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. Kituco
    Apr 23, 2020
    0
    This is the easiest review I'm gonna make in my life, what game is so amazing that it can be sold for 680 dollars?
    This is how much I need to spend in Brazil to purchase a switch and a copy of animal crossing.
    If I want to have me, my son and my wife to play the game as I usually do to any game I buy, I have to spend 2.040 dollars, what game in the world is worth that much for family    This is the easiest review I'm gonna make in my life, what game is so amazing that it can be sold for 680 dollars?
    This is how much I need to spend in Brazil to purchase a switch and a copy of animal crossing.
    If I want to have me, my son and my wife to play the game as I usually do to any game I buy, I have to spend 2.040 dollars, what game in the world is worth that much for family fun?
    Easy answer, easy review, there are way better games out there that will make you enjoy your time playing while you comfortably wait for the release of Hokko Life, that is going to be launched this year and is a similar game to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and for PC, without the console bound restriction (means you can buy many copies of the game without needing extra PCs to play).    … Expand
  2. Tmac718
    May 24, 2020
    3
    Playing 2nd fiddle to my 8 Year old daughter is a bit insane. Its not even the one island problem. Its not a complete game. I turned on the game appeared at an airport and am dropped off with almost no tutorials or quests. It is an incomplete experience for anyone that is not the first person to play the game. Thank God I don't have other children. They should do something about this. IPlaying 2nd fiddle to my 8 Year old daughter is a bit insane. Its not even the one island problem. Its not a complete game. I turned on the game appeared at an airport and am dropped off with almost no tutorials or quests. It is an incomplete experience for anyone that is not the first person to play the game. Thank God I don't have other children. They should do something about this. I mean even purchasing a second copy of the game will not work around this. A simple DLC should be able to fix this broken concept For players who have their own switch and are not in families will definitely have better reviews though. Its hard not to give it a zero unless you are the island creator… Expand
  3. Nate3nate
    Apr 29, 2020
    2
    Unfortunately this game (like most Nintendo games) falls under the umbrella of extreme Nintendo fanboydom and as such is subject to insanely high biased reviews (not including the negative multiplayer ones).

    Basically if you've ever played a game outside of the Nintendo lineup say like... Minecraft, Terraria, Rimworld, Stardew Valley, Subnautica, Starbound, Kenshi, etc etc etc. you    Unfortunately this game (like most Nintendo games) falls under the umbrella of extreme Nintendo fanboydom and as such is subject to insanely high biased reviews (not including the negative multiplayer ones).

    Basically if you've ever played a game outside of the Nintendo lineup say like...

    Minecraft, Terraria, Rimworld, Stardew Valley, Subnautica, Starbound, Kenshi, etc etc etc. you quickly realize that there is almost nothing to Animal Crossing and certainly nothing making it worth paying full price for.

    The world is extremely tiny, it's based on real time (which is cool on paper but terrible in practice), it's got 0 challenge, and it plays like a mobile game (in fact it looks just like it's mobile version Pocket Camp). You can run the entire starting area in about a minute, there are woefully limited resources across the entire island and woefully limited events or things to do across the entire game.

    It is quite "chill" which can be a nice change of pace for about 10 to 20 minutes, but once you get past the bubbly exterior you quickly notice that there are no brains on the inside to keep you engaged and entertained.    … Expand
  4. Jherad
    Apr 14, 2020
    1
    Both my wife and I wanted to play this game on our switch. Apparently that isn't possible. For shame.
  5. FullyAlive24
    May 18, 2020
    10
    The thing I find most annoying about New Horizons, is the strange and often terrible design decisions that have players jumping through hugely inconvenient and annoying hoops just to get back to the fun.

    However, once I get over that, this game is astronomically divine. It's calming and rewarding in a way that other games can't be. It has charm that can never be shaken. It has    The thing I find most annoying about New Horizons, is the strange and often terrible design decisions that have players jumping through hugely inconvenient and annoying hoops just to get back to the fun.

