Animal Crossing: New Horizons Diary - The First 10 Days

You have probably been hearing about Animal Crossing: New Horizons a lot recently. It came out on March 20th, just in time for everyone to get quarantined and be stuck inside for the foreseeable forever. You almost certainly fit into one of two camps: either you have never heard of this weird furry capitalism simulator or you've been completely hooked since day 1. Either way, I made this post for you! If you haven't heard of this game, I'm here to explain to you what exactly you do in this game, maybe even win you over onto the team. If you're already converted though, this is a chance for you to have a look into what a fellow islander did and either laugh at how little I've done or gain some inspiration about what can be done. Regardless, let's jump on that plane and fly away to a deserted island called Greendale, away from all this miserable misery!

Day 1

On opening up the game, the first thing I had to do was choose my island. A difficult decision of course, but because I know there are teraforming options coming later, I didn't get too stressed about it, so went for one with a little mini island in the middle. Once I arrive, I decide to set down my tent on the beach, because the world of Animal Crossing is free of coastal erosion. Afterwards I had to pick the spots for my neighbours too, a chicken named Plucky and an elephant named Axel (which was a strange coincidence because I'd just said goodbye to my real life roommate Axel). Tom Nook makes you do some busywork of picking up sticks and rocks and honestly, while doing it, I muttered to myself "God, this is perfect". The town had a little celebration after that (pictured above, in a very Portrait of a Lady on Fire setting) and then the "real day" started. I picked weeds, grabbed fruit and gathered sticks like a real crack addict, really settling into the gameplay loop Animal Crossing does so well. In fact, by the end of the day, I had paid off my initial moving fees, I had picked all the weeds I could reach and I'd given Tom Nook enough critters and fish that a museum will be opening soon. It's a great first day for me.

Day 2

A brave new day, as my character opens his door and leaves his newly built house! I slum it up in a tent no more, this is real progress. On leaving my house though, I run into shipwrecked seagull Gulliver, who needs me to find communicator parts for his broken phone. More excitingly though, Blathers is here! Just in a tent for now but regardless, this means my beautiful museum is coming soon. He gave me a vaulting pole, which meant I could access a whole new part of the island. There's still cliffs I can't scale but progress is progress. With that early exploring out of the way, I had a really productive day. I found the communication parts for Gulliver (he promised to send me a gift tomorrow as thanks), paid off 20,000 bells of my new loan and gave Blathers enough things that he's already prepared to set up a museum. It may not sound like much but it felt very satisfying to get that much done today.

Day 3

Yesterday, in a fit of excitement, I destroyed all of my rocks. Turns out, that's a huge mistake, as I needed iron nuggets to help make a shop. I also have the problem that the museum is currently under construction, so all the fish, insects and fossils I gathered today have to be kept in my house, making me look like a proper kleptomaniac. Getting back to the shop though, I'd got enough wood but still needed the nuggets, so I made the most of the feature that lets you travel to random, uninhabited islands. I hoped to find some varied fruit species but only found coconuts, which sucked a little. Regardless, I got the nuggets I needed and met some cool new animals who are interested in moving to my island someday. A worthwhile trip therefore. Most of the rest of my afternoon was spent grinding away by fishing and catching bugs but eventually, I got enough bells to pay off my second loan. The joy was almost too much to handle, until it got replaced by a loan almost twice its size. Joy of joys, I love animal capitalism.

Day 4

The sun rises on a new day in Greendale, a new day full of promise. The museum is built, a new shop has been built, the morning announcement had a hint that maybe more villagers are on the way? Sets up a bright future for the island. Gulliver also returned today, helping to establish my rhythms. Find his communicator parts, harvest fruit, find fossils. This is a game of creating your own schedules and enjoying them. Speaking of enjoyment, it was Axel's birthday today! I didn't realise it was his birthday when I entered his house, so I dashed out, made a table for him and returned, gift in hand. More excitement was on the way though, as my real life friend Kayla (you wouldn't know her, she goes to another school) invited me to her island, which was lovely. She's one of those people who has time skipped, so her island was obviously much nicer than mine. I was a little bitter about this, so I stole two of her fossils and legged it out of there sharpish. On returning, I held some ceremonies for the shop and the museum in the rain, really enjoying the misery of it as all British people do. Kayla then came to my island though and while I'd hoped to impress and be a hella cool host, she was not impressed. My island was small and pathetic but look, this is a game about taking each day at a time. I will not be shamed for refusing to cheat! Once she left to go back to CheatsTown, I started talking to Tom Nook and it turns out we do have new villagers coming. Yay! However, he wants me to make all the furniture for them, which will take days. Oh no!

Day 5

In the real world today, I was flying back from Florida to the UK, so was feeling kinda crap, which meant I didn't get much done today but of course, one mustn't skip a day of Animal Crossing. Clothes shop owner Mabel was in the town square, selling clothes. I made sure to buy some, because that's surely the first step to getting her shop moving into my town. Otherwise, I'm just slowly trying to chip away at items the new villagers will need. No new progress yet though. Had some fun though, because the bridge across the river got built, so we decided to have a little ceremony! With that done, I got back to my newly formed routine; picking fruit, getting fossils, fishing and bug catching. It's a routine that I'm getting comfortable in now, even after five days.

