life improvements to the game and some more polish, it's still pretty much the same game you've played since the DS era.

    And the game still suffers from it's biggest drawback. Animal Crossing is a game that has no direction, it's about you personally finding stuff to do. And unfortunately,    It's Animal Crossing. It's always been Animal Crossing. And while they add some quality of life improvements to the game and some more polish, it's still pretty much the same game you've played since the DS era.

    And the game still suffers from it's biggest drawback. Animal Crossing is a game that has no direction, it's about you personally finding stuff to do. And unfortunately, everything there is to do is the same mundane schlock you've come to expect from every other previous iteration of the game.

    The "mystery islands" could have been a nice touch, but they are a quarter of the size of the normal island. Islands are picks from a small selection of pre-made islands instead of being procedurally generated. So instead of constantly finding new islands, after a weeks worth of playing the game, you'll begin to constantly see the same island types over and over again.

    The developers made an attempt to give you more to do, but it ends up boiling down to being rewarded for doing the same stuff you have always done instead, while locking rewards behind "Nook Miles", a secondary form of currency in the game. The end result is, they've managed to already take a core mechanic from the game and turn it in to even more of a grind than it was before.

    Animal Crossing's popularity isn't surprising; it was simply a coincidence, it managed to be released around the same time a massive pandemic was taking place. If it weren't for that, I doubt it would be getting such high accolades from people, because at the end of the day, this version is just as mediocre as any of the other releases.

    For whatever insane reason, Nintendo has also decided to put in a bunch of really weird restrictions to the game that are ultimately unhelpful, frustrating and counterproductive to what a game should be.

    Animal Crossing needs to be BETTER, not the same.    … Expand
  26. thedstrat
    May 22, 2020
    5
    It’s a fine game but I got bored pretty quickly and the coop is so bad that it’s practically unplayable with 2 people.
  27. EdwardG
    Jul 3, 2020
    6
    Cute, but tedious and more of a long chore than an engaging game. That's the impression I've been left with after 40 hours with Animal Crossing, and I'm honestly surprised I lasted that long. Then again, it is designed to get you playing every day as you're drip fed progress whilst you do the same boring tasks every day like picking up stones one by one or fishing where you can't move yourCute, but tedious and more of a long chore than an engaging game. That's the impression I've been left with after 40 hours with Animal Crossing, and I'm honestly surprised I lasted that long. Then again, it is designed to get you playing every day as you're drip fed progress whilst you do the same boring tasks every day like picking up stones one by one or fishing where you can't move your line after casting it without just casting it again altogether. There's a lot of quality of life improvements that could be made here that even fans of this game have to admit, like being able to craft multiple items at once, for example. There's a lot of repeat dialogue that gets annoying as well, and when you give Blathers a new fish, insect or fossil in the museum you have to click through the same bunch of stuff every time for every item you bring before he'll tell you an interesting fact about it.

    I can see the appeal a game like this might have to some people, as it is an escape from the real world where everything is pretty chill and you can design your island as you please. I found it really stressful though, and I know that might seem weird to some people. But the daily grind got to me, slowly ticking off those menial tasks and stressing over how to decorate my home. That might sound silly but if you're not the most creative person or you fuss over the little things, you might get a little stressed too.

    There are some things I liked. It's got a very cute aesthetic and the museum is a really nice way to show off all the things you've caught and found. There's a lot of freedom in what you wear, and how you design your island and house which is great for creatives.