    However, once I get over that, this game is astronomically divine. It's calming and rewarding in a way that other games can't be. It has charm that can never be shaken. It has characters that you will adore and build long-lasting attachments to. It has the nerve to make chores desirable, and it has the special sauce that we all needed during this quarantine.

    This is a game that was created with the highest amount of polish possible in this industry, but most importantly, it was made with an absolutely overwhelming amount of love & care, and it shows through and through    … Expand
  6. not-john-locke
    Apr 29, 2020
    10
    Simply the best Animal Crossing to date. All the best features from the past Animal Crossings on Nintendo's best console in decades. Been playing it since day one and I'm still finding fun things to do. Nintendo just keeps hitting it out of the park. My girlfriend loves it too. A must buy!
  7. tacsman
    Jul 26, 2020
    9
    Endless fun! I've put in over 300 hours since launch and don't see any end in sight.
  8. OneMariachi
    Apr 12, 2020
    6
    There's a lot of negative reviews complaining about the lack of ability to create your own unique island. Now whilst this is an incredibly valid issue with this game. I realise it may not apply to a large subset of players. On the other side there is a lot of very high marks from people that don't care about that.

    I felt I wanted to give a more full summary and review of this game, to    There's a lot of negative reviews complaining about the lack of ability to create your own unique island. Now whilst this is an incredibly valid issue with this game. I realise it may not apply to a large subset of players. On the other side there is a lot of very high marks from people that don't care about that.

    I felt I wanted to give a more full summary and review of this game, to give those that probably sit in the middle of not being a long time fan, and having played this game for the first time, like me. I've put in roughly 50 hours into this game. With only 2 days of time travel done at the beginning to speed up the nothing you can do in the first 2-3 days of owning this game.

    Effectively, the good parts. Nintendo, as always are very good at creating charming worlds. Filled with lovely character, and look really nice. The graphics are wonderful to behold. One fo the best aspects of this game in my particular view is the designing as pects. There is a lot of items and a lot of ways they can be utilised to make unique little biomes for yourself to enjoy and feel creative. I had a lot of fun organising my house.

    Beyond that though. There really is not a whole lot to do. Once you've built the shop/museum and got a few rooms of your house. This game gets insanely repetitive. The game becomes, pick fruit. fish a little, dig your 4 fossills(which, you run out of unique ones super quick). Hit some rocks, and buy some of the new clothes. Slowly making money to add a new room to your house. It's rinse and repeat of that, for about an hour every day as once you've completed that routine, there is nothing else to do.

    The big thing is that i was doing all of that, to get the terraforming. I spent an hour a day doing this repetitive nonsense so I could terraform and really make the island my own. when I finally got terraforming. I finally had to go, yep that's enough for me.

    See here is the big major issue with this game. The repetitive stuff, lots of people can look past. they find it relaxing and stress free, a nice mindless task to focus on and remove the pressures of life from. Me, I don't really get it, I like being creative, so that's why I stuck to it. The thing is though, that Nintendo seem to be stuck in the early 90's when it comes to game mechanics. There are so many barriers in the way of you trying to enjoy this game to the best of its ability. The constant repetition of dialogue, the inability to organise your inventory properly, the inability to build more than one item at a time, or buy more than one item at a time- which is annoying in the Nook atm machine- but ten thousand times worse when at the Abel sisters house and you have to keep walking in and out of the dressing room if you want more than 1 shirt at a time. The seemingly no reason for why trees wont grow. The multiplayer is gimped hard too, Nintendo and internet simply do not work. You want a friend to come over. Cool, go to the airport and open your gates, hidden behind 10 mintues worth of dialogue. Jesus Christ Nintendo, allow me to have my gates open at all times, or at least allow my friends to request to come over through the use of the Nook phone. A quick invite and join system through the phone. But no, it's a whole infuriating process- even after they've visited the first time and become a "best friend". Either Nintendo are incredibly incompetent at game QOL, or they know how to fix these things and don't in order to artificially increase game time, because they know how little actual game-play there is in this game.

