How The Animal Crossing Takeover Happened
The new Nintendo Switch game has SMASHED records and did it with style. Animal Crossing: New Horizons has surpassed all previous Mario and Zelda titles opening sales. Everytime I’m on Instagram I can’t seem to escape the game, I asked myself, “Why is this damn game everywhere?”
Animal Crossing is a sandbox game much like The Sims or Minecraft, except, it isn’t. The game throws you into a new town with randomly generated terrain and makes you the mayor. With tons of NPC villagers, a shop system, and so many collectables, the game has a ton to offer.
Basically, there’s no end goal or objective. Just do whatever you want and have fun. With a relaxing soundtrack, no jarring suprises, and vivid colors, the game is a nice break from the coronavirus reality we live in right now.
“Okay, yeah yeah, I already knew that, but why is it EVERYWHERE?” Well, there are a lot of reasons.
The game gives you a lot of customization options. It’s very flexible with what you can do to tweak your island. With so many things to tweak and fix, you’re going to need stuff to help you out.
Just like real life, things cost money in the game- or bells as they’re called. This economy is addicting to break into and master because bells are everywhere. See that tree? Shake it and see what you get. That fish you caught in a few seconds? Go see what sucker is going to pay you for it. With so opportunities for bells, you feel somewhat guilty if you’re not doing everything you can to get them.
The cute design is also so lovable and fun to look at. You want to see all these pretty colors because they make you feel better. It’s a joy to look at. Making cute outfits and perfecting your home is so fun to do and share online. Seeing these screenshots with no idea of what the game is can get someone to check it out. I see cute, fun game, I want to play cute, fun game, I buy cute, fun game.
An aspect of the game is the real-time events, appointments, and conditions. When the game encourages you to check in everyday for something new or something planned, you get kicked into that routine of checking out what there is to do on the island everyday. There’s always something to do even if there’s nothing that has to be done.
While there is no clear objective to the game, you still want it to be the best village possible. It becomes second nature to check up on your village and the animals when the game encourages you to do so. You feel a weird obligation to make sure every animal is chill with the living conditions on the island. But better yet, you want to flex your island on all your friends.
Animal Crossing is seen everywhere on social media because of its social aspect. You can see your friends’ islands and they can visit yours. It’s fun to see their reaction when they see your sick home or to see something they have and be like “Damn, I should’ve done that.” Even if you don’t have those thoughts, it’s a fun reflection of character. Seeing how people design their islands is kind of like an insight into their mind.
The game took over because of all the deep thought and love that went into every aspect of its seemingly simple design. Nintendo hit a real home-run with this game and gave everyone a nice getaway from all the madness going on. If you own a Nintendo Switch and haven’t played this game yet, I highly recommend it. This cute virtual world is what the world needed right now, and it’s what the world can’t get enough of.
