What is your opinion of New Horizons 3 years on?

[Pate and Ketchup]

I haven't played much compared to some here. I received the game the day it was released, in duplicate because it wasn't in my mailbox and I didn't want to wait. I played a few days intensively, I didn't know what to expect despite the news and videos about the game. I admit I was disappointed. There wasn't much to do. To have the complete game, we had to wait two years. Two years during which the developers could have given us real new features, and not the kit game. Stuff we didn't expect, no other rooms at the museum (in the base game of New Leaf). So yes, I admit that I haven't played much. I don't like waiting for what should have been in the base game. I don't have the patience. And what to do in the months between new releases? Two years is not possible, it is not normal. Today, the game is complete and will not change anymore, that's why I'm giving it another chance even if not many people play anymore. I will finally be able to enjoy the game as it should have been when it was released. That said, the game isn't bad. Being able to place items, stuff outside houses and decorate your island is incredible! We were able to enjoy it with an old Nintendo game, but now it's reality. Terraforming is cool and allows us to fully personalize our island. Being able to find villagers you like, materials, fossils on mystery islands is really good. I'm not aware of the new releases released two years ago, or so I think, but I'll discover them while playing. Crafting is a nice addition to the game. There are some things that aren't as good, but overall it's nice. The villagers don't have very interesting discussions so it's quite a shame, they've lost their personality a bit, I'm disappointed but that's how it is. They will do better next time! The new villagers are cute. They are few unfortunately, but all unique (or almost)! Special mention to Shino and Sasha. I don't like Raymond though. I don't really understand the hype around him haha. I like the DLC. It looks a lot like the Happy Home Designer game that I loved. It was an amazing game! So finding it on Switch makes me very happy, and all the added objects are great even if again, they should have been in the base game.

I think I said everything. See you soon for a new Animal Crossing game!

 

[Snek]

I am not sure now.
I first got into the AC franchise because of NL. So...when NH came put I was initially excited. However, I began to see that this game was not like how I envisioned it being. The villagers felt like decorations rather than actual characters. The dialogue is awful and repetitive (thought they would improve with that). Yes, I could shape my island to my liking but the soul of Animal Crossing, the animals, felt soulless. It doesn't seem like that there will be any more updates so what get is what we get. I'm going to play a new game next year and rethink my position. I don't think it'll change but who knows...

 

[Sharksheep]

I enjoy it more now compared to launch with the initial hype. Before I played it everyday for hours but it felt like a chore when I was villager hunting until I got amiibos. Now I just play it for a few days every couple of months.

I do dislike how there isn't a way to keep your catalog like in New Leaf because trading takes forever. If you got HHP it makes it less bad.

 

[liliyoa]

The game is just okay, which is heartbreaking because the previous 4 main entries are some of my favorite games of all time. ACNL is like my top 5 ever. Too many series staples are completely absent from this game for me to have a positive opinion on it, and I ran out of things to do way too fast. I've been playing New Leaf consistently for like 10 years now, and play Population Growing and City Folk on occasion, and there's things to do and goals to accomplish there. In New Horizons you just decorate, decorate, decorate, and you're done. You can finally give villagers items directly, but for what? They don't do anything. In every game they do less and less. It does say a lot about me though that a game I generally regard as one I dislike, I've still played like 600+ hours of it. I love Animal Crossing too much!

 

[Kristen]

I wish I could've liked it more than I currently do. I want a mainstream Animal Crossing game that I'm obsessed with the way I was with New Leaf.

There's no good multiplayer option like Tortimer's Island, the villagers' dialogue is really watered down and boring in comparison to how it used to be, there's so much empty land in comparison to the number of buildings you can put down, there's only one shop upgrade you can do, villagers' requests/interactions are really limited until higher friendship levels (like they rarely ask for stuff now), etc. I went through my list of complaints the other day, and these are the ones I remember most, but the game feels so empty and soulless. It feels more like it focuses on the land/home design aspect than the animals and our interactions with them. I'd love more of a mix of both, as well as fun minigames to do with friends.

New Leaf had such an amazing vibe to it that New Horizons failed to capture for me. I wasn't able to stay hooked on it for nearly as long as the other games in the series.

