With a rise in the popularity of life-sims lately,Animal Crossinghas more competition than ever for keeping its loyal player base around. Unfortunately, with the increase in competition and players' constant requests for evolution and quality-of-life improvements,Animal Crossinghas now drifted far from its original form.
WhileAnimal Crossing’s original intent was to create a cozy atmosphere and steady gameplay that could be thoroughly enjoyed over a long period, that is no longer the case. Unfortunately,the quality of life changes players are constantly requesting drastically contradict everythingAnimal Crossingwas supposed to be, leaving a weird attempt at balancing between streamlined gameplay and casual enjoyment.
Animal Crossing Is A Totally Different Franchise Now
Animal Crossing Seems To Have Abandoned What It Originally Intended To Create
If you’ve played any of theoriginalAnimal Crossinggames, or even seen discussions about them, then you probably noticed thatthings weren’t nearly as easy as they are inAnimal Crossing: New Horizons. For one thing, if you think redecorating is tedious to complete now, you can’t imagine how much longer of a process it was back then to get your home looking just the way you wanted.
On top of that, you might remember conversations you had with villagers that seemed a lot more lively than those you’re having today. Unfortunately,somewhere along the way of making gameplay more streamlined,Animal Crossingseems to have sucked all the life out of the villagers. Rather than more personable conversations or sometimes even rude remarks,villagers inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsoffer little more than quick pleasantries.
Overall, this has resulted in a world that feels rushed in almost every aspect, aside from the areas whereACNHhas intentionally tried to slow you down, like The Roost.What should feel like a casual life-sim with a lively community now feels like every other micromanaging life-sim on the market right now, where you’re able to control far too much, and everything needs to be faster and easier.
While it’s great that there are games like that out there, not every game like this needs to be identical, as it kind of defeats the purpose of having other games.As a pioneer of this genre,Animal Crossingis one of the ones that should stand out among the rest, not fall into the same bad habits.
No Animal Crossing Game Can Do It All
In An Attempt To Please Everyone, Animal Crossing Struggles To Please Anyone
Unfortunately, the problem largely lies in the fact thatAnimal Crossing’s player base is so large and divisive. When you’re trying to accommodate such a large group that can’t seem to agree on what they want, it’s hard to please everyone, which is whyAnimal Crossingis the way it is at the moment.
That being said, in an attempt to please everyone, it almost simultaneously feels as though it’s pleasing no one. WhileAnimal Crossing: New Horizonswas a massive successat launch, we also can’t ignore that the timing of its release likely gave it an advantage it may not have otherwise had. Now, reflecting on it years later, when the current players consist primarily of devotedAnimal Crossingfans,players are starting to become more vocal about their concerns withACNHand future games.
To do so would require backtracking on quality of life changes that have already been implemented, and at the risk of upsetting players, that doesn’t seem like something Nintendo would be willing to take a chance on.
Now,with such progress made to appease those who want additional micromanagement features, I’m afraidAnimal Crossingcan’t ever be what it once was. To do so would require backtracking on quality of life changes that have already been implemented, and at the risk of upsetting players, that doesn’t seem like something Nintendo would be willing to take a chance on.
Animal Crossing Can’t Go Back To What It Used To Be
Experiencing The Original Charm Of Animal Crossing Is Something That’ll Only Be Possible In Past Releases
For those of us who miss the lively days on the island when things were simpler, if not also a bit more tedious, it seems that we may have to kiss the dream of having anAnimal Crossinggame like that goodbye.While I won’t completely say I abhor thequality-of-life changes made inACNH, I am certainly not a fan of my cardboard-like villagers, nor do I enjoy the ease with which I’m able to accomplish things.
While there are still factors that slow you down a bit, which is why some players have resorted to time hopping, those elements feel intentionally designed to slow you down rather than doing it naturally.Since things have been made so much easier,Animal Crossinghas had to retroactively try to add monotonous elements back into its games, and this is apparent while playing, which makes them all the more frustrating than they would be if things were just naturally slow-paced.
Overall,Animal Crossinghas set itself on a path that can only go forward from here, as taking away features that have already been implemented is highly unlikely. Thenext entry in theAnimal Crossingfranchisewill likely not only contain the majority of the features included to streamlineACNHbut will expand upon them even further.
At this point, we’ll never get anotherAnimal Crossinggame exactly like the ones we had before, but perhaps the next entry could find a better way to meet both types of players in the middle and create something that feels like an authentic homage while also meeting the demands of new players.
