Now thatAnimal Crossing: Pocket Campis a paid and offline mobile app (known asPocket Camp Complete), it’s practically a full-fledged mainline game in the long-running cozy series. Since its launch in 2017,Pocket Camphas been given love by its developers constantly, with updates that add adorable new items like outfits and unique furniture sets. Alongside this special attention arethe villagers, which are the real reason thatPocket Campis so funand why it should be used as an example of where theAnimal Crossingseries needs to go next.
The villagers inPocket Campare superior in every way to their counterparts inAnimal Crossing: New Horizons. This is primarily because thePocket Campvillagers have fuller and more realistic personalities than inNew Horizons.On top of that huge difference, players are able to interact with their villagers in far more unique ways than in the Switch game, which mostly limits players to having repeated conversations every day and exchanging gifts.
Pocket Camp’s Villager Interactions Are Less Tedious
More Variety And Personality
The biggest issue with the villagers inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsis their repetitiveness.Speaking to any random villager will likely give the same dozen or so conversations, especially if they’re in the same or similar personality types. Not only are the conversations a little more varied inPocket Camp, but there are far more ways to play with villagers on an everyday basis.Pocket Campplayers can speak to villagers, give their advice on clothing or gifting options, dress up their villagers, complete requests, and find lost items. While some of these interactions - like finding lost items - are available inNew Horizons, they’re less fleshed-out, can take too long, and can be more repetitive than inPCC.
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One Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp player has recreated one of the game’s many hairstyles down to the wisps of hair emerging from the buns.
There’s simply more to do withPocket Campbeyond just having the same interactions and giving gifts until they hand you a framed photo like inNew Horizons.The villagers inPocket Camphave more life in them, sinceplayers have to earn friendships by speaking to them dailyand help them around the campsite. While the animals inPCCare all nice, it’s worth pointing out a flaw ofNew Horizonsas a mainline AC game: it’s the first mainline entry whereevery single villager in that game is nice from the first introduction. None of the sass or plain rudeness from earlier games is present, which makes for a less meaningful experience, since none of the friendship is developed over time.
You Can Do So Much More With Villagers In Pocket Camp
Villagers Have More Depth And More To Do
Not only are the interactions better inAnimal Crossing: Pocket Camp, but there’s so much more to do with them than just speak and gift presents every day. For example,Pocket Camphas a feature called Memories, which calls for some special requirements like villager friendship levels and specific furniture, and shows a small cutscene. These scenes are generally cute interactions between the villagers, like The Library Super Sleuth, which shows Raymond helping Beau and Sylvana find the book they wanted to read. Thesesnippets of memory bring a lot of personality to the villagersand give players much more of a reason to put in all the effort into befriending them.
Alongside deeper friendships, the villagers inPocket Camphave more to do around the campsite, which is partially due tothe sheer number of interactive items that the mobile game received over timecompared to the limited sets of furniture inNew Horizons. InNew Horizons, the most villagers can do to interact with their island home is to sit on the ground, sit on a chair, pretend to water flowers, or chase bugs around despitethe number of items that seem like they should be interactive.
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Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete players who want to spruce up their campsites can start with these custom design imports from New Horizons.
InPocket Camp,villagers can interact with a huge range of items. They can turn off lights, water faucets, and stoves for small interactions that make the camp feel more lived in. Additionally, they can sleep in beds and occasionally have nightmares, which the player can wake them up from. Adorable items from other Nintendo titles, like question blocks and Koopa shells fromSuper Mario,are interactable as villagers will jump for the block and make noise on the shells. The exact same themed items are inNew Horizons, but without any of the interactivity.
What The Next Animal Crossing Can Learn From Pocket Camp
Villagers Will Need A Huge Upgrade
As a series, a focus for most players is their interactions with villagers.Animal Crossing: New Horizonsdropped the ball in that respect, since itsvillagers are mostly categorized cardboard cutoutswith six different personality types.Speaking to any single villager inNew Horizonswill give the same result as speaking to another. Even receiving DIY recipes, a daily ritual, will net the same four or five tired phrases about bugs whispering or being a trendsetter. This lack of personality and repetitiveness is boring, especially for a game that players want to play for months or even years.
What the nextAnimal Crossinggame needs to do is puta much bigger focus on villager personalities and the unique ways that players can build relationships with themthat reflect in their dialogue. The town, island, or city that villagers inhabit need to feel more lived in, which can be achieved by letting them interact with more items placed by the player. The most important villager function that needs to return is earning friendship, rather than having every villager be a best friend to the player straight away like inAnimal Crossing:New Horizons.
