Animal Waiting

For once, I’ve decided to expand my horizons and try a new game. The game in question? Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Animal Crossing is the only game I’ve bought for my Nintendo Switch so far, and it will probably stay like that for a while. My only other game is Warframe but that… don’t get me started on that.

Anyway, I’ve been playing Animal Crossing, and I’m slowly working through everything. There’s a lot to do, a lot of work and a lot of tasks at hand and a lot of grinding to be done. I need to go fishing, I need to plant some flowers, I need to check in on all my fellow villages, just to name a few things.

A game designed to keep you busy

To put it simply, Animal Crossing is a slow game. It has a ton of stuff to do, but plays alongside your real-world time. So far, the plan is to host a concert on my little island paradise and that will somehow boost our popularity or something. The hint of a plot doesn’t make that much sense, it’s just telling people what to do.

Honestly, I don’t know. I just like planting flowers everywhere and making money off pears and peaches. Not that money seems to be a thing. The main currencies are Bells and Nook Miles. Really, the whole damn island feels like some sort of pyramid scheme, with the Nooks at the top and my player character at the bottom, doing all the work. There’s definitely some money laundering going on here, I just need to find some proof.

But yeah, pretty much everything in Animal Crossing is designed to keep you playing as long as possible.

Bloody hell, shut up already

There is something that really annoys me though. Everyone takes so damn long to talk to. Sure, you can speed things up by spamming the B button, but it’s so annoying. Talking to NPCs shouldn’t be irritating. Sure, for the first time you meet someone? Make the conversation longer, introduce yourselves. As I continue playing though, going through the same dialogue every time you play gets tedious.

I also kinda find it odd that every single animal in my village calls me by a different name. Some names are alright but some just sound like a sneeze or some sort of insult. Although I do like the name Snuffles. The reason I find it odd though is because there’s already a strange language going on, and sounds have been registered. For example, when you first start the game and write your name, each letter has a sound that goes with it. Then again, it’s all kinda just jibberish anyway.

What makes me even sadder though is that I’m a boring humanoid, and everyone else is some sort of cute animal. I want to be a cute pink cat or something! Let me be an animal too!

For some reason, I am still playing it

Despite what I’ve said so far, I am still enjoying the game. Animal Crossing has a really nice atmosphere to it. There’s nothing out there that wants to kill you, aside from wasps. And even the wasps are a non-issue if you have medicine. Which is made from weeds. It’s all child-proof.  I could say that it’s a children’s game, but Animal Crossing has a more… universal appeal. It appeals to both kids and adults alike.

If anything, Animal Crossing checks a few of the things I like to see in games. I don’t need to run around or anything, I can go at my own pace. It’s a bit like playing Minecraft on peaceful mode, but focusing on the villagers rather than the exploration.