 

[k e r f u f f l e]

I got rather bored after about a year and a half. Even when the big updates rolled around, I just didn't feel the deep connection to the game like I did the previous ones. This is coming from someone who only began playing New Leaf in 2019!

I've since gone back to playing New Leaf. It's so comforting, simplistic, and straightforward. Though I think New Horizons is a good game, I would not classify it as a great game like the other AC titles were. Just my own personal feelings!

NL's been a blast to return to. Minimal control but enforced calmness- whereas NH left me rather dissatisfied and never fully happy with my never-ending island customizations and quirky but butt-kissing NPCs. lol

 

[faerie]

I like it, but it could have been so much more. I don't understand why they stopped adding things to it. It was a complete game, but it could have added more things for multiplayer which I think would have helped the games replay ability.

 

[micat]

Personally, I don’t find the game as interesting as other AC games I’ve played (which is just NL and WW but whatever :,D).

I think the new features like terraforming and crafting were interesting and fun at first, but I don’t really care about either now. With crafting, I find it pointless late into the game. It feels like extra steps to get a DIY recipe instead of the furniture itself. I don’t like grinding for materials either (I always run out of wood). Terraforming feels tedious since you can’t choose whether you want a corner piece, or a slanted piece (or whatever the other options were). You have to cycle through them, and sometimes the way you shape things still doesn’t look right.

As for placing furniture outside... I don’t see much value in this feature anymore. like, what need do you have to place beds or toilets outside? I understand there’s outdoor furniture you can place or furniture that matches the theme of your island, but for me, it doesn’t add much to my island and just makes it feel more cluttered.

I’m also sad about the missing special NPCs, like most other fans. I also miss the shop upgrades and the small mini-games you could play.

Maybe this is overly negative. I see why people value the new features so much, and likely since I haven’t played the game in a while, I forgot why I even cared about the addition of these features. Though, just going back to the old games, I don’t see a huge loss in not having them.

 

[MrBox]

For me, New Horizons is the weakest out of all the main games. Which is funny since it has so many features compared to the rest.
I'm not sure how to word this but it just feels like it accommodates too much? And It's trying to appeal to a certain younger audience? It just feels like it has too much going on at times.

The features I appreciate in New Horizons is:
- Able to send mail to your friends!
- Dodo Codes!
- Ability to place down houses anywhere you want!
- The graphics are nice (I do not like the character's proportions though) and the foley sound is amazing.
- The way you change your clothes!
- How you can decorate your house in an "editor" mode is cool
- Ability to make actual paths!
- How the shop NPCs don't need to greet you every time you walk in and out :^P
- How running will not ruin your grass!

The features I very much dislike are:
- The flowers. The flowers not withering and dying... and how much the flowers feel like weeds and a chore in ACNH.
- This is mixed for me but the fact that villagers can't move out until you say it's time to go. And the villager not sending you a goodbye note. I hated this in NL and would check my game constantly so no one moved out but ... I'm not sure. I wish that Nintendo gave a choice for that in NH.
- Terraforming
- Making tools over... and over... and over again.
- Able to change your face and hair in the mirror
- I dislike how the rooms in your house are a fixed size.
- The grass patches that initially comes with the land.

 

[Lullaboid]

I love it. I love the amount of control and options you have compared to previous games. The game is adorable, and I've played for almost 2,000 hours. Definitely well worth it!

That said, it does lack a certain specific charm that previous titles had. It's just more mainstream and palatable compared to previous games. In some ways that's good, but I really miss when AC titles were quirky. I also feel like they really dropped the ball with the hourly music in this one. The hourly tracks in this game mostly range from mediocre to downright obnoxious (looking at you 3 am, although I do find the squawking to be a funny reminder that I should be sleeping and not playing a video game).

Also golden tools should not break, villagers feel a bit stiff, and the autosave function is such a pain with terraforming. Just let me experiment and reset if I don't like what I made! But overall, I just adore this game and appreciate it so, so much. It's gotten me through some incredibly tough times and allowed me to interact with some very kind people.

 

[nocctea]

i think it's just good i suppose. pretty cute, kinda fun, but not my favorite unfortunately, tho i wish it was