    Terraforming, is without a doubt one of the most poorly implemented mechanics I've seen Nintendo create, and I genuinely don't know if this game was actually tested properly. Because it is a joke. There is no marker for where you are creating, and it will constantly, and randomly, without any logic choose a different square to work on, regardless of if you do the same action. On top of that, you will either fill land in, or remove land, with the exact same button- use the rest of the buttons Nintendo. One for filling one for removing land. How insanely hard is that to think of. Forcing you to work several times on the same squares because of the lack of any guidance and logic to the system. This game reeks if eitehr laziness or incompetence. I don't know which, and I don't much care. But this game is not even close to being perfect, and has a lot of work needing to be done on it to make it beyond a 6/10.

    TLDR; Had some fun with creating, but there are way too many terrible UI/Game mechanics, and repetitive annoying dialogue to allow me to think it is a good game.    … Expand
  9. LunarD3ATH
    Jun 19, 2020
    9
    This is a fantastic game. Let's get that nailed in right out of the gate, because while I agree with the complaints about Nintendo's handling of cloud saves, individual islands and so on, I don't think that reflects so poorly on the game that it deserves to be review-bombed. Though I do believe review-bombing has its place and if it helps, then so be it, I won't object.

    This is the BEST    This is a fantastic game. Let's get that nailed in right out of the gate, because while I agree with the complaints about Nintendo's handling of cloud saves, individual islands and so on, I don't think that reflects so poorly on the game that it deserves to be review-bombed. Though I do believe review-bombing has its place and if it helps, then so be it, I won't object.

    This is the BEST Animal Crossing game. Period. It's not only visually stunning, it has tons of improvements large and small that have made this a joy to continue to play. Usually I'm done with Animal Crossing by now. I buy a copy, I play it for a month or two, then I drop it and rarely ever come back unless really bored and only for a few minutes, even for holiday events.

    But with the wide depth of customization options for your villager, your home and your island, this really is the most control we've ever had in an Animal Crossing game.

    To counter the negativity, let's point out some of the pros:

    First, you can customize your character right from the start, rather than getting random hair and face options. You have limited options at the start, but you can unlock more later and it's as simple as checking your face in a mirror to change literally any aspect of your little avatar's personal appearance.

    Storage items are linked to your house storage. Namely your clothing. So basically not only will your wardrobe serve as a wardrobe (even if placed outdoors), but so will your fridge, your cooler, your safe, etc. It's a little silly, but honestly it's a nice way of having a way of changing your outfit wherever you go while blending the furniture in. Don't want a wardrobe outside just to change? Put a fishing cooler by the shore or something. It's great.

    Second, you can place furniture items outside. This, combined with the much-touted island designer tool (place paths, pools or rivers of water and cliffs), allows you to make your town look the way you want it like New Leaf could only DREAM of achieving. Gone are the public works projects for a bench that take a whole day and a ludicrous amount of funding (and weird celebrations about a piece of furniture being delivered). Gone are the days of feeling like your town would take YEARS to look the way you want it to, with cheap paths that hitting the wrong button over would get rid of (though that feature is still there for custom design paths and I HATE IT; fix this, Nintendo).

    Now if you want to have a bench outside Able Sisters for your villagers to rest their buns, you just find a bench (or build one yourself with the handy new crafting system) and place it. That's it. You can even move it around like it was inside of your house.

    Third, as mentioned, CRAFTING. Many people were worried about this when it was introduced and there are valid complaints about it that even I have, but this is 100% a change for the better, it really is. Yes, your tools now break. And that sucks. Especially since all tools break now and you can't even check durability, but making them is easy enough and that's only a small part of what this system offers. There are tons of basic, unique and holiday-oriented craftable items that you can make over and over if you're dedicated enough to find the recipes, the materials and make them. And since getting recipes is a daily affair (every day there will be a bottle on the beach with a random, hopefully new, recipe in it), you're going to discover tons of cool new stuff every week, as long as you keep turning Animal Crossing on and messing about.

