(img heavy) I compared my new leaf and new horizons houses to showcase the pros and cons!

[Bilaz]

Title says all, I completed my New Leaf house only a year or two before this game was released, so I had pretty much the same exact taste designing both houses, the themes in the houses are similar as well, so I thought a side by side comparison would actually showcase the good and bad of each game very well!!!

Room 1
Theme: Nautical

Pros for New Horizons: graphics! new shell set!! Rugs!! Ability to place things where you want them on the wall! Nicer zodiac set and pirate set, nicer nautical items to collect! Rustic items in different colours are easy to mix and match
Pros for New Leaf: Alpine is missing, lack of full sets that are completely pattern customiseable

Room 2 (+ Room 3 for New Horizons)
Theme: apartment/living space/bedroom/bathroom/kitchen

Pros for New Horizons: customisable kitchen furniture!!! No more standard white items! With ironwood and different walls and floors you can create your own themed kitchen! More colours and options for bathroom furniture too! Everything looks beautiful and elegant, I absolutely adore the redesign of the mermaid set.
Pros for New Leaf: lots of stand alone items are missing like food items and the cream sofa, lots of house plants are missing, mermaid is one of the very few complete sets still in the game

Room 3
Theme: Garden

Pros for New Horizons: New horizons’ beautiful wallpaper and seasonal furniture really shines! Colours and details are stunning
Pros for New Leaf: lack of stand alone items and unique plants in NH again

Room 4:
Theme: Tea room (NL room was merely inspired)

Pros for New Horizons: I’m actually starting to feel like with the 6x6 sizes and the high definition graphics that less is more. Maybe it’s an odd thing to be happy about but I’m seriously enjoying how calming these small rooms feel and how the game isn’t encouraging you to go “bigger is better”. The furniture itself is also a lot more elegant, allowing you to focus on each piece individually and enjoy it?
Pros for New Leaf: food items and many of the other welcome amiibo items are completely absent sadly.

Room 5
Theme: Fancy Study/Antique

Pros for New Horizons: paintings are actually full size, the room shape allows for a nicer design in my opinion. The bookshelves being half spaces and the ability to put things where you want on the wall really help, rugs are amazing
DID I MENTION HALF SPACES AND ABILITY TO CENTER THINGS
Pros for New Leaf: most fancy furniture was removed from the game so way less to mix and match with, instruments were removed like the harpsichord, antique furniture lost its dark wood customisation options, tables are too small now and it’s hard to fit two items on them, tables fit two items with ease in new leaf

Spoiler: I no longer have this room but it's still interesting

Room 6:
Theme: Cosy Cabin/Red/Autumn vibes

I no longer have this room but I’m leaving it up for comparison’s sake!

Pros for New Horizons: New horizons’ beautiful seasonal furniture and wallpaper is very apparent once again
Pros for New Leaf: very clear lack of unique items to place, table space issues even on these big ones, lack of furniture sets to properly mix and match

I have to say, putting everything side by side like this, I'm surprised how many things in New Horizons I took for granted while complaining about the furniture selection. Look at my previous work, the furniture in New Horizons is stunning and the new options for decorating definitely outweigh the cons. I hope this was interesting to some others too! What do you guys think about the furniture situation now that we're several months in?

 

[Honesta]

I appreciate the variety! And tbh, I've played animal crossing since the beginning and didn't even lack of so many sets until I started hearing people mention it. lol, I think each game has it's charm!

ALSO, DANG!! I love both setups, but I feel like NH gives you that little extra bit of customizing (placing things where you want) and it adds so much to the rooms!

 

[Matt0106]

I mean it sucks we're missing food items and everything, but I'm sure we'll get that in due time (Maybe even next month with Thanksgiving). New Horizons has brought in some great furniture, and I think it's silly to just ignore it. Also, the biggest plus is that all the furniture you see inside can also be outside!!

