Animal Crossing has been one of my favorite game series since I played the first entry on the GameCube back in 2001. At that time, I was playing games like Super Smash Bros. Melee, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, and Conker’s Bad Fur Day. (I was probably way too young to play some of them, looking back, but those were still good times.) In other words, games with action and violence. It’s a little odd, then, that I trended toward this game about building a home and being a friendly neighbor, but it soon became my escape from reality. I loved fishing along the coast to earn bells and pay off my home loan. I loved wandering around the police station and recycling areas looking for new items. I loved the villagers, friendly or otherwise, that would come and go and create long-lasting memories. Most importantly, it taught me the value of taking time, just going about my day, being a good and productive person. Luckily for Nintendo, their latest entry, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, came out at just the perfect time.

With everyone stuck at home because of the pandemic, people were looking for an escape from the stressors of the real world. Lo and behold, here comes New Horizons, where your only worry is what you want your island to look like. Players start off having won a contest to develop a deserted island into a tropical community. You’ll only begin with two villagers and the ever-present Tom Nook and co., but in short time, you can transform the island in ways beyond imagining. Between gathering materials to craft furniture, creating custom designs for clothing and art panels, and (eventually) terraforming the ground and water entirely, the potential for creative expression is limitless. I’ve been to islands mimicking Hogwarts, the Mushroom Kingdom, even Joe Biden’s campaign HQ. My own home, Lazuli, I’ve transformed into a tropical resort community, with a marketplace, hot springs, and even a lavish hotel.

The best parts of these games are the villagers themselves, the “people” you’ll be interacting with every day. There are currently 397 villagers in the game, each an animal with its own unique design, birthday, catchphrase, and personality. If you’re lucky, you will start with some villagers that you might want to keep for the rest of the game (I’m looking at you, Audie). Personality types include jock, snooty, lazy, and preppy, but everyone is more than friendly enough to say hello. And if you’re anything like me, you might have spent hours using Nook Miles Tickets to find the perfect inhabitant to invite over. Which reminds me: there are two currencies. Bells, which are used to buy most items, and Nook Miles, which are earned by completing small challenges in the game and can be redeemed for all kinds of prizes, one of which is being able to travel to small, deserted islands. You may find a villager you are looking for, or you may end up on an island populated entirely by venomous scorpions. Traveling to Nook Miles Islands is a great way to gather resources, collect things to sell, and to potentially find a new friend.

As for what you can actually do in the game, the player’s job is to build up the island and make it renown enough for famous musician K.K. Slider to visit and perform a concert. As the Resident Representative, you get to decide where the stores and museum are located, where villagers can live, and even what items decorate the island. Doing all of this will cost lots of bells, however, which is why you can sell crafted furniture, fruit, bugs, fish, fossils, and just about everything else to Nook’s sons, Timmy and Tommy, who run the local store. Anything you don’t sell, you can donate to the museum, give as gifts to villager, or keep for yourself. With all of the items you collect, you’ll also want to expand your house, increasing its size and adding on rooms. This is a game that takes time and patience to play, since the game world follows real world time. Rome wasn’t built in a single sitting, or something like that. However, some players often use “time traveling” by adjusting the Switch’s internal clock and calendar to advance or retreat through time. There’s a wide debate among the AC community about whether this is a legitimate way to play the game. I say: let people play however they want, so long as they aren’t harming anyone else.

The community is actually one of the best I’ve interacted with, among gamers and fandoms alike. I’m not kidding in the slightest when I say everyone I’ve spoken with or heard about has been extremely polite, helpful, and want you to have an island that you are proud of. There’s an online trading market, where players can spend bells or dollars to purchase furniture, villagers, rare fossils, you name it. People have developed tools that help you keep track of daily tasks or upload a picture as a custom design. I’m sure there are people out there who enjoy scamming and trolling other players, but it’s so rare that it’s almost unheard of. Knowing how fans for other franchises can act to insiders and outsiders alike, it’s very heartening to know that there’s at least one gaming community that cares about its members.

Once you pay off your debt, arrange your island to your liking, and have filled up the museum, there really isn’t a whole lot to do. You can check in with your villagers daily, or craft something, or visit a Nook Miles Island, but by the time you create a five star island, you’ll have experienced most of what the game has to offer. After eight or so months, I realized that I was just about done with my island. I was as satisfied as I was going to be with it, without having someone come in and redesign the layout for me. Unfortunately, because of this content drought, you only get so much out of the game before it sits on the shelf, collecting dust while your island collects weeds. I used to look forward to what each new day would bring, but I haven’t returned to the island since the one-year anniversary in March. As of the most recent announcements, though, it looks like there will be new content coming at last. With the long-awaited return of The Roost café, new house customization options, cooking and farming, a new marketplace, and the Happy Home Paradise expansion pack, it seems like I’ll be sucked back into Lazuli before long.

Sometimes, some of the most fun I would have was just walking down the shoreline at night, gazing up at shooting stars, and enjoying the dulcet tones of the excellent soundtrack. And that’s ultimately the point of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. As I mentioned at the very beginning, this is a series that taught me to appreciate the little things, take time, and enjoy life. With everything going on in the world, and with all of the brutal and heavy story-centered games I usually play, it’s nice to be able to kick back at the beach every now and then.