⭐✨All Reviews in one thread ✨⭐

[jiojiop]

Metacritic Avg: 91​

Below are some select reviews from larger sites that are in English (a full list of reviews, including non-English ones can be seen by clicking the Metacritic link):

SITE	SCORE	QUOTE
Famitsu	9/9/10/10	"While including all the fun features throughout the series, they also solved all the detailed parts that I wished they would’ve done before"
GameSpot	8	"After 17 days, my biggest concern is that not much has upgraded in a while. New Horizons certainly has a slower pace than other Animal Crossing games, partially because you have to work to get things up and running on the island at the start."
Nintendo Life	10	"Every moment is unashamedly blissful, with excellently-written characters that truly feel alive and an island paradise that gives infinitely back more than you put in."
IGN	9	"It's important to note that New Horizons has built-in penalties for abusing time travel, so Nintendo recognizes time travel is part of Animal Crossing, but lightly discourages it"
Destructoid	8.5	"it's what I've wanted Animal Crossing to be for many years."
Polygon	–	"I find my general anxiety slowly subside as I run through my town, water my plants, and build furniture for the sassy chicken gentleman living down by the beach. It’s exactly what I need right now."
Kotaku	–	"Everything and everybody is meaningful, not just because they can be polished into something beautiful but because they were already beautiful to begin with."
Eurogamer	–	"probably the best this series has ever had to offer and therefore one of Nintendo's very best games to date"
GamesRadar	9	"although that comes with some time-based frustrations, that urge to just spend 'five more minutes' on your island deepens with every passing day."
Ars Technica	–	"A few early, tutorial-like missions, including building the island's first store and welcoming the island's first new additional residents, can only be accessed by [the 1st island resident]. [Only they] can build some of the biggest updates for each island, from a new series of bridges and incline ramps, to sillier customizations like the town's flag and song."
US Gamer	9	"Animal Crossing: New Leaf remains the pinnacle of the series, but New Horizons brings with it a bunch welcome quality of life changes. The addition of crafting isn't a burden as I worried it would be."
Nintendo Insider	10	"an essential purchase for anyone that owns a Nintendo Switch. As heartwarming as it is wholesome, Nintendo has delivered meaningful changes that help to structure your peaceful island existence."
Game Informer	9	"Plenty of materials are available to replace broken tools, making the problem about scarcity and more about filling time"
GameXplain	Loved	New Horizons is by far the best entry in the series
Nintendo World Report	–	"The villagers in particular really made me smile as they have more animations, fun dialogues and roam more freely across the town."
VG24/7	100	"New Horizons is everything I hoped it would be, and it’s yet another stellar release that showcases a confident Nintendo at its best. It is excellent, and is easily another must-own Switch title"
EGM	–	"while any clothing items you put into your home’s storage are then directly accessible from clothing-related furniture, none of your crafting materials gain that ability, even if you’ve got a crafting bench right there in your house. You’ll have far too much to pick up or carry around to constantly have all of those materials on hand at all times, so crafting becomes a game of checking the recipe for what you want to make, swapping in materials, building it, swapping out materials, and repeating."
The Telegraph	100	"within the first two weeks, New Horizons has defied all my expectations. Encompassing everything from the humble beginnings which make the series welcoming to newcomers to the extensive customisation options that fans have been dreaming of for years, New Horizons represents the apotheosis for the series so far."

NEW INFO

• IGN confirms that the max villager count is 10

• the first person to play the game is designated Island Representative. Only they can play tutorial missions like building the first store, placing the 1st villagers' homes, build bridges and ramps, and change town flag and song

• plenty of materials are available to replace broken tools (no real scarcity per day)

• Nintendo Life confirmed no hourly music until Resident Services building is built (upgrade from tent). Eurogamer says: "my first 30 hours of play were conducted to a single piece of music rather than the evolving soundtrack of older games"

• GameXplain didn't come across gyroids at all...

• you can customize your Nook Phone case with custom designs too!

• IGN lists persimmon as a possible starting fruit

• Kotaku confirmed that for new villagers moving in, you'll be "crafting furniture and decorations for both the inside and outside of their homes" using recipes that Nook provides

• Kotaku: "I managed to find a nice, private beach on the backside of the island that I haven’t told anyone about yet. Doesn’t appear to hide anything special; it’s just been nice to head back there and chill for a bit. "

• Nintendo Life says you can't use touchscreen to make custom designs

• Nintendo World Report says music tracks are purchaseable early on so you can have "different zones" with different tracks, likely by placing a radio there

• Game Informer picture confirms villagers can get sick again!

