User Score
5.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 6617 Ratings

User score distribution:
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
  1. Jul 3, 2021
    7
    Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a simulation type of game where you can make stuff, pay debt and be friends with animals! It's a fun concept, and it was well executed here! But, it did lack allot of what made Animal Crossing... Well, Animal Crossing. The crafting mechanic is cool, but, It's very annoying when your tool breaks, you have to rebuilt it all over again with the materials. ItAnimal Crossing: New Horizons is a simulation type of game where you can make stuff, pay debt and be friends with animals! It's a fun concept, and it was well executed here! But, it did lack allot of what made Animal Crossing... Well, Animal Crossing. The crafting mechanic is cool, but, It's very annoying when your tool breaks, you have to rebuilt it all over again with the materials. It also lacks allot of the charm New Leaf had in my opinion. New Leaf had cool bonus items like a Wii U and even Nintendo game themed items! Animal Crossing: New Horizons lacks allot of that. But, don't get me wrong, It's a blast making your island look cool with furniture, visiting other's island and even playing with friends once in awhile is great! I would recommend it to almost everyone, since they updated the game to have more to it, but, It didn't grab me back as much as New Leaf did. Expand
  2. Jul 1, 2021
    1
    The good:

    1. Improved visuals and atmosphere 2. QoL improvements 3. Prologue phase is a really good introduction to the series The bad: 1. Base game is very shallow 2. Life-sim aspects are butchered 3. Villagers feel like decorations 4. Series staples beloved by the fanbase missing 5. Updates are spaced out, leaving players frustrated with long content droughts 6. Updates are also
    The good:

    1. Improved visuals and atmosphere
    2. QoL improvements
    3. Prologue phase is a really good introduction to the series

    The bad:

    1. Base game is very shallow
    2. Life-sim aspects are butchered
    3. Villagers feel like decorations
    4. Series staples beloved by the fanbase missing
    5. Updates are spaced out, leaving players frustrated with long content droughts
    6. Updates are also lacking in substantial content that will give players a reason to continue playing