 

[TheKryptoKnight]

I think we need more furniture, but I also think the complaints about missing so much furniture are wildly underestimating what can be done with what we have. People get so stuck on "X series is missing!!" without considering that it's easier than ever to create a room with the same aesthetic with all of the customization options available. People are adverse to change, and so here we are.

I just want to see more new stuff. I'd be disappointed if they just ported the new leaf furniture forward as is. What they did with the spooky set is perfect. But I know a lot of people would be happy, so that's okay too, and I'd get over it pretty fast

 

[Bilaz]

I appreciate the variety! And tbh, I've played animal crossing since the beginning and didn't even lack of so many sets until I started hearing people mention it. lol, I think each game has it's charm!

ALSO, DANG!! I love both setups, but I feel like NH gives you that little extra bit of customizing (placing things where you want) and it adds so much to the rooms!

Awww thank you so much! I agree! The centering, half spaces, rugs and control over the walls make the rooms look so much more real and natural! It adds a lot

 

[Megaroni]

I think we need more furniture, but I also think the complaints about missing so much furniture are wildly underestimating what can be done with what we have. People get so stuck on "X series is missing!!" without considering that it's easier than ever to create a room with the same aesthetic with all of the customization options available. People are adverse to change, and so here we are.

I just want to see more new stuff. I'd be disappointed if they just ported the new leaf furniture forward as is. What they did with the spooky set is perfect. But I know a lot of people would be happy, so that's okay too, and I'd get over it pretty fast

I'm glad that you said this because I definitely thought that New Horizons wasn't great in the furniture department. I really miss having more stand-alone items, but you're right when you say that it's easier to recreate those aesthetics. Also, in my opinion, it's easier to be more unique. There are a lot more unique items to play around with, customize, and combine in ways that nobody has thought of yet. I love seeing what my friends are able to come up with and give each other style ideas.

 

[John Wick]

Those pics really make me miss NL.

All the plants we had then. ^_^

So many items, literally hundreds.

I have all of series 5 RV amiibo cards, and the items that came with those alone were staggering, and awesome.

 

[Bilaz]

I'm glad that you said this because I definitely thought that New Horizons wasn't great in the furniture department. I really miss having more stand-alone items, but you're right when you say that it's easier to recreate those aesthetics. Also, in my opinion, it's easier to be more unique. There are a lot more unique items to play around with, customize, and combine in ways that nobody has thought of yet. I love seeing what my friends are able to come up with and give each other style ideas.

I agree it’s easier to be unique with these items! In New Leaf I streetpassed a very large amount of homes and I often saw the same exact things, yet in New Horizons I see the same furniture constantly used to totally different aesthetics and it really is because of the customisations! Take kitchen furniture for example, in New Leaf everyone had the same white kitchen (some people went lovely but that was the minority) and the only thing you could do with that pretty much was a light coloured kitchen, I saw pretty much only pastel coloured cafés.

Now in New Horizons, yes most people used ironwood, and I did too! But, because we could all give it different colours and use different things the vibe is often totally different. Dark wood with nice dark floor and plants? How about oak and white and pink? Then there’s me with the old wood and the ship aesthetic (I have never seen that as a kitchen), etcetera. Or look at my living room and the white rattan, totally different than most people’s white rattan living room, never mind when they use any of the other colours!

 

[Bugs]

You know, this side-by-side comparison has opened my eyes a bit more to the things that are actually improved in New Horizons. I gotta admit I'm completely in love with the new animated walls and floors, and like you said, it's nice to be able to choose exactly where you want something to be placed on a wall.

That said I still want more furniture. Not even necessarily the same furniture from New Leaf, just more furniture options.

 

[grayacnh]

Wow thanks for sharing! Your rooms look amazing in both games but especially in new horizons. It's a shame you scrapped the last one but I agree we need more food items!! Have u tried custom designs to maybe fill that gap in what u need tho? Even with the criteria search there's some amazing and creative things people have made that really do work!!!

 

[niko@kamogawa]

I must say that New Horizons came a long way when it comes to graphics and visual presentation. It's evidently clear of why I won't play New Leaf anymore.