• EGM confirms we now have 300 mail slots, up from 10 (lol)

• GameXplain confirmed the landscaping and waterscaping permits can be purchased for 6,000 nook miles each

• IGN says your villagers assemble to do yoga together

 

[tajikey]

If that were my review on GameSpot, that description would have me scoring the game a 10.

Also, metacritic is at 92 with 16 reviews, all positive. https://www.metacritic.com/game/switch/animal-crossing-new-horizons/critic-reviews

 

[jiojiop]

If that were my review on GameSpot, that description would have me scoring the game a 10.

Also, metacritic is at 92 with 16 reviews, all positive. https://www.metacritic.com/game/switch/animal-crossing-new-horizons/critic-reviews

Yeah it's linked in my OP already lol. But the avg is pending still.

 

[tajikey]

Yeah it's linked in my OP already lol. But the avg is pending still.

The Nintendo life review is wonderfully written. This game could very well be a generational entry.

 

[Khaelis]

"GameSpot gave it an 8?! REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

 

[DJStarstryker]

Here's Ars Technica's review./ I'm still reading it, but here's something interesting I found.

"Whoever turns the game on first is dubbed the "Resident Representative." Tom Nook immediately puts most of the island's progress on their shoulders. A few early, tutorial-like missions, including building the island's first store and welcoming the island's first new additional residents, can only be accessed by this person. Logically, that makes a certain sense, since all players are able to affect the island; why would Tom Nook ask each player to build the island's "first" general goods store? But Nintendo didn't come up with alternative island-building ventures for each additional resident who moves in.

Worse, only the Resident Representative can build some of the biggest updates for each island, from a new series of bridges and incline ramps (designed to let players move more quickly through the series' largest villages yet) to sillier customizations like the town's flag and song. If you'd like to contribute to any of this stuff or any of the quirky village-building missions (particularly an early mission that revolves around inviting a "celebrity" to your island), secondary players will have to coordinate in real life with the Resident Representative."

So... we have the same problem as before where only the original player (ie the mayor from NL) can do certain things and the other players cannot.

 

[JKDOS]

There's always been penalties for time traveling. Many are also outcomes of not playing in long periods of times.

Weeds, villagers moving, bed head, turnips rotting.

I am interested in seeing if there are any new ones. If there is an ingame option to change the clock as in previous games, it would be very easy for Nintendo to tell who is misusing the system, as opposed to system clock changes. There probably won't be much penalty for going forwards or backwards a few hours within the same date.

 

[visibleghost]

built in penalties for time traveling? do you think there will be anything new to this? I assume turnips will still rot but aside from that I can't remember that many downsides to time traveling in previous games (aside from the town getting overgrown, the villagers forgetting you, missing move outs and your hair being messed up if you jump too far)

 

[JKDOS]

Here's Ars Technica's review./ I'm still reading it, but here's something interesting I found.

"Whoever turns the game on first is dubbed the "Resident Representative." Tom Nook immediately puts most of the island's progress on their shoulders. A few early, tutorial-like missions, including building the island's first store and welcoming the island's first new additional residents, can only be accessed by this person. Logically, that makes a certain sense, since all players are able to affect the island; why would Tom Nook ask each player to build the island's "first" general goods store? But Nintendo didn't come up with alternative island-building ventures for each additional resident who moves in.

Worse, only the Resident Representative can build some of the biggest updates for each island, from a new series of bridges and incline ramps (designed to let players move more quickly through the series' largest villages yet) to sillier customizations like the town's flag and song. If you'd like to contribute to any of this stuff or any of the quirky village-building missions (particularly an early mission that revolves around inviting a "celebrity" to your island), secondary players will have to coordinate in real life with the Resident Representative."

So... we have the same problem as before where only the original player (ie the mayor from NL) can do certain things and the other players cannot.

As a sole owner of the game, and Switch, I don't mind this. Let's remember, in New Leaf, it was more or less the same.

 

[Khaelis]

Nintendo Life's review feels the most genuine of all of them so far.

 

[DJStarstryker]

The Ars review is long, so I'm picking out other more interesting quotes for tl;dr reasons:

"As I mentioned earlier, AC:NH's towns are the biggest in a console entry yet: 36 "square acres," if each acre measures 16 objects long by 16 objects wide. (As a comparison point, the towns in the 2012 3DS game measure 30 square acres.) "

" This is met with a welcome jump in default "pocket" inventory size, up to 20 items and tools (some of which stack) at the outset and expandable to at least 40 items within the game's first two weeks. If that's not enough, your home comes with a massive storage pool by default, and that grows every time you pay off a Nook loan for an expansion."