    After more than a year, the game is still pretty much the same experience at launch. Very weak entry in the series, which is entirely focused on decorating and designing the island, leaving the core life-sim aspects of the series abandoned for seemingly no reason.
    Expand
  3. Jul 1, 2021
    0
    This shouldn’t be called New Horizons since there’s nothing good in this game. I don’t believe it. What is this garbage? It’s a time-waster, in a bad way. You get bored quickly. There’s only three songs in this game. THREE SONGS! The title theme, the outside theme, and the shopping tent theme. WHAT IS THIS? You get two villagers and they don’t help you with progress. I quit this game. IThis shouldn’t be called New Horizons since there’s nothing good in this game. I don’t believe it. What is this garbage? It’s a time-waster, in a bad way. You get bored quickly. There’s only three songs in this game. THREE SONGS! The title theme, the outside theme, and the shopping tent theme. WHAT IS THIS? You get two villagers and they don’t help you with progress. I quit this game. I wanted to throw my controller into the TV and destroy the island! Luckily I got a refund, but it was a hassle! Expand
  4. Jul 1, 2021
    3
    It's not a 0, by any means, but overall, WHAT KIND OF PLACE IS THIS! It makes you wanna get out, out of this trap of a game. It's not good. It has ruined last year, and this year. When we found out a New Animal Crossing game was coming out, we were excited. We each had humble hopes. Ever since that 2019 announcement, I was dreaming of an amazing town to play in. But, when the trailer forIt's not a 0, by any means, but overall, WHAT KIND OF PLACE IS THIS! It makes you wanna get out, out of this trap of a game. It's not good. It has ruined last year, and this year. When we found out a New Animal Crossing game was coming out, we were excited. We each had humble hopes. Ever since that 2019 announcement, I was dreaming of an amazing town to play in. But, when the trailer for New Horizons came out, our hopes were not as high. We were debating whether to get the game. We all agreed that we didn't like the whole NookPhone thing, but we still had hopes. We were excited March, but slowly but surely, it became worse. When April came along, so did Bunny Day. UGH! That was STUPID and didn't make me want to play the game! I started getting bored around mid-April, slowly but surely decreasing my rating. May was alright, and then we realized how repetitive it was. My friend didn't appreciate the game as we wanted it to be. As the months went by, everyone, including me started to not like the game. It became a bad game. It became so repetitive, we couldn't even play a minute. It's a waste now. Some new features are alright, but I can't give this any more than a 3/10. It's not a 0, we kind of enjoyed the game at first. Even the updates couldn't save the game... The updates are horrible and repetitive. They don't fix the game, and never will. No matter how many updates they release, it will never fix the game. As a long time Animal Crossing fan, I am disappointed. Many long-time Animal Crossing fans are disappointed in this game. Even people who don't play Animal Crossing will eventually find New Horizons repetitive. Whatever the case, I suggest people do not get the game. You may find it alright for a few hours, but after that, prepare to be disappointed. If you want to be introduced to Animal Crossing, we suggest an older game, but not the spin-offs. I think this should represent the issues that people think of this game. Oh, and the hourly music. Oh my... it's bland. It does not represent Animal Crossing music, and feels extremely bland, especially in the first month. It makes you want to turn off the music entirely. That's another issue I forgot to mention. The music! I remember playing, and the music... is boring. Now I think that's everything to include in my opinions, along with my friends opinions. It's a disappointment. Expand
  5. Jun 30, 2021
    0
    I hate this game strongly, and I suggest people back away from this disgusting game.
  6. Aug 13, 2020
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is a best game ever that I see. You can do all what you think. And I Don't know why everyone. Hates this game Expand
  7. Jun 26, 2021
    2
    This game was suppose to be the savior of this pandemic. Nintendo said, they would update this game for years. but i cant see that happening. when it released, you weren't even able to swim. on an island setting.... so that they fixed that with an update was just a must. all events are just the same with different settings. the rewards are meaningless and don't serve anything of value. itThis game was suppose to be the savior of this pandemic. Nintendo said, they would update this game for years. but i cant see that happening. when it released, you weren't even able to swim. on an island setting.... so that they fixed that with an update was just a must. all events are just the same with different settings. the rewards are meaningless and don't serve anything of value. it is simply aweful that you have to get all the furniture with DIYs from balloons and villagers and so on. you get way too many duplicates. its absolutely not fun. beeing forced to go in online forums and look for someone who maybe has a needed DIY. the shops are absolutely small. they offer so little products. its annoying. you can craft in bulk its just annoying. many things of this game are just there to take ages. just like the terraforming. but the devs had to make it as annoying and time consuming as possible for every single chore. because the game has absolutely nothing to offer gameplay wise. you cant do anything with friends. no minigames. no nothing. you are forced to make your own imaginary games. i simply cant understand how this game has a perfect score from official media. this game is incredibly shallow. all villager say the same everyday. they don't have any character. they are not interesting at all. have nothing to say. the game lacks so many features, furniture, events and gameplay from past games. the game still haven't got an update 2.0. its been over a year now and they still didn't implement anything of value to the game. all they do is recycle events and bring some more seasonal items to the game. they basically don't update the game at all til now. for over a year since release. (because the last big thing was the ability to swim. and this was simply a must. and even that wasn't even a new thing -.-)

    and one more annoying thing... they don't listen to the community at all. they ignore everything. so its just worse that they make twitter posts on a regular basis everytime they implement another meaningless item. or recycle an event again. they got their money and now they just don't give a damn about this game anymore or their fans. oh and the multiplayer is just the worst. there is absolutely nothing positive about it. but that was expected. Nintendo has no skill for online experiences. they screw up every single multiplayer ever.

    to end this review on a more positive note... there are some good things. the graphic is pleasing and the soundtrack is great. good for chilling. the rest of the game is nothing but a dumpster fire.

