Why I Spent a Year Playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons

On the 20th of March 2020, a day I have been anticipating for years finally arrived; the new Animal Crossing game was released. As the poor guys I had to live with in the months leading up to it can tell you, I didn't shut up about it for most of that time. Fair to say, it's been a hell of a year since then, one that we were starting to get into when Animal Crossing: New Horizons made its unassuming release. Unlike most of the people who spent those first panicked months of the pandemic we now call home playing Animal Crossing with a sense of mania before eventually dropping it, I have been playing it for the last year. Not every day, but I've never missed more than two in a row. This makes me a loser, and means I have some explaining to do. This is me explaining myself. Mum, Dad, I'm sorry that your eldest son ended up like this, but we work with what we have.

The slow opening up of the island allowed me to slowly build my routine and even today, I still keep most of it up.

I'll start with the most obvious point, Animal Crossing gives us a sense of rhythm and routine in a year where our routines have been absolutely decimated by the virus. Personally, the start of the pandemic was a lot of panic for me, as I had to move abruptly from Florida, back home to Cambridge. My life, as it was at that time, was uprooted and I needed something to make me feel a sense of normality. That was where Animal Crossing came in. Especially for the first few weeks, it was essential that I logged on every day, to clear away weeds, chop down trees and try and bring in more villagers to my town. The slow opening up of the island allowed me to slowly build my routine and even today, I still keep most of it up. Almost every day, I log on and collect my fruit, dig up fossils and talk to my villagers. There is no end game, it is just existence. And having lived in three different places in the last 12 months, very few of which I've been legally allowed to see friends and family in, "just existing" on a tropical island isn't so bad.

Speaking of the tropical paradise, it's maybe time for my saddest confession; I've really grown to like the animals on my island. Aside from my housemates, they're the people I see most and I love all of their silly little dialogue. There's Clay the wrestling hamster, Sahara the giraffe with a lovely coat and Zucker the sushi squid, to name only three of my favourites. They all have their own personalities, looks and houses that you can check out. However, they can also leave and that's part of the bitter sweet magic. You only have so many spaces on your island and if you want to meet someone new, you need to say goodbye to an old friend. It's bittersweet, but it's also the only real conflict you have to deal with in the whole game and so it's necessary. Sometimes though, you don't like the villager who turned up, so sending them away isn't really that much of a problem. I'm looking at you Katt, if you ask me to leave then I am letting you fly. Your day is up sometime soon, I know it.

In previous Animal Crossing games, the game is just what comes in the cartridge. Once you've unlocked all the buildings and bought all the stuff, you're done. In this new age of online content though, New Horizons is constantly being updated. So far we've had updates that added deep sea diving, a fox who will try to sell you counterfeit art and most recently, an update that added a bunch of random Mario themed content. These updates really incentivise you to keep playing, because you know there's always another update around the corner and maybe this next one will have the stuff you're really hoping for. Personally, I've still got my fingers crossed for a bigger update to Nook's Cranny or the return of The Roost Coffee Shop, but whatever it is, I'm always interested for what's next. It is an endless carrot held in front of you and sometimes, that is enough for me. It's a treadmill with no end that somehow manages not to feel exploitative.

The point is that there isn't a point. Just embrace the mundanity. 

To wrap up, I want to talk about why most people stopped playing. There was an initial rush where you go into the game and have things you need to do to beautify your island. You have to get all those Nook Miles to unlock parts of the island, pay for your loans and make an island you're really happy with. The problem for most people was that once you get to that point, there is no purpose. You get there and ask "what do I do now?" As someone who has been playing these games since the DS, the point is that there isn't a point. Just embrace the mundanity. You are Sisyphus and you roll that boulder up the hill every day because you like that it at least gives you the feeling you've done something today. At some point I will put down New Horizons and not return to the series until the next game, but that's the nature of the beast. Enjoy the simple life you live on the island now, because it will be over soon. It's hard to explain the pull the game has on me, maybe it's just straight up addiction, but it is so very pleasant a game to simply exist in.