"From a technology perspective, all of these updated visuals still lock to a firm 30 frames-per-second refresh, all while maxing the Switch's pixel resolution (1080p docked, 720p in portable mode). Like in older games, the game's camera remains fixed on a limited perspective, and AC:NH seems to make the most of this FOV limitation by turning the dial up on every handsome visual effect imaginable."

"You'll have to play for about a week before you unlock the game's "different song every hour of the day" tweak, and for some players, this soothing, masterfully orchestrated soundtrack will be worth the cost of entry alone. "

"Beyond my multiplayer gripes, my biggest complaint is the new game's lack of touchscreen support. " This is in reference to controls. They specifically say you can use the touchscreen for designs, writing letters, and drawing on the bulletin board.

"One small complaint I have that many players may shrug off is that the crafting system includes one apparent drawback in the game's first few weeks: tools that break. Roughly once every 36 hours, I have to use crafting materials to replace items like the fishing rod, the net, and the shovel, because these things keep breaking (and they break more frequently in the first four days, before you unlock "sturdier" recipes). "

- - - Post Merge - - -

As a sole owner of the game, and Switch, I don't mind this. Let's remember, in New Leaf, it was more or less the same.

Sure, I'm aware that it was the same. I pointed that out myself. But I wanted to pull out this quote because it felt like people were assuming all players could do everything.

 

[niko2]

No gyroids? I still hope it's not true
Maybe they didn't see one because it never rained? Hopefully....

 

[Shishi-Oh]

Here's Ars Technica's review./ I'm still reading it, but here's something interesting I found.

"Whoever turns the game on first is dubbed the "Resident Representative." Tom Nook immediately puts most of the island's progress on their shoulders. A few early, tutorial-like missions, including building the island's first store and welcoming the island's first new additional residents, can only be accessed by this person. Logically, that makes a certain sense, since all players are able to affect the island; why would Tom Nook ask each player to build the island's "first" general goods store? But Nintendo didn't come up with alternative island-building ventures for each additional resident who moves in.

Worse, only the Resident Representative can build some of the biggest updates for each island, from a new series of bridges and incline ramps (designed to let players move more quickly through the series' largest villages yet) to sillier customizations like the town's flag and song. If you'd like to contribute to any of this stuff or any of the quirky village-building missions (particularly an early mission that revolves around inviting a "celebrity" to your island), secondary players will have to coordinate in real life with the Resident Representative."

So... we have the same problem as before where only the original player (ie the mayor from NL) can do certain things and the other players cannot.

Potentially hot take: This actually doesn't sound like a bad thing in certain situations lol. I can imagine that this would be beneficial for someone who has to share their console with younger siblings and doesn't want them wreaking havoc on the island's layout.
But otherwise, these restrictions are kinda disappointing. In my particular case, I'm sharing my console with one of my older relatives, so it's upsetting to think that anything she does will likely have little impact on our island's development.

 

[Khaelis]

Huh.. Nintendo Life's review mentions there's no hourly music until Resident Services upgrades after one week.

 

[DJStarstryker]

Huh.. Nintendo Life's review mentions there's no hourly music until Resident Services upgrades after one week.

Yeah, Ars pointed that out too. I find that really weird. But maybe it's not so bad.

 

[JKDOS]

"From a technology perspective, all of these updated visuals still lock to a firm 30 frames-per-second refresh, all while maxing the Switch's pixel resolution (1080p docked, 720p in portable mode). Like in older games, the game's camera remains fixed on a limited perspective, and AC:NH seems to make the most of this FOV limitation by turning the dial up on every handsome visual effect imaginable."

30FPS even when docked? That is the most disappointing thing about the game thus far :O

 

[Khaelis]

30FPS even when docked? That is the most disappointing thing about the game thus far :O

Games do not need to be over 30 FPS to be good.

 

[empressbethie]

Thank you for putting all this together!! Has anyone seen anything about villager numbers?

 

[DJStarstryker]

From Nintendo Life: "Bedding, cushions, even your NookPhone case can have whatever sordid graphics you wish plastered all over them." YEAH. I didn't see confirmation of putting our own designs on the phone case before. That's neat!

 

[Fey]

Guess the French guy was right after all!
From the Kotaku play journal:

• after a few days we are promoted to choose locations for three new villager houses
• we are tasked with crafting decorations for both the inside and outside of their houses!

I really hope we have some input into what goes outside, but it’s very possible we’re just following specific lists for each animal a la Pocket Camp.