    I wish I could've loved this game like it's many fans do, but I found it boring and stressful. It's got the Nintendo polish you'd expect, but also some quirks about not being able to have islands linked to individual accounts instead of the console that many people have complained about. Overall, I'd have to score this game 6/10. I might check it out again some time down the line, as it is getting updated with new seasonal events but I doubt those would fix my personal issues with the game.    … Expand
  28. MICKticken
    Apr 15, 2020
    7
    this game gets a lot of flack for being boring. And I 100% agree. Upon starting this game, the player realizes how much of a time sink this game is. The first literal week of playing is a dull time. If the game progressed at the early game's pace it would be a failure. that being said, once you get the ladder things pick up dramatically. Animal Crossing evolves so wonderfully into thisthis game gets a lot of flack for being boring. And I 100% agree. Upon starting this game, the player realizes how much of a time sink this game is. The first literal week of playing is a dull time. If the game progressed at the early game's pace it would be a failure. that being said, once you get the ladder things pick up dramatically. Animal Crossing evolves so wonderfully into this symphony of good vibes that you can't help but smile. everything is charming. The idle pose for your villager is putting his arms on his hips, similar to how I feel every time I do something right. there are 3 big downsides if you play this game. Online Multiplayer is a slog and really uninteresting. In fact, it takes a minute for anyone to even join your island. Nintendo has never seemed to understand how online multiplayer works, this game only proves that. The 2nd downside is the slow start. The first week or so is a disappointment. Nothing seems to ever happen. you get told to do menial tasks with the goal of god knows what. the clunky tedium of every action gets on your nerve quick. the 3rd thing is no mini-games. in the first Animal Crossing, you could unlock a bunch of NES games to play. there isn't any equivalent in New Horizons. the closest thing is running away from bees/spiders. the tedium is the gameplay. If you want action and adventure, Do not buy this game, If you want a serene yet flawed experience I would recommend.… Expand
  29. Rav3
    May 7, 2020
    5
    Unfortunately, Animal Crossing New Horizons is a game that rode on the back of serious anticipation, and a complete dry spell of games for the Nintendo Switch. Having spent over 60 hours in the game, I finally had to take a step back and ask myself “what is it all for”? Great for creativity, but lacking in anything meaningful or providing longevity, this game is a hard one to recommendUnfortunately, Animal Crossing New Horizons is a game that rode on the back of serious anticipation, and a complete dry spell of games for the Nintendo Switch. Having spent over 60 hours in the game, I finally had to take a step back and ask myself “what is it all for”? Great for creativity, but lacking in anything meaningful or providing longevity, this game is a hard one to recommend over cheaper, better alternatives.… Expand
  30. bananajamslam
    Apr 16, 2020
    5
    Game gets boring very quickly. Same as every other game, you complete chores to earn money and increase the size of your house. The crafting system is interesting in the beginning, but gets stale very quickly and can't be used for anything actually important, like infrastructure.
    Additionally, the "island" from the last game which was a good place to make some quick money, was removed and    Game gets boring very quickly. Same as every other game, you complete chores to earn money and increase the size of your house. The crafting system is interesting in the beginning, but gets stale very quickly and can't be used for anything actually important, like infrastructure.
    Additionally, the "island" from the last game which was a good place to make some quick money, was removed and replaced with randomly generated islands that are usually devoid of anything interesting. Ok if you're stuck in the apocalyptic COVID-19 quarantine nightmare... but there are more fun ways to spend your time. Also, I can't believe there isn't a voice chat on the switch, it's so annoying to have to type things to your friends with a ~20 character limit.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

3
#3 Best Switch Game of 2020
1
#1 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 111 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 110 out of 111
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 111
  3. Negative: 0 out of 111
  1. Universo Nintendo
    Dec 19, 2020
    95
    Animal Crossing New Horizons is basically perfect. Full of wholesome content that helped us cope with the COVID-19 pandemics, the game keeps the heart of its predecessors while innovating enough to make it unique. It may not have won Game of the Year but it'll be the game we all remember from 2020, for sure.
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  2. The Digital Fix
    Jun 22, 2020
    80
    Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a stunning new instalment in the Animal Crossing franchise, hindered only by its lack of immediate content, quality of life issues and missing returning characters and features While future updates will give the game long-term playability, for those already sipping vacation juice on their five-star islands, island life feels pretty mundane right now.
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  3. CD-Action
    May 12, 2020
    95
    It’s full of detail, pretty small things, and surprisingly well working simulations and systems – everything polished in such a way that the player really does care about everything that’s going on. [06/2020, p.40]
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