Day 6

No announcements from Tom Nook, no mail today. It's going to be a slow day I suppose. While running around some of the cliffs, I was an idiot, not really paying attention and saw a tarantula. These are valuable and my museum doesn't have one, so it would have been a really great catch. Like I was saying, didn't really pay attention, ran straight into the tarantula and passed out, because I am an idiot. On waking again, I found Blathers' sister, who kept encouraging me to look at the sky in case of shooting stars. I spent most of the evening looking, but didn't see one. Oh well, paid off half my loan, so there was at least that. While I'm talking about the evening though, it made me realise this was the first time I'd played the game in the evening and not just at midday. It was a really nice reminder that I need to vary my play times, because there are so many awesome bits of wildlife you can't find at 2pm in the afternoon.

Day 7

No news again today, I should really start doing things again. In fact, I did, I finally made all the furniture for my new neighbours. After all that work, I could have people moving in as soon as tomorrow! My grinding got me a bunch of bells and while I should have used that money to pay off my loan, I instead bought an in-game version of the Animal Crossing themed Switch that sold out everywhere in the world quickly. I'm a real sad sack. Moving on to fun cool things though, I sent a gift to Kayla, which made the world feel a little bigger. I spend all day just on my island but when I can reach out to other friends (and they send gifts back), it reinforces the beauty of this game and how it can bring people together. Speaking with Tom Nook later in the day, he gave me a reward for all the work filling the houses, which came in the form of some fences. In theory, this is great, but the front of my house is a mess, so I'll save the organising for another day. Nice to have though! Finally, as all people seem to have done in quarantine, I decided I'd experiment with my hair and am currently wearing it blue. I now look like a proper little weeb but it's okay, I kinda dig it.

Day 8

As predicted, a new neighbour moved in and her name is Puddles. She's a frog I met while travelling, looking forward to seeing her every day. Meanwhile, Tom Nook is teaching me how to customise my furniture, which I will almost certainly forget about for at least a week. In more exciting news, the fruit I stole from Kayla has bloomed, so I am going to be absolutely rolling in bells today. I also got sent a zap outfit by Kayla (which you can see above), so I've started wearing that. Focusing back on my island though, I finally made it up to the cliffs and started de-weeding them. Again, it's very satisfying, just plucking every unsightly plant in site. In reality, my cat sat on me at this point, so I figured I would just grind for a little to try and get some more bells. "A little" turned into roughly 90 minutes, but it meant I could afford to pay off my current loan! For the confused, this means that I can now add another room to my house, which comes paired with another even larger loan, joy of joys. After putting the game down for a bit though, I returned in the evening. Why, you may ask? Well, March is almost over, so I wanted to catch some fish that are leaving at the end of the month because yes, I truly am that pathetic. My mission failed, in case you cared.

Day 9

Another new neighbour today, Gladys the duck! She seems nice, exciting future ahead. More exciting is the fact that my second room is built! This means that the main room can be a lounge and with its bed, bookshelf and toilet, the back room is clearly my bedroom. Once that excitement died down, the day gave itself away to rhythm again; pick fruit, find fossils, fish fish. It's nice, it feels good to do, I simply cannot complain. I also can't complain because I built a pizza oven for outside my house, which is so beautiful and I love it, please be nice to it. By this point, I realise that things are laying themselves out much more slowly and while many people have already started looking stuff up (and my newsfeed certainly wants me to), I'm holding off for now. The joy comes from simple discovery. One day, you'll just open up the game and Tom Nook will ask you to set up a shop. Fun is simple in this game, which is why it's delightful. Finishing up for the day though, my friend Phil wanted to visit my town, so I invited him over, where he threatened to seduce one of my villagers. An empty threat, thank goodness, so I returned the favour by going to his island and being jealous of his fancy looking town hall. Friends make this game into a flower, finally in full bloom.

Day 10

The final day of my diary today! It starts with some excitement, as a THIRD new neighbour has moved in. His name is Clay, I believe he is a hamster and he loves wrestling. Of course, why not, let's roll with it. More exciting than that though, my residents life tent is finally getting upgraded into an actual building soon. It'll be closed tomorrow, but it'll all be worth it. I've also got an Abel sisters fashion shop on the way now. I talked to Abel in the square, just because I wanted to buy something (this dress, picture above) but now she's moving in. Sure, why not, let's roll with it. Ending the day, I went to the island of a mysterious dog named Harv. He visited me a while back and I've only just gotten around to visiting where he lives. It turns out, his island is a photo studio. I guess that's cool, creative people are going to have a lot of fun with it, but I am not creative so it ain't for me. Oh well, I like that fun things like this are in the game, even if I won't use them. It speaks to a game fuller than I will ever properly appreciate.

So that is Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It is a game of simple pleasures, but they are pleasures nonetheless. I imagine if you're on the fence, I pushed you off onto the non-Animal Crossing side but selfishly, I enjoyed writing this. It showed me how far I've come, just in ten days. Who knows where I'll be in a week? A month? A year, even? The future, in-game, seems bright, even if the outside world continues to be miserable. Have a little hope and enjoy an island getaway. I know I'm loving it.