Animal Crossing New Horizons

Animal Crossing: New Horizons will finally be in our hands at the end of this week, and the reviews are now in.

Hopefully, you'll already have seen our very own review where we described the game as "a masterpiece that has been well worth waiting for", but what about everywhere else? How has the game been received by critics from all walks of life?


You'll be pleased to know that the game has received almost nothing but praise across the board. Let's take a look through what people have said:

The folks over at VGC awarded it a full 5/5, saying that it's a game "every Nintendo Switch owner should pick up".

New Horizons does more than enough to build on previous Animal Crossings and easily joins the list of software every Nintendo Switch owner should pick up. At a time when the world outside can often be quite scary, New Horizons is the comforting escape everyone needs.

Another full marks review comes flying in from God is a Geek, who say that this is everything long-term fans could hope for.

If you are looking forward to Animal Crossing: New Horizons as a long term fan, know that this is everything you could have hoped for, which is to say it’s more Animal Crossing with quality of life improvements on what might be the best console Nintendo’s ever put out. It’ll sell millions, earn new fans, and top play counts for years to come.

IGN awarded the game a 9/10, saying that it follows in the footsteps of Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey in successfully bringing its franchise to the next generation.

The Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, and Super Mario each found new life on the Nintendo Switch, and following those games in kind is Animal Crossing: New Horizons: An expanded, polished, next-generation reboot of a classic Nintendo game.

The Guardian says that now is the perfect time for a game like New Horizons.

Animal Crossing is everything I have been craving: it is gentle, soothing, social and creative, and my group chats are already buzzing with hype about beetles and villager fashions. If there was ever a perfect time for a game such as this, that time is now.

GamesRadar noted some "time-based frustrations", but otherwise came away impressed, awarding the game 4.5 out of 5.

This is an Animal Crossing game through and through, and although that comes with some time-based frustrations, that urge to just spend 'five more minutes' on your island deepens with every passing day.

USGamer also went for a 4.5/5 score, noting that New Leaf "remains the pinnacle of the series".

Animal Crossing: New Leaf remains the pinnacle of the series, but New Horizons brings with it a bunch welcome quality of life changes, such as terraforming the island to your every whim. The addition of crafting isn't a burden as I worried it would be. In fact, it becomes a fun objective to work toward, effectively diversifying the usual chores of selling bugs and fish to pay your never-waning debts to that rascally raccoon.

Eurogamer described it as Animal Crossing's "finest outing to date".

Animal Crossing: New Horizons [is] probably the best this series has ever had to offer and therefore one of Nintendo's very best games to date. It presents a world absurd in its mundanity yet shot through with magic, offering an escapism that's reassuringly dependable.


Animal Crossing: New Horizons launches on 20th March and is available to buy either digitally from the Switch eShop, or in lovely physical form.

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