    tl;dr
    pros:
    - soundtrack
    - graphics
    - nostalgia

    cons:
    - gameplay
    - NPC AI
    - crafting
    - gameplay
    - all the time wasting gameplay mechanics
    - all the small shops
    - all the missing shops and villager from the past
    - all the missing furniture from the past
    - gameplay
    - no minigames
    - online multiplayer
    - only one island per switch console
    - the ticket islands are just boring and repeat way too often and look all the same
    - items break way too quick with no indication
    - gameplay
    - building, placing and terraforming is very very imprecise and clunky
    - all events are recycled and the rewards are bad.
    - getting all the stuff from redd is just the worst. it can easily happen that you wont see him for month!!
    - gameplay
    - and basically everything else which makes games, games.
    Expand
  8. Jun 25, 2021
    1
    It's a good game with wasted potential, it was worthy of being the best animal crossing game, it had a lot of potential, like editing the Minecraft-style terrain, also in crafting things, like the minecraft crafting table, but just Nintendo and its developers, they did not know how to implement it well, the manufacturing is very bad, in capital letters! It is very tedious to find the iron,It's a good game with wasted potential, it was worthy of being the best animal crossing game, it had a lot of potential, like editing the Minecraft-style terrain, also in crafting things, like the minecraft crafting table, but just Nintendo and its developers, they did not know how to implement it well, the manufacturing is very bad, in capital letters! It is very tedious to find the iron, stone and clay, the terrain, it becomes very repetitive, after a few days pass, the developers did not know how to implement it well.

    Music is just MEH

    AC ACCF and ACNL, has great music, which made identifying the games in an excellent way, especially new leaf, it has the best music of the entire saga, examples are, 1am, 8am, 1pm and 5pm, you can feel it identified.

    In New Horizons?

    His music can be meh, bad, mediocre, I say that his music is very repetitive and bad, it does not fit the environment, which in this case is an island, for me, almost all of them are bad , with the exceptions of 12pm, 8pm, 3pm and 5pm, which do give a tropical atmosphere.

    Its graphics are good, to be a 2020 game on switch, although in the animal neighbors, many do not convince me, they look a little plastic, cheer them up, but that is forgiven.

    The mechanics are terrible!

    In later installments, Nintendo was forgiven, that you could only generate a world, for 4 players, but in new horizons, that is no longer forgiven.

    It's just ridiculous, like that one island? If the switch, being a more powerful console than the wii u, can support several maps, that is, do I have to pay another $ 400 for a switch and the game? it is no longer tolerable.

    The animal neighbors, they became someone without personality or soul, in new leaf or later installments, your neighbors wanted to meet you, you could see their personality in them, they were like people or friends of yours, that you could do many things, such as invite them to your home .exchange things, play among others.

    In new horizons, they just became puppets without personality, you can no longer do that, which later installments offered you, they are careless and you cannot talk to them so much, I limit myself a bit to that.

    updates.

    The updates, from 1.0.0 to 1.9.0, could be in the base game, it is an excuse, so that Nintendo can extend the life of the game, in my opinion, the updates themselves are bad, almost not brings nothing new, just a couple of sets and the events, which could be in the base game, as I repeat.

    In conclusion, this game is not for that fan of ancient animal crossing, if you are looking for a delivery, that you simulate a life with animals and feel identified, because this game is not for you, play new leaf, city folk and that of game Cube.

    but if you want to hang out, this game is for you.

    1/10
    Expand
  9. Jun 24, 2021
    2
    I can't believe it... After digging nearly 400 hours into New Leaf on the 3DS, I was patiently awaiting the next iteration on Nintendo's newest console. I was just as excited as everybody else was when the game was first teased and then announced; getting hyped to yet again to be fully immersed in the island life.

    It's too bad that this game was such a magnificient disappointment! I
    I can't believe it... After digging nearly 400 hours into New Leaf on the 3DS, I was patiently awaiting the next iteration on Nintendo's newest console. I was just as excited as everybody else was when the game was first teased and then announced; getting hyped to yet again to be fully immersed in the island life.

    It's too bad that this game was such a magnificient disappointment!

    I started to play this as soon as I got it as an Easter gift, I started putting in many hours and... something wasn't clicking. Unlike New Leaf, where I would have sleepless nights waiting to enter my village for the next day, this game gave me no such feeling. I also played New Leaf consistently for about three years, yet this game became boring to me after about a month. So what gives?

    Firstly, there are a few positive things to praise the game for (although mostly minor in the grand scheme of things). The graphics are gorgeous in the game, and the miniscule details added along with them like Villagers now doing activities is so fun to see! The Soundtrack, while it is inferior in comparison to the wonderful soundtrack of previous Animal Crossing games (Especially New Leaf), is still very nice to hear and I enjoy the songs.

