since 2.0 is the final update for new horizons ,, what do you think might be different in the next animal crossing game ??

[mouthrat]

ive been thinking about this for a while. what might the next animal crossing game in the series include ,, and will there even be one ?? as far as i know ,, nintendo hasnt mentioned anything about a new game ,, which i completely understand as these games take years to make. however ,, its still fun to imagine what our future islands and towns may be like. for example ,, im sure new leaf and earlier players werent expecting any of the new horizons concepts to take place !! let me know ur thoughts below ,, if youd like <33

 

[Croconaw]

I can guarantee there will be a new game. As for when, there’s really no timeline. I’m not particularly a fan of those spin-off games, so I’ll be waiting for the mainline series. I think New Horizons is heavily focused on customization and crafting. It seems a lot like Minecraft. I think there is less focus on what Animal Crossing actually is, though. You don’t get a whole lot of dialogue. You don’t get the whole “person living in a town with animals” vibe that you did with the predecessors. The Gamecube version is a strong example of what Animal Crossing is and had some of the best features. I’m mainly referring to amazing dialogue, interactive balls (the ones you find at the dump and kick around with villagers), and the morning aerobics. I know the third thing was brought back with the update, but it was a good enough feature to be mentioned again. I hope that in the next mainline game, it focuses a little more on what Animal Crossing is. Customization and crafting are okay as a side feature, but I don’t think it should be the main focus.

 

[mouthrat]

I can guarantee there will be a new game. As for when, there’s really no timeline. I’m not particularly a fan of those spin-off games, so I’ll be waiting for the mainline series. I think New Horizons is heavily focused on customization and crafting. It seems a lot like Minecraft. I think there is less focus on what Animal Crossing actually is, though. You don’t get a whole lot of dialogue. You don’t get the whole “person living in a town with animals” vibe that you did with the predecessors. The Gamecube version is a strong example of what Animal Crossing is and had some of the best features. I’m mainly referring to amazing dialogue, interactive balls (the ones you find at the dump and kick around with villagers), and the morning aerobics. I know the third thing was brought back with the update, but it was a good enough feature to be mentioned again. I hope that in the next mainline game, it focuses a little more on what Animal Crossing is. Customization and crafting are okay as a side feature, but I don’t think it should be the main focus.

i completely agree. as someone who started out with nh ,, i thought it was normal for the dialogue to seem shallow and not have much value. however i did buy new leaf on my 3ds a month or so ago and even though it was the second most recent game in the series ,, i still noticed a difference. the only thing i dislike about the past games is the extreme focus on gender as compared to new horizons. assuming youve played past games ,, im sure you know what i mean ,, but when rover guessed my gender just by me saying cool/cute ,, it was really off putting and i did not like it. as for villager dialogue ,, i do think the past games have been much better. ive seen old animal crossing screenshots where the villagers would just throw insults at you ,, and i think i'd rather that than a peppy villager telling me about maglevs in love every time i try to get a diy recipe. idk thats just my opinion on things

 

[smug villager]

I'd like another bustling city setting, one where you can coordinate the location of buildings and do some basic city planning. I'd like to have more villagers in my town, and I'd like them to have more dialogue than they do in this game, more activities and a broader range of little events.

I don't want to lose any customization features, but I agree I don't want crafting/cooking to be the main focus.

 

[th8827]

I would like something along the vein of City Folks, where there is a Town lower half, and a City upper half.

The town half would be kind of like New Horizons, where you can place things freeform, and decorate how you want. None of the big stuff, like Resident Services, would be here, although there could be branch locations for the bigger stores in the town.

The city half would have grander buildings and would be a bit more rigid in placement because of roads and available lots, but you can still customize the layout of what goes where. There would be several styles available for everything, including pavement, light fixtures, themes for buildings, etc, which can be renovated through Resident Services. There would also be several lots for Mansions, which are multi-room homes for Villagers to move into. When a villager is invited to your town, you can suggest a Mansion (City) or a Townhouse (Village) for them to move into, or you can let them pick at random. A villager who lives in the city will interact differently than if they lived in the Town, giving you variety within the same personality type.

