Topic: Can Animal Crossing still reinvent itself?

I love ACNH! But I can see how it can be better (aka the villagers' interaction). Fantasy Life i is definitely too far from ACNH to even be close tbh. Both are good.

The core of Animal Crossing, decorating your island and house while collecting items to do so is never going to change. That IS the game essentially. And Happy Island Paradise is just creative mode with no bell or items restrictions where you can just make whatever for people and eventually your villagers.

What I want from a future animal crossing is this:
1) Deeper and more interesting relationships with the villagers. By that I don't mean romantic or anything close to that, but a clear relationship metric similar to the mobile game where there are stated goals. So after you become best friends there are "experiences" you can unlock such as planning their birthday party, going on a play date and actually play a mini-game of billiards, or air hockey or some other kind of mini-game. Fishing dates where you fish or bug catch together and compete. These then unlock an ultimate experience which culminates in a really awesome item for that villagers house.

2) Better online community activities. Right now online is basically Nookazon. Literally someone set up a website for this. The game should codify an official online trading system that does not require an island visit. But when people do play on your island there should activities that are much more fun rather than just looking at their stuff.

3) Longer term support for the game. Plan out at least 3-4 years of major content releases before you pack in the town and make Splatoon 7.

@SwitchplayerJohn The update model is only a thing because New Horizons released incomplete. The 2.0 update content was what they planned to be in the game at launch- with everything being in the code originally. I genuinely hope we don't get a repeat of this.

About stuff like the personalities of Villagers and needing updates, I personally really liked acnh, enough to give the game a 10/10 score. The one thing I really disliked about the game was the one island per Switch limit (I got my own Switch back in 2022 because of it). Because of my game time being limited by my parents, I liked that your villagers never left your island, which meant I could not play for months if necessary and not have too many consequences while focusing on some other games for a while. However, I can definitely see why older Animal Crossing players like the original system better. If the next Animal Crossing on Switch 2 went back to the original system of villagers leaving on their own, I would be a little disappointed, but I don't think I would complain about it too much. I would honestly just skip it, since I already have acnh and there would be other games coming out (plus I don't know whether I'm getting a Switch 2 or not yet).

As a non-series vet who tried to get into New Horizons but found it too slow, there needs to be some sort of option for series or life sim vets to skip the tutorializing

I know I've made a similar point in another thread somewhere, so forgive me for repeating myself: the original Animal Crossing had a pretty limited indoor camera, New Horizons has a 360 degree horizontal camera. People can holla and stamp their feet about the old days being the best days, but the New Horizons indoor camera is better. I've never seen anyone say about New Horizons, "Blah blah blah, I wish the indoor camera would go back to the the limited angles of the GameCube version, those limited angles had more charm to them". No-one says it, because it's patently not true.

@gcunit
I would like to see next Animal Crossing will be Full 3D, at least like Fantasy Life I or like The Sims for even better.
But guess what... Still somebody will complain for not looking like archaic GameCube version.

I'm ambivalent on the indoor part; it's honestly a little jarring that the camera is different than the rest of the game but it's also only a small separated part of the game.

If they do things well in a new game I won't complain (much) if they change cameras or anything else but it doesn't change the fact that a fixed camera isn't 'worse' anymore than a 2D game is worse than a 3D game; it's just different. Sometimes better. And less generic. Not all games need ro be 3D, not all need to have a full camera, not all need to be open world. More flexible isn't automatically better.

I've been playing a lot of Hello Kitty Island Adventure lately and am constantly impressed how many things it does which simply wouldn't work in a 360 camera game. It honestly makes exploring so much more fun. It's an experience I simply wouldn't get with a full camera. Could a good animal crossing be made with a different camera set up? Sure. Do I personally want it to? I'd kinda prefer not but, again, if it's a good game I'm not going to scream about it. If you actively prefer a change, that's your opinion and a fine one just like some people preferring open world or 3D etc.

@gcunit I like the indoor camera in the newer games, and it makes sense to have the indoor camera with full controls. The outdoor camera going from how it’s been for years to over-the-shoulder or fully rotatable will make the series feel more generic. It’s like if they turned Hollow Knight Silksong into a fully 3D platformer instead of another 2D metroidvania like the first game.

It definitely can reinvent itself, whether it needs to do so is a different question.

Personally I hope the next game introduces a huge number of random in-game events so that every gaming session you play present something unique. I still remember the good feeling I had playing my first island when every day had new surprises.

As much as I enjoyed New Horizons, I want them to return to a quirkier, less game-y Animal Crossing. A return to when it was about a simple but fascinating little life sim, not a power trip. If they want to expand on New Horizons I hope they do DLC for it, and dare to do something very different for the next game.

I have played Fantasy Life I and it set my expectation bar really really high.
And for next Animal Crossing, I really want to see full 3D world, quick building, more area to explore, better Islander management, etc just like Fantasy Life I.

Well we got something. Not sure how I feel about it. I was excited to see a trailer but as I watched it I kind of was like been their done that. Lot of content.

Why Slumber island? Why not just another island? Take a boat or plane. You could set it up like you did with the original. Invite new villager's? I would like to have more villagers and that would allow it to happen.
Could be a hole new story line where Tom got some new property. I am not really into decorating homes or rooms. I like the core island of building a island, finding Villager's, crafting. Was not mentioned so I doubt it is coming but why not any new fish or bugs?. Decorating a hotel and stuff really not my thing. Was not a huge fan of the expansion either even though some of it was cool.

Games being added and some of the multiplayer is cool.

I was really hoping for a new Animal crossings but I would guess now that is off in the distance. I was hoping New Leaf would be remade or remastered or at least the original be added to Nintendo online. I never got to play it and always wanted to try it.

My Girlfriend has like 1300 hrs into New Horizons. She was like I am just ready for a new Animal crossings. I have moved on at this point. She played it every second she could and just went cold turkey. She finished everything and walked away.

If there is one thing which definitely isn't animal crossing reinventing itself it is re-releasing the exact same game with an update which is very similar to the existing DLC 😆

I would like one to be able to rotate 360 degree and see the backside. That would make this something different concept to see how your ACNH island looks like overall.

Switch 2 Edition sounds a bit pointless to me (for me).
-Slightly higher resolution graphics - Okay
-Use of a megaphone to locate villagers - Why?
-Mouse controls for use when decorating or designing a flag/clothing - Don't see the need
-Up to 12 players online on same island with Camera support - Good if you like playing ACNH with friends I suppose

To me that's not enough to buy S2 edition. The free update is going to have a tonne of new features. I for one won't be buying S2 edition as there's nothing new that would make the game any better, for me.

The free update does look great though and I will be playing the new features, though I would have loved a bigger shop, ability to add more villagers and maybe extend the size of the island.

@maxrpg Yeah i think that's probably the point, since they put the s2 edition so cheap anyway. I probably will buy it if i'm still playing ACNH by the time it rolls out (I have reinstalled the game... i'm not sure if i want to do a new game since i lost my save file)