    With that out of the way, let's get into the many negative aspects. For starters, there's nothing to do! In New Leaf you could shop on Main Street, do errands and play minigames with villagers, visit the island with friends, go thrifting, enjoy tourneys and other special events, and plenty more! New Horizons is just... bare bones (which is quite applicable for the state of the game as a whole.). Special Characters and many shops have been gutted from the game. As you can see in some other reviews here, the developers also promised frequent updates to the game which would add in more content and even gave me and others the hope that many characters and shops would return... Nope! A year in and the updates have been incredibly lackluster, adding in nothing of note ( Well except for content that was ALREADY IN PREVIOUS GAMES). Holidays and Tourneys are God Awful in New Horizons. For example, in a New Leaf Fishing/Bug Tourney you would be competing with all the villagers in your town on catching the largest bug/fish. Whoever caught the largest by the end of the day would be placed in the top 3 and receive a trophy and maybe even special furniture for their achievements. In New Horizons the tourneys are... You against yourself? They instead opted for simply catching the most bugs/fish in an allotted time limit to get a prize. That takes away the fun and soul of a tourney. You would also think the events would be better but that is also a lie, some events are months long where all you do is the same stuff (cough cough wedding day). Speaking of soul being ripped out, let's talk about the villagers. It used to be fun and charming talking with your villagers everyday in New Leaf. You would slowly build up friendships by visiting each other's houses, completing errands, playing games, etc... In New Horizons this has all been sacrificed and Villagers have been made cute objects to look at instead of actual living villagers... The big gimmick of this game is the customization of your island with terraforming, decorating, and crafting being buffed or newly added features. Crafting becomes monotonous and grindy when you have to grind resources from your island day after day, making none of this new system fun for me at all. Animal Crossing should be a game where I can escape the stresses of life and relax, not have to grind for some stupid iron ore in a rock! Oh and by the way Nintendo, drip feeding through updates is not how you make previous Animal Crossing players want to come back to your game!