There would be a fancy park at the center of the city, with a Fountain that occasionally has events with Serena. She will actually lead you through the intro quests to build up and improve the city from its old, dilapidated state to a sparkling metropolis, similar to how you had to build up the island to 3 stars to clear the Tutorial.

At least, that is my idea.

 

[Regalli]

A followup’s a ‘when,’ not ‘if,’ but unless the Switch’s lifespan is WAY longer than we anticipate I suspect it’ll be for whatever system comes next. (Splatoon 3 is coming sometime next year, though hard to say when, and I’d expect at least a year or so of post-release updates for it, too. Add in general development time even once they’re giving full attention and I’d say we’re waiting three years from now at earliest, and I don’t think we’d see an Animal Crossing in the last year of a console’s projected lifespan. Though it’s not impossible it ends up as an early release for a Switch followup.) With that in mind, it’s very possible we get a spinoff in that time between ‘too late in a console for a new Animal Crossing’ and actual followup, and those have ended up trying out new ideas. (Outdoor decorating and an emphasis on design showed up in HHD, Welcome Amiibo’s Desert Island Escape minigame’s crafting and setting were clearly things they enjoyed playing with enough to expand on, and the PAW objectives in the Welcome Amiibo update are a clear forerunner to Nook Miles daily objectives.) Not a given, but if one IS announced I’d be paying close attention.

Generally the franchise HAS been leaning more into the customization aspects of your town since Aya Kyogoku started as a major developer. On the whole, I’ve enjoyed it, but I do hope there’s some re-emphasis on the villagers and socializing. But I also genuinely get that it’s tricky to balance ‘players who want elaborate themed towns where villagers interfere with your painstakingly-made paths’ and ‘players who want the vibe of just living in a town with some animals,’ and that started way back in Wild World. I suspect they won’t go for the desert island theming again, but one PC is probably going to have more influence over the town than villagers or the second-however many other PCs. Wouldn’t mind if crafting is generally one of this game’s gimmicks and scaled back or removed in future games. But it wouldn’t be terrible if it sticks around too, so long as there’s a balance with other furniture options. (The DIY stuff tends to skew outdoor oriented. But I also think the relatively slim furniture catalog at launch had to do with how BIG crafting and outdoor decorating and terraforming were to implement.) I do think cooking and gardening are cute, though, and if there’s one feature from the updates I’d bet on being expanded in future titles it’s that. I also suspect a future title would handle ‘minor’ holidays a bit like we saw in the first updates: A few things that only get seasonal blurbs, a handful of big NPC holidays, and then a few more ‘minor’ events that you can do in a day but have a week or two to get to. Honestly, it seemed more interesting than ‘Isabelle stands in the plaza with an item and a photostand’, so I’d like to see how that works when their plans aren’t abruptly derailed by a pandemic.

That said, I didn’t predict ‘desert island’ until we saw it. I wouldn’t be shocked if the next installment’s a curveball, too.

 

[MiniPocketWorld]

I thought that maybe they would expand more in farming in order to expand on cooking, so we end up being on a farm next time, but I do think what others suggest here would make more since. A town but you start with nothing first or just broken down buildings.
I feel like the DLC is a small peek at what they may do in the next game. I don't think the customization/crafting stuff is going to go away. It wouldn't surprise me if we have to build up a town. In the DLC we are decorating "public" places such as a school. What if we do a restaurant?
in ACNH I thought it was a tad odd that in the beginning of the game you had a recipe to craft your first bridge but you don't get to anymore after that even though you can still have the same kind of bridge. Maybe we will have to gather materials for a building from the ground up like we did for Nook's. Or maybe it will be about restoring instead.
I also think that maybe there will be plots that include a yard for the villager instead of just room for the house.
Whatever they end up doing, I do hope that PWP do come back to an extent. They can be for the weird large items that are more like a tourist attraction and not feasible to craft yourself. Maybe there will be a limit of like 5 you can put down or something. I enjoy PWP from New Leaf.

