The Ultimate Guide to Animal Crossing

Updates from the Latest Nintendo Direct!

Island life is a 24 hour a day experience! Start each day with the latest news and events from the one and only Tom Nook during his island wide broadcast. Make use of the excellent facilities; the sale of everyday goods, advice on island living, DIY workshops and the use of a fully functional airport!

Make use of the airport all year round, invite friends to your island through the internet or local wireless and even visit other players’ island paradise, enjoy up to 8 people on an island, simultaneously. Or if you don’t fancy a trip, why not send messages to other players via an in-game postal service?

Experience the brand-new Nook Mileage programme. Collect Nook miles and pay your way through the getaway package and even receive in-game rewards to truly enrich your island experience.

Watch out!

It’s not as easy as it seems. Watch out for dangerous creatures such as wasps, scorpions and spiders- if you get stung it could be incredibly dangerous. Make sure you stock up on medicine, available at the helpful resident services, to help the irritation. Look out for castaway’s that need your help, keep them company and bring them back to health.

Another fantastic feature is the ability to build your very own house on the island! That’s right, upgrade from your tent and give yourself more room to decorate; altering patterns and furniture, essentially become your very own interior designer!

The time has finally come for another addition of the charming, wholesome franchise that is Animal Crossing. This new addition to the franchise comes in the form of ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’! This aptly named game has been highly anticipated amongst devoted Animal Crossing fans, as well people wanting to experience a game that will truly make you happy.

Exclusive to the Nintendo Switch, the hype around this game is real and we cant wait!

A Background to The Franchise

The Animal Crossing games are wonderful simulation games developed by Nintendo, which have been around since 2001, there are five main games in the series- with Animal Crossing: New Horizons being the fifth. Overall this franchise has been a huge success, selling over 30 million units so far, as well as gaining a massive cult following! If you’re not totally sure on what the Animal Crossing games consist of, don’t worry, we’ll give you a quick run-down on the gameplay of this Nintendo fan favourite.

What is Animal Crossing?

The wonderful world of Animal Crossing is inhabited by curious anthropomorphised animals living a humble life, carrying out relaxing day-to-day activities and going about their day. You have the lucky role of a human living amongst these charming characters!

These games have fantastically open-ended gameplay, allowing you to potter around this world and have lovely exchanges with the members of the community. These exchanges help establish relationships within the community and can lead to taking on tasks to help the character out - who wouldn’t want to help one of these cute characters out? Completing these tasks usually results in payment, in the form of goods or ‘bells’ (the currency in Animal Crossing). Bells allow you to purchase materials and items to decorate your living space.See for yourself, check out the Nintendo Direct which revealed the charming world of New Horizons.

There really is so much you can do within these wholesome games, and many relaxing hours you could put into them. If this sort of game entices you, you’ll be sure to adore the new Animal Crossing game- you don’t even have to play any of the originals to appreciate how wonderful Animal Crossing: New Horizons is. You can check out all things Animal Crossing right here.

Now, for the main attraction… Information around the brand- new Animal Crossing game!

Let's Take a Tom Nook at The New Game

Welcome to Island life!

This unique edition to the series will allow you to escape from modern life and give you the opportunity of a lifetime - starting a new life in a Deserted Island, all thanks to the charming character, Tom Nook. Animal Crossing: New Horizons promises to give us something we’ve always longed for, freedom, and from what we’ve seen so far - it won’t disappoint!

From the moment you are transported to this wonderful island, you can hear the sea and feel the breeze, it’s paradise, and thanks to Tom Nook, you get your very own chunk of paradise to call your own. What you do with your space is entirely up to you; there are plenty of customisation options for your character, home and the landscape around you - you can literally treat the place as your own.

You get to explore the island and become part of the community through interacting with charming NPC’s (non-player character’s) and helping around the island. Completed tasks result in reward! As you explore the island, you’ll find various materials for crafting, utilising a brand-new crafting system. Who needs to buy furniture when you could just make it?

What Can We Expect from This Game?

First and foremost, you can expect an incredible, relaxing island adventure like no other, creating your very own island paradise! Not to mention a completely new and refreshed type of relationship with the animals living on the island, get ready to be charmed. Characters you might not have cared for, may just become your favourite! In an interview with Nintendo’s Aya Kyogoku told IGN “There’s a lot of people who say ‘Hey, I didn’t really care about these two animals at first, but actually, now that I’ve moved to this island together with them, they’re really starting to grow on me.’ and start to have a new type of relationship with them.” You can check out the full interview here.

Impressive Weather System

If the thought of an ‘Island paradise’ made you think it would be sunny all year round, we’ve got some news for you… Animal Crossing: New Horizons boasts a fantastic seasonal weather system! Depending on where you live, the game will pick up on the seasonal changes. Meaning your character can enjoy the snowy Winter, the crunchy leaves of Autumn, the blossom in Spring and the beautiful warmth of Summer all at the same time as you!

Revamped Crafting System

As we mentioned before, another brand-new bit of content to Animal Crossing: New Horizon’s involves how you craft, the game’s crafting system has been massively revamped! We now have “DIY Recipes” whereby you can scavenge your own materials, things like; clay, tree branches, stone etc in order to craft and create a variety of items. Items such as tools and furniture to help your adventures and customise your part of the island.

Share Your Island with Friends with Local and Online Multiplayer

An awesome feature of this new game is its Local and Online multiplayer capabilities. Animal Crossing: New Horizons will allow you to play online and share the island with up to eight other players! You can check out everybody else’s island retreat and maybe even take away some inspiration for your own area of the island. If online multiplayer isn’t your thing, you can enjoy up to four player local multiplayer and enjoy the fun with your more local friends!

Aside from all the new bits of content this game boasts, you can still expect all the goodness and iconic features of previous Animal Crossing games. You’ll enjoy the wholesome art style, charming NPC’s and relaxing gameplay which Animal Crossing is notorious for.

One more thing! We’ve got to mention - completely unbiased of course - if you pre-order Animal Crossing: New Horizons through GAME, you will receive a fantastic GAME exclusive pre-order bonus. This bonus comes in the form of a gorgeous looking Animal Crossing Tote Bag, you can check it out and pre-order right here!

Final Words

So, we hope that helped expand your knowledge on the wonderful universe of Animal Crossing. This game is certainly not one to miss and we look forward to hearing tales of your island getaway! Will you be cancelling your holiday plans and going to Tom Nook’s island instead?