    It pains me to say it but I really cannot recommend this game. Another reviewer here mentioned how this game is more like a "Happy Home Deluxe" where the game is great with decorating and customization, but forgot everything else that makes Animal Crossing Animal Crossing. If you want a true Animal Crossing experience, pick up a 3DS and play New Leaf, by far the better game. I entered this game thinking this could be one of Nintendo's greatest series, now I'm left shivering at the future of Animal Crossing Games.
    Expand
  10. Jun 24, 2021
    2
    Disappointing compared to predecessors. Lack of content in advertised "free updates". Would not have bought if I knew the updates would be so lackluster.
  11. Jun 24, 2021
    0
    New Horizons killed my love for this franchise. Animal Crossing is supposed to be a cozy life sim but NH really is nothing more than just a soulless decorating game.... save yourself the trouble and get New Leaf instead.
  12. Jun 22, 2021
    3
    After 500+ hours, I can confidently say that I know almost everything about the game and I have no more motivation to play it. Even without time travelling, it has become too easy to progress. You quickly run out of essential things to achieve. You can decorate outdoors now, which is great, but the variety in items is too limited. The game also very quickly starts dropping below 30 FPS ifAfter 500+ hours, I can confidently say that I know almost everything about the game and I have no more motivation to play it. Even without time travelling, it has become too easy to progress. You quickly run out of essential things to achieve. You can decorate outdoors now, which is great, but the variety in items is too limited. The game also very quickly starts dropping below 30 FPS if you decorate MODERATELY (not even talking about cluttering!) and if you're sensitive to that, it's horrible. Island building is an amazing new feature, but this seems to be at the cost of many other things. Way too little events, no more fun buildings like the coffee shop and not many special villagers as well. It's really missing that depth. You can now go on island trips to 'choose' your own villagers and they don't randomly leave anymore. That's great. Other than that, their personality and quirkiness in dialogue is ultimately gone. They pretty much say the same every two days. In the end, the game is a fun decorating simulator with lots of limits. It desperately needs a 2.0 upgrade with many new features and items.
    Another big minus: Every island has a fixed color palette on all items that come in different colors. Instead of collecting color-changing items, you are now forced to buy Nintendo Switch online and trade. This is a big turnoff for me. Say, if you want a basic item like a white streetlamp, but your island only offers rusty red ones, you won't be able to get it unless you trade with someone else. I think this is a horrible feature and takes away the freedom of decorating. This applies to around 60-70% of all available items.
    Expand
  13. Jun 21, 2021
    9
    Animal Crossing: New Horizons joins titles like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a system seller. This isn’t just a must-have title; it’s a reason to buy a Nintendo Switch.
    I went into this game somewhat blind. I’d seen some of the trailers, but this was my first time playing and owning an Animal Crossing game. Additionally,
    Animal Crossing: New Horizons joins titles like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a system seller. This isn’t just a must-have title; it’s a reason to buy a Nintendo Switch.
    I went into this game somewhat blind. I’d seen some of the trailers, but this was my first time playing and owning an Animal Crossing game. Additionally, the simulation genre just isn’t my cup of tea. The only other life simulator I’d dabbled in was Stardew Valley(another great game).
    However, from the opening minutes, I knew this game would be special. It’s probably the most relaxing game I’ve ever played. After playing New Horizons and more recently, some excellent survival horror titles(Resident Evil 2 and 7), I’ve realized you don’t need fast paced action to make a game enjoyable. However, take that into consideration before purchasing/playing this game. It’s very slow paced and unfortunately, there is some unnecessary tedium. It would go a long way if a feature was added to craft sets of an item instead of crafting them individually(Tip: spam the A-button while crafting to speed up the process). Tool durability is also an unnecessary annoyance. Weapons durability suits a game like Breath of the Wild much better. It lets you experiment with the sandbox and make full use of all your items. That isn’t the case in new horizons. Another minor gripe is playing with multiple accounts. You can only have one island per system. This wasn’t an issue for me since I’m the only one who plays my Switch, but it’s something to keep in mind if you have young children, friends, a spouse/partner, or anyone else who wants their own island.
    Like I previously mentioned, this is an extremely slow paced game. Some Players used “time traveling” to speed up the game, but I don’t recommend that. I suggest you play how the developers intended.
    With my (mostly)minor gripes out of the way, let’s talk positives. First of all, this game is absolutely gorgeous. It may not quite reach Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, or Mario Kart 8 levels of beauty, but I’d still put it in the top ten best looking games on the system. The art style is amazing, the lighting is top tier, and it ran at a solid 30 frames-per-second with no drops or stuttering from what I noticed. Sound design is as relaxing as it could be. The music is beautiful as well, although it might get on some players’ nerves during extended play sessions, especially before town hall is built.
    In terms of strength in gameplay, I’ve never felt this much freedom in many other games. However, if I had to pinpoint my favorite aspect, it was probably collecting bugs, fossils, fish, and other sea creatures, and donating them to the museum. It was always fun having friends visit my island and showing off all of the rare catches I’d obtained. This was one of the few games where I displayed audible excitement whenever I caught a whale shark, sunfish, or oarfish for the first time.
    More than many other games, New Horizons displays progress in a visual sense, rather than experience points, cool weapons, or armor. Your island will start out messy and overgrown with weeds and unwanted trees, but as the game moves forward, you’ll unlock more villagers(and their respective houses), shops, and items to put on display. There are plenty of mindblowing islands on display on the internet, that even I(someone who played for more than 150 hours) couldn’t begin to think of. It truly is your experience, and everyone’s will be different.
    If I had to point out one last gripe I had with the game, it would be updates. This review is being written almost 1 ½ years after launch, and although Nintendo has been consistently updating the game, it has lost a bit of longevity, but that’s only because I played so frequently at the beginning of the pandemic and I possibly could’ve been burnt out on it. You’ll get plenty of hours out of the game, it’s just after this many, there isn’t as much of a reason to pick the game back up.
    Despite the minor issues I have with the game, I think this is a game anyone can enjoy. If you only like fast paced action, you should still give this one a try. I did, and I’ve loved nearly every minute.
    Expand
  14. Jun 16, 2021
    4
    if i was writing this review a year ago this game would’ve been at a 9 or even 10 as i and a bunch of other fans were promised updates to the game that would add new features however a year later this game feels less like a 60$ game and more like an e3 demo, we’ve only gotten a handful of updates most of which were watered down features that were already in the base game of previousif i was writing this review a year ago this game would’ve been at a 9 or even 10 as i and a bunch of other fans were promised updates to the game that would add new features however a year later this game feels less like a 60$ game and more like an e3 demo, we’ve only gotten a handful of updates most of which were watered down features that were already in the base game of previous entries, lackluster “events” or random (tiny) furniture that no one has asked for we haven’t received a proper quality of life update or any major updates that added new or even old features except 2 both of which were last year meanwhile animal crossing pocket camp (a free mobile game) receives updates way more frequently and almost each one includes exciting furniture sets, this game is an absolute let down from the high that was new leaf and it’s sad to see such a great series produce such a boring experience Expand
  15. Jun 16, 2021
    2
    I spent close to $400 to be able to play this game and I feel as though I and all other Animal Crossing fans have been scammed . After years of waiting , Animal Crossing fans were excited to hear there was a new mainline Animal Crossing game coming which promised amazing new features for decorating and truly customizing the exterior of your town . It was a bit suspicious that they onlyI spent close to $400 to be able to play this game and I feel as though I and all other Animal Crossing fans have been scammed . After years of waiting , Animal Crossing fans were excited to hear there was a new mainline Animal Crossing game coming which promised amazing new features for decorating and truly customizing the exterior of your town . It was a bit suspicious that they only showed the beginning of the game in the promotional material and didn’t showcase any of the rest of the things that are present in every other Animal Crossing game once you progress past the beginning . But , people figured there was a good explanation for this and , of course , expected that the game would include all the features that all the other mainline Animal Crossing games have because those things are what makes a mainline animal crossing game a mainline animal crossing game and differentiate them from the spin off games which are missing those features . However , once the game launched and people played it for a few weeks it became clear all those things were completely absent from New Horizons and that New Horizons only featured about 1/4 of the content of a normal Animal Crossing main title . When the game released , Nintendo promised to continuously update it for a few years and , in the beginning , they did do some fairly significant updates . This lead people to believe that the missing features in the game would come in the future but it is clear now , after a year of playing and seeing the updates get fewer and further between , that the game is never going to update to the point it can be considered the mainline Animal Crossing game that they claimed it was . The game itself is more like Animal Crossing Happy Island Designer than a mainline Animal Crossing Game . If you think of it as an Animal Crossing spin-off game for decorating an island then it is actually fairly fun , although , a bit unnecessarily tedious . If they had advertised it truthfully like that fans would have been happy with the game . But , the deceit of calling it a main line game , knowing it would mislead their customers into spending money , and then stringing them along for a year before revealing their trickery so there is no hope of fans getting their money back is , frankly , unforgivable . I would not have paid $60 for this game let alone the $400 I had to pay to buy the game , a Switch , and Nintendo Online to be able to play it properly . And that’s another thing , on top of having much fewer items than previous games ( despite essentially being a decorating simulator ) , you are required to pay for Nintendo online and trade with other players to be able to get half of the items . They want you to trade with your friends but no one has enough friends who want to spend hundreds of hours trading on animal crossing to be able to get every item they want ( especially since there is nothing to do for entertainment when you connect online with friends like there was in past games ) which forces them to go online and meet up with sketchy strangers who often try to scam them because there is no mechanic in game to be able to trade online safely . It’s clear this was just another tactic to get people to spend more money on the game without regard to making an enjoyable gaming experience . That seems to be the overarching theme of this game . They wanted to scam millions of fans into buying New Horizons with false promises of a mainline Animal Crossing game when the reality was an unfinished cash-grab , scam people into buying a Nintendo Online subscription to be able to fully play said game , and scam people into buying a Switch so that they will buy more games for it from them in the future . Well , in the future , unless they decide to make it right and actually update the game to being a proper Animal Crossing mainline game , I will never buy a Nintendo game at release again and I will buy all my Switch games used so that I do not support this company . Expand
  16. Jun 16, 2021
    0
    Game abandoned, lack of content missing from previous games like npcs shop upgrades, 100s of iconic furniture items which make up themed sets gone, no mini games to enjoy with friends like Tortimer island, villagers are empty with poor range of dialogue you can't have them visit you absolutely nothing, breakable golden tools, I could go on and on.