 

[ZeldaCrossing64]

This is what I would like to see in the next game:

• New/better dialogue. This is a must, because the dialogue is really stale and boring to read. I can understand that writing tons of dialogue, in a pleather of languages too, can be daunting.
• Gender-neutral options for your character. I would love to see this, and I'm sure others will too.
• Bulk crafting/buying. If crafting and Nook Miles get brought back, this could be a chance to add bulk options for each. I don't wanna spend 10 minutes grinding fish bait and Nook Miles Tickets!
• Fossils. Aside from fishing, fossil-digging is one of my favorite activities to do in Animal Crossing. I understand that they're not technically critters, but I think it would still be useful to have it in your encyclo/critterpedia. Also, I wanna give or sell fossils to Blathers. He's my favorite NPC and I always feel bad when I assess my fossils because he mentions that he wishes he can have some for his personal collection.
• I don't think new villagers would be needed, but I hope we get villagers of a species with a personality they don't have. (Like a peppy eagle or a jock wolf.)
• I have a feeling that the next AC game will act as a sequel to NH, so it might be on a deserted island. Though I'd love to have a town as well.

 

[jvgsjeff]

After trying something different with New Horizons, I have a feeling the next game will be more of a "traditional" Animal Crossing game. So I could see us moving into an existing town, not starting on a deserted island from scratch. I wouldn't be surprised if crafting is gone, but the town-designing abilities need to return. I can't imagine returning to the old way: "Oh, this bend in the river is one space too short, so I'll never be able to add a bridge here." Once you introduce a colossal designing feature that's integral to town development like that, there's no going back IMO.

There will need to be some sort of city or Main Street, with a variety of shops (hopefully actual stores and not just vendors offering a few items each). Maybe there could even be a city where you can run into other players? (Like Club Tortimer, but in a city/shopping setting?) That would be a good excuse to bring back the auction house from City Folk, where we could sell and bid on other players' items.

I doubt the game will be on Switch, though. Most likely, it'll be on the next system...and probably several years away. But of course, Nintendo is hard to predict (especially when it comes to Animal Crossing)...so who knows? With ACNH being the 2nd-best selling Switch game, I hope Nintendo will see the value of the series and not make us wait seven years between games again.

 

[Mr_Keroppi]

i completely agree. as someone who started out with nh ,, i thought it was normal for the dialogue to seem shallow and not have much value. however i did buy new leaf on my 3ds a month or so ago and even though it was the second most recent game in the series ,, i still noticed a difference. the only thing i dislike about the past games is the extreme focus on gender as compared to new horizons. assuming youve played past games ,, im sure you know what i mean ,, but when rover guessed my gender just by me saying cool/cute ,, it was really off putting and i did not like it. as for villager dialogue ,, i do think the past games have been much better. ive seen old animal crossing screenshots where the villagers would just throw insults at you ,, and i think i'd rather that than a peppy villager telling me about maglevs in love every time i try to get a diy recipe. idk thats just my opinion on things

Yeah they did that in the older games. Please dont come for me but I thought it was a cute little idea because it was a conversation! All past games did cool or cute! I always said cute and then was like "I am not a girl!" then I could just say I wanted cute boy. I can 100% understand though for all of the people that dont know what gender they are or are like double gender its kind of mean of Rover in your cases. For me though I liked it. I do think the best thing they could have done is to just remove it. And they did in NH so everyone is happy!! <3

Post automatically merged: Feb 5, 2022

After trying something different with New Horizons, I have a feeling the next game will be more of a "traditional" Animal Crossing game. So I could see us moving into an existing town, not starting on a deserted island from scratch. I wouldn't be surprised if crafting is gone, but the town-designing abilities need to return. I can't imagine returning to the old way: "Oh, this bend in the river is one space too short, so I'll never be able to add a bridge here." Once you introduce a colossal designing feature that's integral to town development like that, there's no going back IMO.

