March 2020 was such a time for my household. We was gearing up for the release of 2 pieces of media; The Weeknd’s After Hours and Animal Crossing New Horizons. The build up was so anticipated that we named the island after the aforementioned Weeknd album. (and honestly, it sticks perfectly) Animal Crossing was the perfect escape when getting out the house was not an ideal move. It kept lockdown somewhat fun.
Then the world opened back up. And visiting a digital island seemed less appealing than going to a real one. 6 years has came and went in a flash. I bring that up because Animal Crossing just released a Switch 2 update to the best selling game. Coming with multiple quality-of-life features, a new room building mechanic in the guise
of building hotel rooms, and sneaking in NES emulators in the game again, which is what they did with the original Gamecube/N64 version of the game. There is a lot to revisit on your little slice of paradise.
Needless to say, I have fell back in love with the game. Paying off my loan to the strong arm of Tom Nook has made this revisited experience more relaxing. Not selling multiple pieces of fruit and furniture has made me pace this game down. And it’s been better. It is what I think that people wanted from the initial release. This is, after all, a cozy game. One of the best in the genre mind you. The initial release was very “do all of this our way” when it came to seeing other people’s islands. That was the gameplay loop. With the building rooms and creating stuff to turn in for extra points, it puts you more in a place of peace. Weird to say but Animal Crossing does it.
Animal Crossing New Horizons is like going back to your high school as an alumni. That’s truly how I feel. And you know what, with all the nostalgia its good to go back and appreciate the things that made you happy in a slower time. You’ll find me retired on my island making log furniture for the residents of After Hours.
Quincy Howard is an outside contributor to Gaming Nexus. You have probably seen him with me on many of my Games N Moorer streams, an most notably, our coverage of EVO Vegas. I would like to thank Quincy for his contribution to Gaming Nexus.