    Fourth, Nook Miles. I don't think I've heard anyone complain about this. And no one should. It's nothing but a good thing to give you incentives to do stuff like fish, catch bugs, hunt fossils, talk to villagers, etc. It's encouragement in the form of "miles" to get you to play the game, where you can then redeem those miles for special recipes and items for yourself and your town. Custom phone case, fence recipes (fences are great for customization and another perk of the new game), furniture items, nook miles tickets to go to a randomized island and hunt collectible fish/bugs and resources.

    You'll first start off with static, one-time-only rewards like a couple hundred miles for catching 10 bugs, then a thousand or so for 100, then catch 200+ and you get 2,000 miles (along with titles for your villager's passport, if that at all interests you, which you also get miles for editing once). Then after paying off your vacation package with those earned miles, you can build a house and start earning miles in the form of daily, renewable objectives (shoot a balloon down for some miles or assess x number of fossils) so you never run out of things to keep working towards if you want to keep yourself busy. It's great motivation to keep playing, though eventually it does become a bit bland, I won't lie. Still, I like having it.

    I've run out of characters, sadly. It's a fun game.    … Expand
  10. anarcheril
    Apr 16, 2020
    2
    I thought I hadn't played this game, but it turns out I've been the 9th player the whole time missing out on little more than player 2-8, in fact I'd say I'm much more satisfied at my rating.
  11. sludacris
    Apr 12, 2020
    9
    This game is delightful.

    I'm writing this review to counteract the people giving it a ZERO because they don't like the one-island setup. Yeah, you don't like it, I get it. People are getting hundreds of hours of entertainment from a $60 game. There is literally nothing else in life that gives that much money-to-entertainment ratio. Even the cost of another Switch factored in (plus    This game is delightful.

    I'm writing this review to counteract the people giving it a ZERO because they don't like the one-island setup. Yeah, you don't like it, I get it. People are getting hundreds of hours of entertainment from a $60 game. There is literally nothing else in life that gives that much money-to-entertainment ratio. Even the cost of another Switch factored in (plus all the other games you'd play on it and be entertained by), it is still a great deal. The single island thing is definitely a cash grab move, but is still better than most companies doing the micro-transaction thing. The hours of entertainment involved with modern systems/games far outweigh the cost involved (when compared to other types of entertainment, such as movie theaters or dinner or theme parks, etc etc).

    Actual criticism about the game itself:

    I don't like that when you BUY stuff you get a chance to buy something else without restarting the conversation, but when you SELL stuff, you can sell that one thing and then have to start the conversation over. Only a minor annoyance, though.

    I wish that in the out-of-doors, you could get an idea of where you're about to set an item down (and how big of a space it needs). You spend a lot of time guessing and then getting an alert that there isn't space there. In time, you get a better idea. Again, just a minor annoyance.    … Expand
  12. Dsros96
    Dec 28, 2020
    9
    The best Animal Crossing game ever made. But there are some things that should get an update. There are certain objects that should be mass-crafted, not just one by one. Every tool is too easy to break, specially the upgraded ones. Also I feel like the island lacks more buildings.
  13. Viciousblue
    Apr 13, 2020
    9
    Uno de los videojuegos mas adictivos y divertidos que he jugado durante los últimos años. De los pocos que me hacen ponerme a jugar todos los días de la semana, y desear despertarme cada día para poder encender la consola y hacer las tareas nuevas que tengo ese día.

    Ya quisieran los usuarios de otras plataformas tener algo parecido a esto en sus consolas. Juegazo.
  14. thecasualgaymer
    Feb 16, 2021
    4
    Animal Crossing is addicting and well made, but I am firmly of the belief that it is not "good". Lacking elements of both previous games and even the mobile game, this Animal crossing has placed all of its eggs into the crafting and island decorating basket.