There will need to be some sort of city or Main Street, with a variety of shops (hopefully actual stores and not just vendors offering a few items each). Maybe there could even be a city where you can run into other players? (Like Club Tortimer, but in a city/shopping setting?) That would be a good excuse to bring back the auction house from City Folk, where we could sell and bid on other players' items.

I doubt the game will be on Switch, though. Most likely, it'll be on the next system...and probably several years away. But of course, Nintendo is hard to predict (especially when it comes to Animal Crossing)...so who knows? With ACNH being the 2nd-best selling Switch game, I hope Nintendo will see the value of the series and not make us wait seven years between games again.

You have probably heard the news but ACNH is the best selling video game of all time in Japan and already beat the original mario bros by a landslide. Hopefully this means that AC will be like Splatoon, Zelda, and mario and be one of the new console's first releases!! I do hope SO MUCH that they go back to the happy village life. NH is fun to me but just not perfect. I do love all the AC games and they are all special and unique in their own ways.

 

[Elias_]

I think they will stick to many decisions they've made with New Horizons. Many players were introduced to the series with that game and they will probably expect features like designing your town, etc. from the game. The island setting could definitely change, but I think this would be a little surprising. Both New Leaf and New Horizons went with this vacation/island setting and it worked quite well for them.

I'm hoping that interactivity and quests will play a bigger role in the game entry. There's so much potential by adding stuff like sports minigames or having villagers ask you to do more inventive tasks like organising a party.

Edit: Also, I'm pretty sure they cut the support for New Horizons "early" to have more time and ideas for a sequel. That's basically what happened to Breath of the Wild's DLC, so it wouldn't be unprecedented and it would make sense as the Switch is getting quite old and there's a great chance that a successor is announced in the coming 2-3 years, which would also line up with Nintendo's comments on the Switch's lifespan. Then they could a new Animal Crossing game ready as early as possible for the next platform, which is probably in their interest considering the game's enormous sales figures.

 

[Mr_Keroppi]

Both New Leaf and New Horizons went with this vacation/island setting and it worked quite well for them.

New Leaf did not have an Island Vacation setting. The only difference from past games and New Leaf was that you were the mayor instead of Tortimer if you are wondering about Big Changes. New Leaf also brought back the island from the Gamecube Animal Crossing but remade it as Tortimers island with many more uses. NEW LEAF WAS A TOWN NOT AN ISLAND. I hope this helps!! <3 Have a happy day [/QUOTE]

 

[Elias_]

New Leaf did not have an Island Vacation setting. The only difference from past games and New Leaf was that you were the mayor instead of Tortimer if you are wondering about Big Changes. New Leaf also brought back the island from the Gamecube Animal Crossing but remade it as Tortimers island with many more uses. NEW LEAF WAS A TOWN NOT AN ISLAND. I hope this helps!! <3 Have a happy day

[/QUOTE]

Yes, New Leaf had a town. But it added a cliffside and had the tropical island, which had Tortimer dressed in leisure clothes and it very much felt like vacation to go there. There was also much more emphasis put on the island since it was the major new addition (apart from being the major). I didn't mean that New Leaf takes place on an island, but that it much more of a vacation feeling to it than the previous entries in the series. New Horizons went a step further by bringing the entire experience to an island, it did not feel like a vacation as much, though, as you now had to build up an island from scratch, collect materials, etc. They might leave this setting behind in the next entry, but to me it seems as if they have continually progressed in this direction since New Leaf, so they might just put a new spin on it for whatever comes next.