    It's basically a seasonal item collection sim
  17. Jun 15, 2021
    1
    Well, the director of this entry is the director of Happy Home Designer. That is why game feels more like a HHD sequel than a new Animal Crossing entry.... I loved this franchise but they literally removed everything that made AC charming, for what?? For being able to terra-form and decorate my island? This game is supposed to be a life-simulator, not a decorating game :/ Big let down!Well, the director of this entry is the director of Happy Home Designer. That is why game feels more like a HHD sequel than a new Animal Crossing entry.... I loved this franchise but they literally removed everything that made AC charming, for what?? For being able to terra-form and decorate my island? This game is supposed to be a life-simulator, not a decorating game :/ Big let down! Also they promised us 3 years of updates, the first updates were nice but then the updates turned into adding the festivals and 3 items... wow! If the current director will also be the director of the next game, I am going to say goodbye to this franchise. Expand
  18. Jun 15, 2021
    0
    The game has good graphics....that's all you can say about this "game". If you can call it "game"....
    The Villagers don't have any personality, The dialogues are repetitive, The Events are really boring and the Updates are empty and just not good. I have over 1000 hours in the game but only because i started a new Island everytime it got boring. We NEED gameplay new dialogues, more
    The game has good graphics....that's all you can say about this "game". If you can call it "game"....
    The Villagers don't have any personality, The dialogues are repetitive, The Events are really boring and the Updates are empty and just not good. I have over 1000 hours in the game but only because i started a new Island everytime it got boring. We NEED gameplay new dialogues, more personality!!! NO New objects
    Expand
  19. Jun 15, 2021
    0
    The game lacks over half of features from previous releases and passes infinitesimal updates as actual content update. Lackluster and disappointing. Play New Leaf for a propper Animal Crossing.
  20. Jun 12, 2021
    5
    Boring.
    I thought this game was some what like a “slow Sims” But after I found out that in order to continue this game, I need to do laboring continuos things like fishing over and over…when I find out that there is nothing much story flowing which made me boring and stop playing this game.
  21. Jun 10, 2021
    6
    As someone who's gotten into Animal Crossing through Pocket Camp among other things, I enjoy playin' this game way more (even though this series would be right at home on a phone now), but it has many flaws and lacks a ton of things.