    It does a very good job and is very fun when you are crafting and decorating your island, but comes up tragically short everywhere    Animal Crossing is addicting and well made, but I am firmly of the belief that it is not "good". Lacking elements of both previous games and even the mobile game, this Animal crossing has placed all of its eggs into the crafting and island decorating basket.

    It does a very good job and is very fun when you are crafting and decorating your island, but comes up tragically short everywhere else, feeling more like an addictive chore than any of its predecessors.    … Expand
  15. JayLando22
    Jul 2, 2020
    9
    I will probably keep coming back to this from time to time, but I am going to "call it" now because I went from playing EVERY day since it came out to not touching it in over a week and no real plans to return to it.

    Still, I got a LOT of great slice-of-life gameplay. I had good times with friends online. I made my island exactly how I wanted it. (Though I only got 3 stars) The    I will probably keep coming back to this from time to time, but I am going to "call it" now because I went from playing EVERY day since it came out to not touching it in over a week and no real plans to return to it.

    Still, I got a LOT of great slice-of-life gameplay. I had good times with friends online. I made my island exactly how I wanted it. (Though I only got 3 stars)

    The annoying bits (the time to "travel", text repetition, DIY-ing multiple copies, limited storage space, etc.) are very annoying but the charms of the animals, the addiction of collecting, the beauty of the game and its buildings and biomes are all wonderful and I appreciate my time with it.    … Expand
  16. LucaCritics
    Jul 11, 2020
    5
    Animal Crossing New Horizons Review: 5/10
    Although it can be fun at times, the game limits the player from playing the way they want.
  17. tomoefuchs
    Apr 11, 2020
    10
    My first AC and I have an amazing time playing it! I can understand the bad mood about the island limitation, though.
  18. ChefNicco
    May 21, 2020
    3
    Very fun game until I realized the glaring issue, one island per Switch. I have two small kids who also play on it, and they're upset they dont get their own space to play. What a rip off. Regretting my purchase. Please fix this Animal Crossing devs.
  19. Luahanseng
    Aug 12, 2020
    5
    Great graphics, great concept, tons of random items you can acquire and addictive specially the creativity part. The negatives though, i hate that they limit bunch of things, they basically limit the capability of the switch,
  20. The-Pad
    Jun 2, 2020
    9
    Fantastic game. A lot of stuff to do, nice graphics, tons of customization. The island limit is stupid, but the game is wonderful.
  21. Farkus
    Apr 3, 2020
    9
    I haven't played since Animal Crossing for the Gamecube so I am not certain, how much of this content is new to this game, but I am thoroughly enjoying this game. There is a lot to do, and the gameplay loop is quite satisfying. There is one major issue I have with this game though that prevents it from getting a perfect score, and that is equipment breaking. Its really annoying and evenI haven't played since Animal Crossing for the Gamecube so I am not certain, how much of this content is new to this game, but I am thoroughly enjoying this game. There is a lot to do, and the gameplay loop is quite satisfying. There is one major issue I have with this game though that prevents it from getting a perfect score, and that is equipment breaking. Its really annoying and even the golden tools can break. That turns what was the ultimate reward in AC for the Gamecube, to a waste of resources in ACNH, and its a real bummer. Additionally, multiplayer feels restrictive, why cant best friends place and move furniture when playing online? I trust them, that's why they are best friends.… Expand
  22. MrMarvell
    Jul 19, 2020
    10
    I have played this game every single day since launch and every day it feels me with joy, I have never time travelled and I believe that's the best way to play, although each to their own. I have slowly but surely built my island from the ground up and it's so satisfying when good ideas come to the fore once you get certain tools and items. Honestly, I cant reccomend this game highlyI have played this game every single day since launch and every day it feels me with joy, I have never time travelled and I believe that's the best way to play, although each to their own. I have slowly but surely built my island from the ground up and it's so satisfying when good ideas come to the fore once you get certain tools and items. Honestly, I cant reccomend this game highly enough, especially with what's been going on in the world, it's really helped me out. I have some amazing villagers at the moment like Sherb, Marina, Beau, Aurora, Marshal and Stitches and their personalities and traits are a pleasure to be around.
    I never thought I'd play any game every single day, but here I am and I think I'll be playing this game every single day until the n4xt game comes out it is incredible.
    Man, what a game, it shows you not all games have to be cinematic, stunning and brave, story driven and all that stuff, buy Animal Crossing New Horizons, you will not regret it, it's a real charmer!    … Expand
  23. Saikokkidz
    Apr 12, 2020
    10
    The ps4 fanboys who have never played a video game in their life, hopefully Fifa.

