Do you ever get overwhelmed with NH?

[eeveelovee]

As someone who was an avid New Leaf player, I had basically played that game inside an out. I was never bored, and inspiration never ran out.

However... there's something about New Horizons.. where when I go to plan out my island, and how I want it to look, and decorate, I feel more overwhelmed than when I planned my New Leaf towns?

Maybe NH has a wider collection of furniture and items, and I can't figure out how to decorate with them?

Maybe people have created these elaborate islands where I feel like any island I create would be mediocre to those islands?

I never felt like this playing New Leaf!!! Tell me someone else feels the same?

 

[Mountain_Elements]

I get overwhelmed, but not really with the decorating part. I just put whatever items I have wherever I have room in order to get the points/rating I need. ACNH is my first Animal Crossing game as well as the first game I remember playing that happens in Real Time. So it feels like if I don't play every single day, I'll miss something. I've set a goal for myself of playing one full year so that I experience all of the special events at least once, but then I remember how I didn't start trying to complete my catalogue until after summer ended so I'm missing a ton of summer shopping items. I'll probably aim for playing through the end of June and then take a break.

 

[Sheando]

For sure! I think for me it's the fact that we have a lot more space to work with, and items can be placed outdoors, but there's a shortage of large items that look suited to the outdoor space. In NL I loved my public works projects--the black cube sculpture, the windmill, etc. NH has a few of those as well, but many are themed (the carnival items, for example, which are very cool but only lend themselves to one specific concept) and most of the furniture looks really out of place outdoors. The vehicles require an entire urban/suburban aesthetic to justify their presence, otherwise it's just a jeep in the middle of a field. The lighthouse, while pretty, is literally skinnier than the player character. How am I going to place bookshelves outside in a way that looks natural, or clothing racks, or plates of food? And small items like wooden chairs or fishing poles or bug models look awkward all by themselves, but then adding tons of small items looks cluttered and unnatural.

Not saying people can't make amazing, natural-looking towns with the material we have--I've seen plenty! But I don't remember struggling like this in NL. I feel like the design competency bar has gotten a LOT higher and it's contributed to player burnout. I played with my partner for months after release, as he is also a big AC fan, but he eventually dropped off because he was overwhelmed and stressed every time he tried to tackle the enormous amount of empty space on the island with no direction. We have far fewer buildings (which are part of the visual size balancing that prevents that cluttered look) and almost no interactable items that might provide an organizational centerpoint for a whole area. I like the idea of outdoor decor, but this is one of the main things I think the next game needs to address. Not everybody is looking for a Sims level of control; players need to be able to opt in to some decorative guide rails so they can progress in a way that looks pleasing to them.

 

[eeveelovee]

For sure! I think for me it's the fact that we have a lot more space to work with, and items can be placed outdoors, but there's a shortage of large items that look suited to the outdoor space. In NL I loved my public works projects--the black cube sculpture, the windmill, etc. NH has a few of those as well, but many are themed (the carnival items, for example, which are very cool but only lend themselves to one specific concept) and most of the furniture looks really out of place outdoors. The vehicles require an entire urban/suburban aesthetic to justify their presence, otherwise it's just a jeep in the middle of a field. The lighthouse, while pretty, is literally skinnier than the player character. How am I going to place bookshelves outside in a way that looks natural, or clothing racks, or plates of food? And small items like wooden chairs or fishing poles or bug models look awkward all by themselves, but then adding tons of small items looks cluttered and unnatural.

Not saying people can't make amazing, natural-looking towns with the material we have--I've seen plenty! But I don't remember struggling like this in NL. I feel like the design competency bar has gotten a LOT higher and it's contributed to player burnout. I played with my partner for months after release, as he is also a big AC fan, but he eventually dropped off because he was overwhelmed and stressed every time he tried to tackle the enormous amount of empty space on the island with no direction. We have far fewer buildings (which are part of the visual size balancing that prevents that cluttered look) and almost no interactable items that might provide an organizational centerpoint for a whole area. I like the idea of outdoor decor, but this is one of the main things I think the next game needs to address. Not everybody is looking for a Sims level of control; players need to be able to opt in to some decorative guide rails so they can progress in a way that looks pleasing to them.