    For one, the villagers should have their own unique personality to set 'em apart from each other. They're a main part of this little series, yet there's
    As someone who's gotten into Animal Crossing through Pocket Camp among other things, I enjoy playin' this game way more (even though this series would be right at home on a phone now), but it has many flaws and lacks a ton of things.

    For one, the villagers should have their own unique personality to set 'em apart from each other. They're a main part of this little series, yet there's nothing interesting about 'em other than appearance. Personality-wise, there's zero distinction between, say, Beau and Puck for example. In general, you give a villager a gift, they mindlessly accept it as the best thing ever. The only reason to ever get attached to a villager comes down to their looks, not really what they say and it makes 'em bland. They never show any emotion other than absolute happiness. It's feels like a utopia (which I ironically wanted to name my island at one point). Everything is supposedly so perfect and no one ever has anything to talk about other than positive vibes only. It feels so feels artificial. By the way... I don't think it would hurt to have romance. It is fictional and the villagers have anthropomorphic qualities.

    Anyway, special characters aren't much better. The Able Sisters, specifically Sable, is the only one of the three with any kind of interesting dialog and that ain't sayin' a lot. Now that I think about it... STOP with the non-existent conversation trees. Everyone blasted the hell outta Pokémon Sword & Shield for the same thing (if you could even call it that), but of all games, Animal Crossing should be actually doing it. What's the point of choosing dialog when it either amounts to nothin' or has the same outcome as the other choice. Anyway, there's another thing that annoys me: the island sandbox. Why is it that every game uses this formulaic Minecraft-like "world" layout (actually, that would be insulting Minecraft's world generation since it's actually vast compared to Animal Crossing's hub world generation)? It'd be really nice if they designed an actual world instead of just "Hey, there's this new thing happening right now. Here's your new home. Have a good life!". Oh, and why don't villager homes expand? It'd be pretty cool if they also invited you to their homes for whatever reason. I could imagine Muffy inviting me to a sleepover or Beau and Puck wanting me to watch TV together.