    Ps4 Fanboys toxic! 10/10
  24. Carny
    Apr 1, 2020
    9
    Its Animal crossing but the multiplayer isn't good. Other than that it's great.
  25. xxx___xxx
    May 29, 2020
    10
    A relaxing game about life full of charm at every corner, it's easy to play ACNH for a few hours each day.
  26. Squishydew
    Apr 28, 2020
    6
    A great game ruined by nintendos lack of polish.

    Online is incredibly cumbersome, there is no way to back up saves, you can only have 1 island per switch screwing other people in your household, and crafting was very poorly done, requiring you to craft one thing at a time with no way to improve that.

    Tool durability is also just completely anti-fun.
  27. Kabegami
    Jun 28, 2020
    5
    Game was pretty fun at first, it however quickly becomes boring due to lack of content. Fans say its to span out recurring players by adding back ditched content later, but I was bored after the first month anyway so that didn't turn out well for them, the updates are way too small and far in between and I can't rate this game based on what it will become, that's Bethesda territory.Game was pretty fun at first, it however quickly becomes boring due to lack of content. Fans say its to span out recurring players by adding back ditched content later, but I was bored after the first month anyway so that didn't turn out well for them, the updates are way too small and far in between and I can't rate this game based on what it will become, that's Bethesda territory. Previous games supposedly had plenty of stuff like Nintendo themed furniture and exploring islands with friends, but here there's none of that and I don't care if they add it later, its not the game you get on cartridge. You should however keep all the content, and add on top of it. Not remove them and add them later like they're doing here.

    Everything takes forever, building new bridges and relocating a house takes a day and you can't do more than one, all this to just drag your time without a good reason, which is why people time travel, if you want to discourage time travelling by removing content, how about not making things take so long to do and putting up so many roadblocks?

    I do check back into it every few days but I'm never hyped to play more or partake in any tiny events Nintendo adds, they're completely deaf to fan feedback, like that infamous egg festival and the randomness of item recipes and such can lead to lack of tables to put stuff on, making you have to use cardboard boxes or place everything on the floor. Its also lacking the simple ability many life sims have...Craft. In. Bulk.    … Expand
  28. Bashbach1
    Aug 11, 2020
    4
    Only buy this if you are willing to put at least 5 to 10 hours into LEARNING how to do anything in the game. This is not a game for everyone and it gets really old after doing the same thing for weeks on end. I would suggest borrowing a copy form a friend after they get bored.
  29. pedroxmodeZ
    Apr 7, 2020
    9
    O jogo é absolutamente tudo que um fã de Animal Crossing poderia querer, quase 30 horas de jogo e sinto que minha ilha tá apenas 10% do que eu queria e ainda há coisas a serem desbloqueadas, problema de 1 ilha por console é o que afasta o jogo da perfeição
  30. jz_paris
    Apr 24, 2020
    0
    In an animal-subjected game, when almost everyone had asked how to remove animals on my island, the game must be a failure.
Page:

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.
    Read full review
  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.
    Read full review
  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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