I couldn't have said this better myself! You really nailed it with the "organizational centerpoint".... I think that's what I have been struggling with... filling space and gaps and just not knowing what to fill it with, when before, we had Public Works Projects for that sort of thing.

 

[VanitasFan26]

Well yeah especially with terraforming can be tiresome when you're spending too much time having to make perfect rivers and perfect cliffs. I've done that several times in the past and it drove me crazy mentally. I just spent way too much time.

 

[-Blue-]

NH has left me more underwhelmed at times tbh. But terraforming is such a big obstacle because of the way they made it so slow and tedious that doing any bit feels overwhelming in that sense. But more so in dread that if I don't like what I did I have to undo/redo whatever was there before. It would be nice to just clean the slate.

I remember in order to do some idea with terraforming that I had to dig down to tier 1 to make a tunnel to go all the way to the area I wanted (because most of the stuff was established and I didn't want to change up what was already set) And I kept running into an area where there was a tree, or a cliff, or a body of water and I'd have to go up to cover the river, rip out the tree, break the cliff ect. All just so I could make a grave that wasn't buried yet. And then I had to slowly fill back in what I did. It was time consuming and probably not worth it.

Could had been done way easier if they didn't make the way terraforming works so difficult. It really needs a huge QoL.

 

[Xara]

Yes! It’s actually one of the main reasons why I haven’t played in forever.

I completely flattened my island last year in hopes that it’d be a clean slate for my island and give me the push I needed to finally start decorating and terraforming, but unfortunately it just overwhelmed me further. Trying to decorate has been stressful for me in every AC game I’ve played, so it’s kinda a bummer that New Horizons focuses so heavily on decorating. I never finished my New Leaf town as trying to figure out how I wanted to decorate was too overwhelming for me, so I was really hoping to do different with New Horizons. And yet, almost 4 years later, my island is even more barren than how it started.

I’m so overwhelmed by all of the possibilities of designs I could do that I can never decide on anything. There are so many items, so many customization options for said items, so many custom designs, etc. There are so many things I could create with terraforming. So many flower combos I could use, and then there are trees, bushes, fencing, etc. It doesn’t help that my island feels like it has so much space, especially since I’ve flattened it. I don’t know how to fill it all, or how to make areas flow together nicely. I really wish there were more buildings in New Horizons to help fill up some of the space.

I’ve actually been thinking about trying to tackle my island again these past couple of days, so it’s a funny coincidence that you posted this thread when you did! I spent about an hour last night looking at island inspiration photos and videos, and considering that alone overwhelmed me, I… do not have high hopes that I’ll be able to get any actual decorating done, LOL.

The only advice I really have (for others and for myself) is to focus on one area at a time. Of course decorating is going to be overwhelming if you’re thinking about what you want to do with your entire island. It might be a little less overwhelming to tackle if you only focus on one spot at a time. Most of the inspiration pics/vids I looked at last night were for island entrances, including ones with resident services close to the airport (which is what I have). I think I’m going to start there, and see how it goes.

It’s also important to note that your island does not have to compare to anyone else’s. It’s not a competition. It doesn’t have to look like one of those crowded, picture-perfect islands that you see on social media, unless you want it to look like that. All that matters is that you like your island and that you’re happy with it. No island is mediocre. No island is boring. Even barren, undecorated islands like mine are unique, because they are uniquely yours. Everyone brings something unique to their islands, decorated or not. There’s no such thing as a bad island.

 

[-Blue-]

Yes! It’s actually one of the main reasons why I haven’t played in forever.