    Another reason I'm mixed on this game is that I wish there were more activities to do instead of the same fishin', bug catchin', shell collectin', fossil huntin', flower planting, and island designing that's been in every game. With all these props in the game, you'd think you could interact with more than a handful of 'em in a more interesting way. Y'know, something akin to those two 3DS minigames from New Leaf, but expand that to certain items. Maybe have villagers occasionally challenge you to a match? Also, I think the game should really move on from the overhead view. It'd be nice to see everything with a free camera. It's aesthetically dull when every building or object is or has to be oriented forward to work with the overhead view.

    I almost never use local multiplayer since I do thing on my own in this game and people got me covered on why online is lame.

    It's dumb how cloud saves weren't a thing from the start (even though the way it is still kinda ass). Is cheating really that big of a problem in a game where you create your own experience? Are you serious? It'd be one thing if somethin' like this was runnin' rampant online in multiplayer games, but come on. If people rather stick to the legit way of playin', that's their decision. If people rather put their time into moddin' the game to speed up the progress or whatever, that's their decision. Simple. Whether they regret it or not in the long run is on them. Or god forbit someone simply wanted to have fun changing stuff on their game, affecting no one in the process.

    I like this franchise, but there's a LOT of room for improvement; I didn't talk about all the problems or thoughts I had on this game and the series as a whole. Maybe some of the game's issues will be patched. I'm not optimistic though. The day this series upgrades from being a budget version of The Sims is the day I can truly call it good
    Expand
  22. Jun 5, 2021
    0
    I've had enough of New Horizons. A tiring boring game that so happens to be the result of milking a series. It's a lie. In fact, if anything, this game is a borefest. A very boring game... I hate it so much... but this is only the beginning... I would go on, but I have better things to do than rant on a trash game like this one.
  23. May 28, 2021
    5
    Its a fun game in the first month, but after that it just kinda sucks. Progress goes veeeery sloooow.
  24. May 26, 2021
    8
    Animal crossing new horizons is a great game anyone can enjoy. My only nitpick is that it starts off slow and is really best played with one person on the island, other than that, there is not much else bad about it. Solid 9/10
  25. May 23, 2021
    0
    My husband and I decided to get it, because we both love animal crossing. Since my husband bought it, he started first. He's been playing it a few days, and I went to start my island when he wasn't playing. Guess what? I can't. You LITERALLY CANNOT HAVE TWO ISLANDS ON ONE SWITCH. Are you kidding? Just because my husband started the game, now I can never have my own without spendingMy husband and I decided to get it, because we both love animal crossing. Since my husband bought it, he started first. He's been playing it a few days, and I went to start my island when he wasn't playing. Guess what? I can't. You LITERALLY CANNOT HAVE TWO ISLANDS ON ONE SWITCH. Are you kidding? Just because my husband started the game, now I can never have my own without spending hundreds of dollars on another game console? That is absolutely ridiculous. Now I will never be able to actually play the game, since he has already started the town and is now in charge of all the decisions. I am beyond furious. Expand
  26. May 22, 2021
    2
    Boring game no core no point on advance is the same all time no progression lazy and greedy nintnd
  27. May 19, 2021
    1
    i spent so much money on this game and tbh it just was sooooo boring. i expected to love it like everyone else but i genuinely found ymself invested for ??? a month at most then never picked it up ever again.
  28. 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
  29. May 18, 2021
    9
    one of the best nintendo switch games but it is not for everyone if you are looking for a relaxing game that lets you squeeze your creativity to the fullest this is your separate game that you can dedicate more than 500 hours but if what you are looking for is action and destroy monsters better get away and is more for 1 person so if you want a good multiplayer game choose another game
  30. May 16, 2021
    0
    This game is virtually an alpha version of what i'm sure they planed. Are the bones of a promissing game, but as any alpha, it can barely be considered as a game. Boring after the first hours, all the good critics this game recived are the resoult of Nintendo paying more atention to buy good reviews than to the developement itself. Sad to see how this beloved saga suffered suchThis game is virtually an alpha version of what i'm sure they planed. Are the bones of a promissing game, but as any alpha, it can barely be considered as a game. Boring after the first hours, all the good critics this game recived are the resoult of Nintendo paying more atention to buy good reviews than to the developement itself. Sad to see how this beloved saga suffered such degeneration thanks to the new Nintendo politics, cheap companny, cheap game. Expand
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 111 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Negative: 0 out of 111
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  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]