Surely, we may not have a lot of furniture options at the moment. But I can see the potential of New Horizons getting better with free updates from time to time.

 

[SirOctopie]

Beautiful home(s)! I agree on a lot of points you made. I wish NH had more variety when it came to furniture, as well as having complete sets available. It's like they added all this new stuff, but it somehow seems lacking.

Anyway, maybe when Franklin's update rolls around, we'll have some food items added to the game since his event revolves around food. I can only hope lol.

 

[rezberri]

the thing that stands out to me the most about this is the new horizons definitely got a huge graphical update. i dont think anyone was doubting this, but these photos just make that more apparent.

looking more critically at these pictures, it's not rly the "lack of furniture" in nh that bothers me (we have quite a bit already as others have already said), but the lack of "variety" in a way. the pieces we were given are very versatile, but they're versatile in the way that ikea stuff is. they're beautifully plain, ig is what im trying to say. i feel like this is much more noticeable when u consider the kitchen furniture that we have. it's very basic, but also very modern. if i wanted to recreate grandma's kitchen it would be quite difficult.

it's not like i can't work with the furniture we have in the game, but considering how i feel about this game's furniture and my desire to see old sets reimagined in new horizon's beautiful graphics i feel like it's understandable why i'd be a bit disappointed. i'm crossing my fingers that we get to see some classic favorites come back, but there's a reason i'm crossing my fingers instead of holding my breath.

 

[Bilaz]

You know, this side-by-side comparison has opened my eyes a bit more to the things that are actually improved in New Horizons. I gotta admit I'm completely in love with the new animated walls and floors, and like you said, it's nice to be able to choose exactly where you want something to be placed on a wall.

That said I still want more furniture. Not even necessarily the same furniture from New Leaf, just more furniture options.

Yes doing this side by side comparison really opened my eyes too! I had a way too favorable memory of new leaf honestly

Wow thanks for sharing! Your rooms look amazing in both games but especially in new horizons. It's a shame you scrapped the last one but I agree we need more food items!! Have u tried custom designs to maybe fill that gap in what u need tho? Even with the criteria search there's some amazing and creative things people have made that really do work!!!

Awww thank you so much!!! Thanks for the ideas but I ended up loving my new kitchen and mermaid room, so I'm not too sad about the asian one

Beautiful home(s)! I agree on a lot of points you made. I wish NH had more variety when it came to furniture, as well as having complete sets available. It's like they added all this new stuff, but it somehow seems lacking.

Anyway, maybe when Franklin's update rolls around, we'll have some food items added to the game since his event revolves around food. I can only hope lol.

Awww thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the comparison!

the thing that stands out to me the most about this is the new horizons definitely got a huge graphical update. i dont think anyone was doubting this, but these photos just make that more apparent.

looking more critically at these pictures, it's not rly the "lack of furniture" in nh that bothers me (we have quite a bit already as others have already said), but the lack of "variety" in a way. the pieces we were given are very versatile, but they're versatile in the way that ikea stuff is. they're beautifully plain, ig is what im trying to say. i feel like this is much more noticeable when u consider the kitchen furniture that we have. it's very basic, but also very modern. if i wanted to recreate grandma's kitchen it would be quite difficult.

it's not like i can't work with the furniture we have in the game, but considering how i feel about this game's furniture and my desire to see old sets reimagined in new horizon's beautiful graphics i feel like it's understandable why i'd be a bit disappointed. i'm crossing my fingers that we get to see some classic favorites come back, but there's a reason i'm crossing my fingers instead of holding my breath.

Yes that stands out a lot to me too!!!
And yeah :O I see exactly what you mean, they ar like IKEA. I mean I think the ironwood stuff I have looks pretty old in that way but I do get you. Yeah I was disappointed too but I'm really loving the remakes, like the update with the mermaid set, I feel like it's making me love the furniture even more! I hope they do something similar with the sweets set

 

[saucySheep]

oof almost all of the pics won't work except the fancy room which looks lovely btw

 

[kiekieote]

As someone without older versions of the game, this was really cool to see. There's definitely much more of a homey feel in the older game, whereas ACNH seems to have a lot more in the straight fantasy realm with the tree walls and such. There's a few pieces I do wish we had in ACNH from your images, but overall I'm not unhappy with ANCH. Granted, I don't have much to compare it to.

