It’s no surprise that someAnimal Crossingplayers are borderline frustrated by the lack of updates and quality-of-life improvements they hoped to see inAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, but don’t expect that the next game will be any different. Though tedious and repetitive at times,Animal Crossingis the way it is on purpose.
When you think ofAnimal Crossing, you probably aren’t thinking of words like fast-paced and exciting, but rather words like calm and relaxing. This is due largely in part to the fact thatAnimal Crossingis entirely designed to evoke that exact response: a reminder to take things slow, even if it is to the frustration of many players.
Animal Crossing Wants You To Slow Down
Animal Crossing Forces You To Stop & Smell The Roses
Nowadays, everything in the world seems to be in a constant race to occupy the attention of the masses. Social media, in particular, is now centered almost entirely around engaging viewers in short, quick, videos and little more than that. For this and a plethora of other reasons, people have come to accept the world as simply that — fast. When things aren’t fast, it raises frustration or discontentment for most, as is often the case withAnimal Crossing.
Biggest Risks Of Time-Traveling In Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Time-traveling in Animal Crossing: New Horizons can lead to the loss of time or Bells if players are not careful. Here are the biggest risks.
Outside mobile titles, games operating on a real clock are mostly uncommon.TheSimsis another life simulation gamethat has a version of the traditional passing of time, but even it allows you to fast-forward time to speed through monotonous tasks.Animal Crossingis unique in this way as everything about it operates similarly to how you would, or should, spend your real day.It’s entirely designed to slow you down, give you a moment to breathe, and remind you to enjoy small things.
Animal Crossing’s Mainline Games Are About Taking It Easy
Even The Smallest Details Of Animal Crossing Remind You To Take A Moment To Relax
While the idea of a game being designed to slow the player down might seem a bit ridiculous, there’s no doubt that it’s true here.The concept of taking it easy shows up in almost every carefully designed aspect of the mainline games. For example, those who have taken time tovisit Brewster inAnimal Crossingmight be thinking"I couldn’t imagine waiting this long for coffee,“but that’s the point. A coffee run is perhaps one of the most universally understood quick things, as everyone is looking to grab their coffee and get back to their day.
Animal Crossing Players Still Have One Big Problem With The Island Rating System
Animal Crossing: New Horizons players have executed some beautiful island designs, but even some of the best don’t get that elusive five-star rating.
Brewster openly challenges this idea by running a café that’s both slow and peaceful, going as far as gently pouring your cup in absolutely no rush, even if it’s to go. Furthermore,the shops inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonseven force you to purchase items one at a time and limit what you can get each day. This might just sound like poor game design or something to be patched and improved upon, but odds are, it won’t be.These aspects ofAnimal Crossingaren’t an oversight, they’re intentional.
The Next Animal Crossing Game Shouldn’t Reinvent The Series
Providing The Updates & Features Some Players Ask For Would Defeat The Purpose Of Animal Crossing
Ifthe nextAnimal Crossinggamewas to seemingly fix everything some believe is wrong, it would cease to beAnimal Crossing.Cozy games, a genre thatAnimal Crossingfalls into, are designed for those quiet moments, allowing you to appreciate little details and overall progress. Giving players constant updates, the ability to fast-forward time, purchase items in bulk, or any of the other apparent quality-of-life improvements would forceAnimal Crossingto lose the game’s slow pacing and thus everything it’s designed for.
“I’ve Been Bamboozled”: Animal Crossing: New Horizons Player Finds Out Their Precious Art Is A Fake Thanks To Redd
Redd tricked a player into buying a fake piece of art from his storefront, and now the player is left with the devastating truth of earning bells.
Despite its credits,Animal Crossingisn’t designed with a formal ending in mind, and it intends for players to continue long past the credits. It was never meant to receive a steady flow of updates long-term; otherwise, you’d never have a chance to stop and enjoy the daily maintenance tasks of your island.Although it’s exciting to think of all the new changes to come to the franchise in the future, the easy-going nature needs to remainor everythingAnimal Crossingrepresents may be lost.
