Hello There,
Welcome to my review and early impressions of the newest installment of the popular Nintendo franchise of Animal Crossing. In this new game for the Nintendo Switch, you start in a deserted island where you must start your new life as one of the few inhabitants that just move into the new island.
When you moved in you also move in with a couple of animal villagers (chosen at random) from the hundreds of possible NPCs that the game has. Do keep in mind that if you are playing the game on one system with multiple people there is only one island for the whole system that means any user profiles moves into the same island and can modify it. You also move in with Tom Nook and his 2 nephews.
During a brief tutorial when you arrive given by Tom Nook you get to pick where to live by choosing where to put your tent on the island as well as several other tasks.
Once the tutorial day ends you get to have more freedom around the island and make choices on how to live on the island however you want. Do note that the tent you got from Tom Nook you must pay for it which the game tells you how during one of the tutorials and once you pay the tent you can upgrade to a house and pay the mortgage or upgrade again as you pay. One thing to note is that while you “pay” Tom Nook you can pay at your own pace and there is no time limit to pay him or any punishment.
Some of the activities and features of the game include: customizing the island all to your liking, talking with any of the people living in the island, making new objects using a feature on a phone and work table that Tom Nook gives you called “DIY projects” this allows you to build various tools using resources(wood, sticks, etc) found on the island to build useful objects which unlock new features or activities for example if you build using sticks a fishing rod you can fish in the many lakes and bodies of water of your island, or if you use sticks to build a net you can catch bugs on the island as well.
Speaking of fishing and bug catching you can donate anything you catch first to Tom Nook to get one of his friends to move into your island and then you can donate it to him which he will then eventually once you donate enough things will open a museum where the villagers can see your donations.
You might be wondering how do I make some money for buying objects or paying off my debt(s) to Tom Nook? Well, you can sell many of the things found on the island to earn bells(money), you can also sell any replicates of bugs and fish after you first donate 1 of each species to one of Tom Nook’s nephews who runs a shop and will buy your things for a good price.
This game like the previous games in the series is always playing even when you’re not playing and life of your villagers and the other animals inhabiting the island will keep going. There are also many holidays and events based on real-life events for example there is an Easter event during Easter in real life. There is also at the beginning a chance to choose your island based on the hemisphere where you live so seasons match your country for example in my case since I live in North America I chose the norther hemisphere island where Spring is in March, Summer in June, Fall in September and Winter in December. For the southern hemisphere, all of the seasons are inverted for example Summer is in December and Winter is in June.
This latest entry of the franchise also features online connectivity which allows you to visit other people’s islands or get your friends to visit your island. A benefit of visiting other people’s islands is that you can find many things that are not available in your island, for example, there are many fruits available in the game however only one tree is available in your island by visiting others you can find more fruits and you can plant them in your island. Keep in mind that eating fruit makes you stronger and you can also sell fruit to make some money and if the fruit comes from another island where it’s not natively found on your island the game will give you more money for selling it. I recommend planting foreign fruit so you can grow it on your island so you can sell it for a higher price.
Given the current crisis with COVID 19, I think this game is great to play during it and even afterwards. This type of game will help you relax and escape from what is happening in the world usually and even more especially the current crisis so if you need some escape and relaxation then I suggest you go to your new deserted island home and enjoy the beach, fishing, designing and many other great activities that this game has to offer.
I will give this game a 9/10 this game takes the best features from the previous games as well as new features and makes this a great Animal Crossing Experience. The only drawback that I could find for this game is the fact that not every user on the system gets their very own island that would have made this game better but other than that this is a definite Animal Crossing experience and a great Switch title to have.
Luis Alfonso Ruiz Portfolio 