 

[meggiewes]

I think the sets in ACNH are easier to mix and match than the sets were in ACNL. I think the reason why people get th he grumbles over furniture is that if you don't like a more modern style, then your furniture options get very limited. The furniture does remind me a lot of the standard furniture you can find at IKEA, Wal-Mart, or Target.

I like what we have. I just want more variety in the same mix and match vibe. Like the antique furniture, but fancier. I also really think the alpine set would fit super well with the furniture styles we have currently.

 

[Bilaz]

Again thanks for the kind comments everyone I really appreciate it. I definitely agree with you guys, it’s funny because New Horizons’ furniture is more mature, but the wallpapers and flooring are more whimsical than ever before! Personally I love it

 

[Lanstar]

the thing that stands out to me the most about this is the new horizons definitely got a huge graphical update. i dont think anyone was doubting this, but these photos just make that more apparent.

looking more critically at these pictures, it's not rly the "lack of furniture" in nh that bothers me (we have quite a bit already as others have already said), but the lack of "variety" in a way. the pieces we were given are very versatile, but they're versatile in the way that ikea stuff is. they're beautifully plain, ig is what im trying to say. i feel like this is much more noticeable when u consider the kitchen furniture that we have. it's very basic, but also very modern. if i wanted to recreate grandma's kitchen it would be quite difficult.

it's not like i can't work with the furniture we have in the game, but considering how i feel about this game's furniture and my desire to see old sets reimagined in new horizon's beautiful graphics i feel like it's understandable why i'd be a bit disappointed. i'm crossing my fingers that we get to see some classic favorites come back, but there's a reason i'm crossing my fingers instead of holding my breath.

I think the case you're trying to make is that the NH furniture isn't 'stylized' enough. That is, the furniture is more designed to integrate between each other in a style you choose, rather than each piece having a grandiose style of their own.

I can understand that this can have its own strengths and weaknesses: The power of generic furniture is how versitile it is to decorate with: They can blend very well with everything, and as assets, they give players the highest amount of customization. But they can also be very bland at the same time, and it can take lots of creativity to make them feel like a new style that stands out - and not everyone has the time to make that work.

Stylized furniture also has its pros and cons. As an example, my favorite set in New Leaf is Pave Furniture. While it looks simple at first, it is extremely stylized with a mind of its own: It's really hard to integrate Pave furniture with other furniture without Pave sticking out like a sore thumb. Pave is ubiquitous and not versatile at all: To make Pave work in a room, the vast majority of furnishings must be Pave! Thus, most rooms that decorate with Pave look so similar to each other due to its strong presence. Despite that, I can't get enough of that specific flashy blue color, the lacy upholstery, and feathery cloths - so glorious to my eyes!

I quite like both types of furniture, but for developers, the generic stuff is very economical in how most people can decorate with it, while much of the stylized stuff can be rather niche. Thus, in a game that promotes island development and creativity, it was the pragmatic stuff that was added in more than the stylized stuff. I'd love more stylized furnishings added later on, but versitile design seems to be the main theme.

 

[Dunquixote]

Title says all, I completed my New Leaf house only a year or two before this game was released, so I had pretty much the same exact taste designing both houses, the themes in the houses are similar as well, so I thought a side by side comparison would actually showcase the good and bad of each game very well!!!