 

[Mr_Keroppi]

Yes, New Leaf had a town. But it added a cliffside and had the tropical island, which had Tortimer dressed in leisure clothes and it very much felt like vacation to go there. There was also much more emphasis put on the island since it was the major new addition (apart from being the major). I didn't mean that New Leaf takes place on an island, but that it much more of a vacation feeling to it than the previous entries in the series. New Horizons went a step further by bringing the entire experience to an island, it did not feel like a vacation as much, though, as you now had to build up an island from scratch, collect materials, etc. They might leave this setting behind in the next entry, but to me it seems as if they have continually progressed in this direction since New Leaf, so they might just put a new spin on it for whatever comes next.
[/QUOTE]
Oh I kind of understand what you mean now The cliffs to me always made it feel more like a town instead lol but I like your idea on it! I agree with NH expanding sort of. I really hate crafting imo so I hope it does not come back but if it does thats okay. The games lets you play how you want so if you want to craft you can!! <3 Have a fun day and I hope that you are enjoying all of your games!! Your game you are making looks very interesting!!

 

[Elias_]

Yes, New Leaf had a town. But it added a cliffside and had the tropical island, which had Tortimer dressed in leisure clothes and it very much felt like vacation to go there. There was also much more emphasis put on the island since it was the major new addition (apart from being the major). I didn't mean that New Leaf takes place on an island, but that it much more of a vacation feeling to it than the previous entries in the series. New Horizons went a step further by bringing the entire experience to an island, it did not feel like a vacation as much, though, as you now had to build up an island from scratch, collect materials, etc. They might leave this setting behind in the next entry, but to me it seems as if they have continually progressed in this direction since New Leaf, so they might just put a new spin on it for whatever comes next.

Oh I kind of understand what you mean now The cliffs to me always made it feel more like a town instead lol but I like your idea on it! I agree with NH expanding sort of. I really hate crafting imo so I hope it does not come back but if it does thats okay. The games lets you play how you want so if you want to craft you can!! <3 Have a fun day and I hope that you are enjoying all of your games!! Your game you are making looks very interesting!!
[/QUOTE]


Totally understand how you feel about New Leaf. Oh and I fully agree with the crafting aspect. I think if it's done right, it could be a fun mechanic, but if it doesn't come back I wouldn't mind either. I didn't really like it in New Horizons, but I was able to ignore it for the most part. Have a nice day as well and thanks for the kind words

 

[McRibbie]

Hmm, good question, and considering New Horizons is 85-95% dead, probably the right time to start thinking about it?

• I think there’s going to be another change of directors? Nobody seems to direct an Animal Crossing game over the age of 40, and nobody seems to do more than 2 or 3 games in the series. However, I also think the current director, Aya Kyogoku, is very likely to become the next producer of the series, or at least a producer alongside current producer/former director Hisashi Nogami, who’s one of the 40 or so people who ACTUALLY overlaps with Splatoon’s team (which is why I think it’s possible she’s going to become sole producer)
• The most likely candidate for the next AC director is Kotaru Hiromatsu, who’s currently the series subdirector, somewhere in his early 30s at present, and who has been working on the series since Welcome Amiibo… but it’s possible that it’s someone else, or maybe someone else alongside him?
• My only real “please, god no, don’t do that” request that it is not the following things: something that doubles down on NH’s worst traits, or conversely, something that goes “hey, NH was a complete mistake, let’s get rid of EVERYTHING new that it did, even the good parts of it”, Literally Just A Port/A Rehash Of NL, or something that’s not “you live in a vaguely Japanese village somewhere out in the sticks, live amongst them and do various things, and your experiences in-game should bring people together to communicate”
• However, I’m genuinely interested to see what direction a new director can take AC in. Eguchi’s foundations, Nogami’s characterisation, and Kyogoku/Isao’s customisation… what’s next?
• The Switch is still, according to recent comments from Nintendo, in the middle of its lifespan, which means there’s potential for it to last for up to 8-10 years. This either means that a, we’re going to get a second AC on the Switch, or b, we’re going to end up waiting a long time for a new AC again. Probably not the 7 years between NL and NH, but maybe 5 or 6 years maximum? Either way, I don’t think we’re seeing a new AC for at least a couple of years, unless they decide to pull a Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on us and go “hey, here’s a ton of new furniture, ported straight from Pocket Camp”
• In terms of “what do I think might be different”, I’ve actually got no clue. I’m gonna leave it to the AC team themselves to come up with that, they don’t need me for that at all!
• In terms of “what would I like to see”:
  • I’ve always found the smaller, item-only events to be a bit dull, even in GC where some of them have villagers doing stuff. I’d like them ALL to have something going on, even if it’s just the villagers walking around the place doing something related to it like reading a sea-themed book for Marine Day, having the jock villagers watching the Big Game, or having a telescope out for the Harvest Moon.
  • I’d also like them to actually flesh out the hobby system seen in NH by having them actually talk about the things they do, just so it gives each villager their own unique flavour?
  • Something like Boondox from WW, by which I mean “something that requires a lot of work for little reward, is blatantly a scam of some kind, but adds a lot of character into the world of AC”
  • Redd having exclusive furniture again, I miss that a lot.

