Can you believe Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out five years ago? 2020 sure was a turbulent time, but it saw the release of the tropical New Horizons on Nintendo Switch after years of waiting for a new Animal Crossing game.
In the UK, the game dropped the very day the COVID-19 lockdown started, which was an absolute blessing for Nintendo’s sales and super fans like myself who wanted nothing more than endless time to play the game. Well, nearly 1,000 hours later, I have an island filled with my favorite villagers and suitably rustic decorations.
However, it feels like there could have been more. Nintendo released the Happy Home Paradise DLC and a handful of tiny content drops with seasonal furniture and clothing, but compared to previous games – including Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp – it was a little lacking.
For instance, Animal Crossing: New Leaf on the Nintendo 3DS has collections of items and even themed villagers for games like Splatoon, Monster Hunter, and the Legend of Zelda franchise. Not to mention the mini-games you could play, and the Welcome Amiibo update released four years after the game’s debut, adding even more villagers and furniture.
In my unhinged, Animal Crossing-addled mind, I’m hoping for a similar situation with New Horizons, where we’ll get an update and more DLC when the Switch 2 drops. I won’t hold my breath, but it sure would be nice. Tell me, where are the lemon trees? The banana trees? Where are my cherry trees, Nintendo?
Surely it would be easy to integrate more of Pocket Camp into New Horizons, such as some of the thousands of clothing items and furniture sets, or even the items themed around NPCs that feature in New Horizons, like Katrina’s tent or Blather’s work desk. I’m not saying the constant scavenger hunt event should move across, but I’d greatly appreciate some more content updates.
Also, why did we never get any upgrades to the Nook shop on the island? Every other game has expansions to the tanuki empire, but not New Horizons. This is a great list of missing content (though a couple of entries are now out of date, like Katrina) if you want to see what else is missing.
There isn’t really a solid answer as to why updates fizzled out for Animal Crossing. It could be due to the pandemic, or that it (somehow) may not be profitable, or more likely, resources went toward developing newer games like Splatoon 3.
Due to the Switch 2 being just around the corner, we’re keeping our eyes peeled for any information about a new Animal Crossing game. If you’re a fan of the adorable life sim, check out our retrospective Animal Crossing New Horizons review here and our Pocket Tactics Animal Crossing history lesson, too.