Room 1
Theme: Nautical

Pros for New Horizons: graphics! new shell set!! Rugs!! Ability to place things where you want them on the wall! Nicer zodiac set and pirate set, nicer nautical items to collect! Rustic items in different colours are easy to mix and match
Pros for New Leaf: Alpine is missing, lack of full sets that are completely pattern customiseable

Room 2 (+ Room 3 for New Horizons)
Theme: apartment/living space/bedroom/bathroom/kitchen

Pros for New Horizons: customisable kitchen furniture!!! With ironwood and different walls and floors you can create your own themed kitchen! More colours for bathroom furniture too!
Pros for New Leaf: lots of stand alone items are missing like food items and the cream sofa, lots of house plants are missing, mermaid is one of the very few complete sets still in the game

Room 3
Theme: Garden

Pros for New Horizons: New horizons’ beautiful wallpaper and seasonal furniture really shines! Colours and details are stunning
Pros for New Leaf: lack of stand alone items and unique plants in NH again

Room 4
Theme: Fancy Study/Antique

Pros for New Horizons: paintings are actually full size, zodiac furniture looks nicer, ability to put things where you want on the wall, rugs
HALF SPACES AND ABILITY TO CENTER THINGS
Pros for New Leaf: most fancy furniture was removed from the game so way less to mix and match with, instruments were removed like the harpsichord, antique furniture lost its dark wood customisation options, tables are too small now and it’s hard to fit two items on them, tables fit two items with ease in new leaf

Room 5:
Theme: Cosy Cabin/Red/Autumn vibes

Pros for New Horizons: New horizons’ beautiful seasonal furniture and wallpaper is very apparent once again
Pros for New Leaf: very clear lack of unique items to place, table space issues even on these big ones, lack of furniture sets to properly mix and match

Room 6:
Theme: Asian inspired

Pros for New Leaf: this room was scrapped in New Horizons due to lack of food items

I have to say, putting everything side by side like this, I'm surprised how many things in New Horizons I took for granted while complaining about the furniture selection. Look at my previous work, the furniture in New Horizons is stunning and the new options for decorating definitely outweigh the cons. I hope this was interesting to some others too! What do you guys think about the furniture situation now that we're several months in?

Before I answer your question, I just want to tell you that those are all beautiful rooms .

Personally, I am extremely disappointed; I expected to have more and better orderable and non-orderable furniture at the halfway point as well as even at the beginning of the game after release (of course i didn’t have a switch or copy of the game then, but looking at the database I was extremely disappointed). Also some of the items they did bring from HHD weren’t exactly how they were in the game like the school desks, so I was disappointed with those (I was hoping to have the old looking wooden desks). I realize it is my fault for having my hopes too high even though i knew the content would be drip fed. I had so much fun with HHD and loved the new food furniture and gaming items especially along with the NL furniture.

I think we need more furniture, but I also think the complaints about missing so much furniture are wildly underestimating what can be done with what we have. People get so stuck on "X series is missing!!" without considering that it's easier than ever to create a room with the same aesthetic with all of the customization options available. People are adverse to change, and so here we are.

I just want to see more new stuff. I'd be disappointed if they just ported the new leaf furniture forward as is. What they did with the spooky set is perfect. But I know a lot of people would be happy, so that's okay too, and I'd get over it pretty fast

That is a valid point and I can agree to a degree. I’ve tried my best to substitute when possible, but some items are hard or impossible to replace. For indoors, a lot of the times it is also room size and item size that messes up plans — at least it did for me. I ended up improvising by coming up with other ideas not related to my original plan and leaving rooms empty until I think of something or until we get more furniture. There are more customization options which is nice but there are some that are missing which is a bummer like using clothes to customize items (including custom designs), customizing the antique bed

I would definitely love to see more new sets. I absolutely love the Frozen Set and have grown to love the mush as well. I just hope they will be better than the cute and wooden block sets since I’m not into baby pink or kid furniture stuff. I would love some old historical looking furniture (I know i could use just wood furniture, but i mean like armchairs or roman/greek/broken pillars — i’m using zen stones and frozen pillars and they work great but still as much as i love the frozen stuff there are areas where I’d like to use pillars that aren’t bright colored. the pillars are just an example of what i mean by historical - i am aware we had them in hhd and nl).