 

[TurnipBell20]

I hope there will be another Animal Crossing game!

I would like a mixture of the best features of all previous Animal Crossing games plus one or two new things. They could take the villager interaction from GC and Wild World, the city from City Folk and the customization possibilities from New Leaf and New Horizons. The focus should be shifted from customization to interaction and conversation with the villagers. I want to have that feeling of living alongside the others and not being superior. New features could include an extension of the city and maybe hidden areas to unlock.

The development team will probably come up with different ideas, but I hope they will build the game upon older Animal Crossing titles, as I don‘t really like the focus on customization in the new ones.

 

[Belle T]

I'd honestly like to see them tinker around with the formula considerably, similar to what they're doing with Pokémon Legends Arceus (to mixed results, admittedly). For example, I'd like to see them experiment with an Animal Crossing game that isn't synced to the real world date and time and takes a few cues from Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons. It doesn't have to be as drastic as "you can complete an entire in-game year in a few hours" as in Stardew Valley, but allowing the game work on its own time would be an interesting thing to see play out.

I also think they should focus on expanding the NPC's. It would be really nice if the shopkeepers and etc. had their own schedules and lives that existed outside the realm of servicing the player. Particularly, it would be great if you could dress them up, give them furniture, and etc. just as you could any normal villager.

I'm not necessarily saying these should be changes made to the mainline series, as this can also be done under a spin-off umbrella if they just want to test the waters. Nor am I saying any of these are inherent improvements, just things that I'd like to see toyed with. It's not that the current formula has gotten stale, so much as I'd like to the next installment to have be a completely new experience. If it doesn't work out, it's not like they can't just go back to the old way.

 

[VanitasFan26]

I hate to be the nay sayer, but there is not going to be any new updates to the game anytime soon, unless if Nintendo changes their mind and they saw how well Happy Home Paradise DLC sold then maybe they might consider adding more content to the game for another paid DLC, but I doubt it. Right now I am done hoping for anything at this point. I should accept the game for what it is and move on to the next AC game whenever that will be in the future.

Granted I know there are things in the game that could be better and I know its been spoken to death so many times, but at this point I've already moved on to different things.

 

[Belle T]

I hate to be the nay sayer, but there is not going to be any new updates to the game anytime soon, unless if Nintendo changes their mind and they saw how well Happy Home Paradise DLC sold then maybe they might consider adding more content to the game for another paid DLC, but I doubt it. Right now I am done hoping for anything at this point. I should accept the game for what it is and move on to the next AC game whenever that will be in the future.

Granted I know there are things in the game that could be better and I know its been spoken to death so many times, but at this point I've already moved on to different things.

I mean, we've already more or less come to terms with that, hence this thread is about the hypothetical next installment in the series, not an update to New Horizons.