At present entering its third year, Animal Crossing: New Horizons appears to exist coming to a shut, creating space for a potentialNew Horizons sequel or a new game in theCreature Crossing series.New Horizons has given many players the ability to take a virtual vacation from the stresses of everyday life. Yet, the slice-of-life simulation game has connected to omit changes and updates that would offer ameliorate long-term playability, creating frustration for those nonetheless enjoying ACNH's content. It is possible many of these large changes could be planned for an upcoming title in the serial.

Beast Crossing: New Horizons came out March 20, 2020, reimagining theBeast Crossing globe players were familiar with from smaller Nintendo consoles. The ability to escape to a customizable, tropical island gave many a much-needed way to connect with friends and offered players thousands of hours in design potential with furniture, landscaping tools, and custom patterns. Nonetheless, a lack of updates, DLC, and new events alongside a curt master-story narrative made long-term gameplay hard, andNew Horizons saw a steady decline in popularity throughout 2021.

While theHappy Dwelling Paradise DLC and 2.0 update forNew Horizons that released in the fall of 2021 gave players a short-term boost of content, the additions came aslope frustrating news from Nintendo. No further paid DLC or large-scale updates are currently planned for the game, which many take taken as an indicator new projects for theAnimal Crossing series could exist coming. Nonetheless, it is unlikely the new installment will be a sequel toNew Horizons, as the current location and story have largely been completed throughout the current game's lifespan.

Animate being Crossing: New Horizons' Lacks The Narrative To Gain A Sequel

One of the biggest reasonsAnimal Crossing: New Horizons likely won't receive a sequel is due to a lack of narrative content. ACNH'due south gameplay is primarily actor-driven. Instead of interacting with characters and edifice relationships, or finishing quests to progress an overarching narrative, players focus on upgrading their home, the town, and villager houses to obtain a high island rating. The primary goal, convincing K.One thousand. Slider to perform on the isle, tin can be achieved in just a few days with dedicated gameplay, leaving the histrion to then focus on island decorations and paying off home debts to Tom Nook.

A sequel toNew Horizons could be set on a dissimilar isle, and could introduce new bugs, fish, or resource, but would likely consist of the aforementioned gameplay as the kickoff championship. Players would accept to build a new island, upgrade their homes, create villager homes, and probable have another overarching goal that is achieved by improving the quality of the community. Because most of the key factors that fabricated Animal Crossing:New Horizons unique, like isle living, would be stale, gameplay would likely be dull and repetitive. Considering of this, it would exist more efficient to give players the ability to have multipleNew Horizons save files, and focus on designing a new game with fresh objectives.

It is possible an Creature Crossing:New Horizons sequel could exist designed to port a player's previous salvage information from the commencement game and allow them to accept their villagers, furniture, and accomplished house upgrades to a new setting. A new town location gear up in a desert, or in a rural community, could offer new goals while keeping a histrion's inventory, tools, and collections intact. However, considering much of the gameplay inAnimal Crossing comes from collecting, the developers would need to add a whole new inventory of obtainable items on top of what is already bachelor in the game. This could be overwhelming both for the developers and the players, peculiarly with the poorNew Horizons storage options that have bogged down gameplay.

What Animal Crossing's Side by side Game Could Learn From New Horizons

Instead of creating a sequel, Nintendo should accept a await at what did well and what was lackingin Fauna Crossing: New Horizons and apply it to an entirely new adventure for the Nintendo Switch. For example, anAnimal Crossing game where players accept the ability to travel and live in several towns with different themes could be an exciting change. The travel options inNew Horizons got players off their own islands, providing a sense of adventure and giving unique exploration opportunities. This type of game could also add "wild" locations filled with fruit, vegetables, collectibles, and resources that weren't inNew Horizons, giving fans an entirely new experience with similar mechanics.

AnBrute Crossing game that allows players to open their own store within a town could likewise be a fun twist on gameplay. Instead of relying onNew Horizons' Timmy and Tommy to buy items for Bells, players could create their own specialized retail location. Here, goods could be sold to both villagers and visiting friends, with prices prepare by the role player that must be changed based on supply and need. Players could fifty-fifty accept to compete against rival locations in town or pick a specialty like food, article of clothing, or piece of furniture, offering adept reply value for those wanting to attempt a new save with a different focus. These functions could expand the crafting systems ofNew Horizons, and encourage players to use customization kits to create more valuable unique items.

Additionally, a newAnimal Crossing game could focus on fixing the areas inNew Horizons that have remained consistently problematic. The crafting system however lacks a bulk-arts and crafts option after two years of updates, forcing players to arts and crafts items one at a time. Players besides must have the needed items for crafting in their New Horizonsinventory, with the crafting mechanics unable to admission what is being stored in a player'due south home. Because pocket space is frustrating limited, this requires players to continuously switch back and forth between storage and their crafting tabular array. Providing quality-of-life fixes could make the adjacent game in the series more fun to play, and offer a more streamlined and immersive simulation experience.

While having another adventure with theNew Horizons island theme could be highly-seasoned to some, information technology is more probable Nintendo volition put time and free energy into creating a newCreature Crossing adventure for players to bask. However, it could be some time before a newAnimal Crossing game is appear, with viii years separatingNew Leaf andNew Horizons. Despite this, the popularity of Brute Crossing: New Horizonscould help speed upwardly the time until a new release, and hopefully, players will exist able to create new towns with a new and fun theme one-time in the near hereafter.

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About The Writer

Laura Greyness (863 Articles Published)

Laura Gray is a Games Editor and Writer for Screen Rant and follows all things cozy and slightly macabre. They have a habit of drinking far also much coffee and getting hung up on the existential possibilities of farming sim games. Laura is a reoccurring D&D podcast guest and is likely fabricated of infinite dust.

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