I completely flattened my island last year in hopes that it’d be a clean slate for my island and give me the push I needed to finally start decorating and terraforming, but unfortunately it just overwhelmed me further. Trying to decorate has been stressful for me in every AC game I’ve played, so it’s kinda a bummer that New Horizons focuses so heavily on decorating. I never finished my New Leaf town as trying to figure out how I wanted to decorate was too overwhelming for me, so I was really hoping to do different with New Horizons. And yet, almost 4 years later, my island is even more barren than how it started.

lol I did the same thing with my upper half of my island back in 2020 and just left it. And then I did some sleuthing with my old pictures I took to remember what it kind of looked like so I could piece it back together like a year later. All that work and I just did undo the hard way lol!

 

[smoky]

i think the community moreso overwhelms me compared to the game. as much as i love the super creative and intricate islands and homes, i like how mine is just flowers and houses and some decorations here and there. def an internal problem but it doesn't help i can't get a stupid 5 star island T-T

 

[MrBox]

i think the community moreso overwhelms me compared to the game. as much as i love the super creative and intricate islands and homes, i like how mine is just flowers and houses and some decorations here and there. def an internal problem but it doesn't help i can't get a stupid 5 star island T-T

i believe in you! you can definitely do it even without making it super intricate :^D i have a pretty simple island and so does my sister and she just recently got 5 stars!

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Only with the flowers that kept taking over my Island.

 

[VanitasFan26]

Only with the flowers that kept taking over my Island.

I spent all day transfering all the blue roses and gold roses to my other island because it was getting too much.

 

[Mountain_Elements]

i think the community moreso overwhelms me compared to the game. as much as i love the super creative and intricate islands and homes, i like how mine is just flowers and houses and some decorations here and there. def an internal problem but it doesn't help i can't get a stupid 5 star island T-T

My island is pretty much random decorations everywhere as I tried to get my ratings up, but I eventually made 5 stars. You might be missing a specific type of decoration. What does Isabelle say? Maybe you need more fencing?

 

[Fruitcup]

Yes, i finally found the island that i wanted and now that i have it idk what to do with it

 

[Blue-cat]

Terraforming is way too much work and I never know what to do with all the space. So yeah, the decorating aspect can be a bit overwhelming. Last summer, I tried to start a "town" theme. Placing the roads was so annoying even with the new path tools. My island is still a bunch of half finished roads to this day. I should've stuck to my previous "theme" of just placing stuff wherever

 

[whatisjello]

In NL I can make my town look nice over a week with a few bridges and a water fountain and different flower + tree arrangement.
The annoying part is waiting for my villagers to approach me with new public works projects.

I liked how NH encouraged me to begin decorating outside almost right away,
but other than placing a work bench and fire pit I couldn't find the right balance of small assorted garden items.

 

[tanisha23]

Sometimes I open my game because I’m in an animal crossingy sorta mood, but I open my game and get immediately overwhelmed. I wanna say it’s probably like choose paralysis with a combination of thinking about how long it’ll take me to do certain things. Like I enjoy decorating happy home designer homes, but it always takes me an hour and a half or more, and the thought of it overwhelms. Or maybe I just want to feel that warm and cosy feeling that animal crossing gives me, but I’m like idk should I fish, maybe decorate, maybe do some island designing. I think maybe because my island is already mostly decorated how I want, I don’t have as much to do as when it first came out and I get too attached to flatten things or restarts areas. I still want to play because I like that animal crossing feeling, but sometimes I just don’t know what to do, or I feel like the task want to do is so big that it overwhelms me just thinking about it.

 

[Alolan_Apples]

I was overwhelmed at first when I started playing ACNH, but then when I had some general ideas, I found a comfort zone on how to decorate the island and the houses.

 

[g u a v a]

i relate a bit to feeling overwhelmed. i started a second island and i've not been able to finish decorating my island the way i did the first time i played through.

i think there's a lot of space on the island and not enough to fill it in naturally. in new leaf there were tons of special projects you could build that helped fill big gaps in the island. im struggling a bit to come up with ideas this time around.

i will say that i've enjoyed the interior decorating a lot more on new horizons.

 

[oak]

I wish they would add a better build mode for when you're outside on your island. Kinda like when you design a house on HHP and you can see the squares on the ground and visualize better. It would be much less overwhelming this way I think.