Of course I want to buy Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
I’ve been playing Animal Crossing (and deserting enough towns and villagers) to know that I don’t need a new Animal Crossing game. I know what I’m like! I’ve seen Isabel’s disappointed face! I have other unplayed games at home! Ones that aren’t on family-shared Switch!
But then they revealed their beautiful new Animal Crossing-themed Switch.
Oh no. Oh noooOOOOoooOOooooooo
But the point of writing isn’t to lament things you can’t afford. So instead, this week I took my 3DS out and re-opened my Animal Crossing village, Brioche.
I haven’t played Animal Crossing: New Leaf for something like three years. The last Animal Crossing game I played was actually Happy Home Designer, which has all the appeal of designing cute homes for animal neighbours, but none of the responsibility of taking care of a village.
The first thing that happened was Countdown Day (Animal Crossing's New Year's Eve) because I had forgotten to check the clock and date, and realised that I'm Brioche it was January 1… 2012. An interesting glitch, considering the last time I had visited Brioche was definitely sometime in 2016.
I celebrated with my villagers (who, due to time travel, knew it had been a while, but not exactly how long of a while), watered the flowers (which were still in pretty good shape because of the Beauty Ordinance I had the forethought to enact before I abandoned my village last time) and dug up two time capsules before I saved and reset the clock.
There’s been more than enough written about the appeal of cozy games like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, and probably just as much written about the guilt of abandoning villages and Mayoral duties to weeds and cockroaches. And while I definitely agree that the fantasy of responsibility being easy and automatically rewarding is part of the appeal (Pay off your mortgages by fishing and catching bugs! Water your garden once a day and your flowers stay fresh forever! Make friends with your neighbours by delivering fruit!), I don’t know if that’s its main appeal for me.
I like the way the fruits look growing on the trees, and how much it makes me crave a peach or a mango afterwards.
I like visiting other people’s villages and imagining how I can make my village cuter/spookier/worth visiting.
I like writing letters to villagers, and getting letters back. (Obviously anyone who writes a newsletter must like writing letters).
I like wandering around the village and realising that, apropos of nothing, the northern lights are in the sky.
I like how it makes routine and maintenance appealing, the same way Ghibli movies make cleaning look fun. I like that the appeal of it isn’t in gaining points or getting some kind of an achievement. You water the flowers and pick the weeds and dig up all the fossils for the museum. It makes the villagers happy. It makes you happy. Then you do it again.
It makes the mundane charming. And as someone who in the past has failed to see the point in making a bed, or cleaning dishes, or making a home nice because it’ll just get dirty again - it’s nice to remember that the mundane can be charming in real life too. There’s value in keeping things nice just for you.
I don’t know how long I’ll maintain Brioche this time! I like to think I’ll be more responsible and won’t make Isabel take over my mayoral duties again because I’m now on Island Time in New Horizons. And I don’t like to think of my villagers wandering around, wondering why I haven’t visited in so long. But whether it’s for another week, month, year or more, I’m glad I’ve come back. I like my town. I like visiting my neighbours. I like watering the flowers just to see them grow.
Thank you for reading! Have a treat. Maybe two!
Something old:
Something new: