Talking Point: Does Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Rollout Of Event Updates Make It Feel 'Incomplete'?

It gives us something to come back to after we get bored with it. You can only do the same things every day for so long.

getting close to 2,000 hours still not bored cause there's always something to do

Not really, the base game is still there. I see this as a Mario Maker situation, where the base game itself is fine for what it is. However, the free content updates only enhance the experience and give players more reasons to come back to it later. Not to mention it's all free dlc, if this game was made by EA then you'd be paying 10$ for just 1 Christmas tree, not to mention the 65$ to make Santa show up in your town once.

They have known the whole time about these "updates" they are just rolling them out slowly to maintain interest.

I don't mind because it refreshes the game every month with new things that even if you time travel you have to come back to experience.

It farther reinforces the idea of taking it a day at a time and enjoying life and the game as it comes...

It's my most played game of the last several years. I've found plenty to do, and am still truly enjoying it, pushing 350 hours. I felt it was a complete game when it launched, and now it is just getting bigger and better. The seasonal events have not been as interesting as the additions such as the art gallery and diving. I could not stand the Wedding event, for some reason. But I could happily skip it. I love the approach they are taking with the game.

I rather like the way they’re doing it. If the game had been entirely available at launch, all the annual events would have been spoiled by stupid time travelers immediately. At least this way everyone is discovering the new content together and the game will keep on giving us unexpected things for at least a whole year.

I like the updates, keeps things fresh and gives a bigger spotlight on the event and/or character that shows up. I never time travel, so not getting Christmas or Halloween items early is not a big deal.

I’ve said before that I don’t like this style of update, I’d have rather gotten the whole game on the cartridge. If they were going to do updates, New Leaf had a whole complete game but still got that massive free DLC at the same time. The two things aren’t mutually exclusive.

I see what you're getting at but if you buy it today then you already have all of this extra content straight away anyway, which kind of defeats the argument

Splatoon been having the rolling updates going fine too. Just keeps the experience fresh.

I have been complaining a lot how this game is overrated boring etc.

Now that I have got everything I wanted I feel like making this place my really 2nd home it feels so nice and I have gone into past and I have hundreds of hours behind me and I know something new still awaits...

Yeah it is kind of poor in comparison to e.g. Stardew Valley but it has it all planned for a year to still feel fresh somehow... and it somehow still works.

It is a unique and amazing game (could it be made more enjoyable and less boring? sure, all this chopping, mining, etc. could be made in some mini game thing or something) lots of stuff to improve gameplay wise but it is really well made and planned.

Logging every single day for a few minutes, now that I have all I wanted I just build up and shape my island like I want it which is super relaxing and chilling, just making it my home. So many hours and still things to improve etc. I enjoy it the way it is. I guess. Hopefully the next game in the series will expand and give players more fun stuff to do.

Overall, I prefer it that way/ Sooner you've seen it all, sooner you will get bored with it. So far it still has my interest since the lunch so it must be working

@Sean161 Me instead of completely stopping: I just log in for a few min check prices and sell/buy turninps + some island shaping if I feel like it. That's it. No more grinding for resources etc.

Turnips trading covers money so no need to grind and sell. I will decorate/shape my island so I will need some stuff but I can do it for weeks, months no need to hurry now Like 1 bench a day lol or replant 2 flowers, that's it xD

Every now and then I do get a little sad about some of the things aren't here (yet?), But I've put more hours into this game than any animal crossing before, and any switch game period. Definitely feels like a complete experience to me. Decorating outside is the number one thing I've wanted since GC, so I am beyond satisfied since it's such a huge component of the game

Its a generic live service made this way to drip feed content so you keep buying Nintendo Online subscriptions. Fact.
I hate it, its boring lackluster grindy repetitive and unbearable. I hardly touched it after release! Worst Animal Crossing to date! Fact.
Go buy Wild World if you own a DS/3DS/2DS/DSI/Wii U
Go buy Population Growing (the best entry to date, fact) if you own a Gamecube/Wii.
Avoid City Folk for its boring too and badly designed.
Avoid New Leaf for its bad gimmicks there's nothing great about it and they removed many of things.
Avoid Happy Home Designer its not AC.
Avoid Pocket Camp because its not AC, just a casino.

Anyone see the guy on Reddit that complained the game lacked content after spending over 400 hours playing it? LOLLOLolOlolololOlOlOlOLOlOLOl

I'm not sure if incomplete is the right word, but the game feels less organic than New Leaf.

In NL, things just happened occasionally. Isabelle gave you items for smaller events, the badge guy (forgot his name) showed up for achievements, someone gets an idea for a new building, villagers are looking forward to big holidays (and in some cases you make preparations before the events starts, like collecting Halloween candy/costumes.)

In NH it's all menus. You buy special items from the Nook terminal, there's a strict one visitor per day schedule (new shops/functions just get added to that), and instead of learning about upcoming events through your ingame villagers we get update trailers outside the game and then the event is just there, without any build up. It all feels very artificial to me.

People will complain if the game just gets minor bug fixes after launch, and they'll complain if it gets constant rollouts.
Animal Crossing are games where you can fall into a routine fairly easy. The rollouts really encourage revisiting and mixing things up.

My guess is the original game delay was because they did not have enough events finished for a first year so they postponed it. I don't think it is an issue either since they are free,

The thing that makes it feel unfinished for me is the lack of a town, and the way they’ve given the player the power to do things (haircuts, furniture customisation, etc) that other characters used to be there for.

I miss showing up to Club Lol, the Roost, Tortimer’s Island, Re-Tail, Leif’s store, the hairdresser’s...!

I like the rollout because I have other games I want to play. I’ve put over 300 hours into the game and I love playing this. It’s my GOTY too. I love that I get to decide how I want my island to look and love the DIY aspect. I just wish maybe it was easier to get them and not so many duplicate recipes

I struggled to maintain interest after a few weeks then stopped. I played 100’s hours of New Leaf and really missed a lot of features. I think I’ll go back to it next year but atm nothing’s drawn me back in.

I really appreciate the charm and the laid back style of the game but after I was all over the first Animal Crossing on Gamecube I just couldn't keep interest in New Horizons for over the 50 hours I played it. I see why people love it, but have ultimately found out that it just isn't for me.

I think the only thing that I'm really missing in this game (aside from QOL stuff), is the inclusion of Nintendo branded stuff that you would find in the other games - the Master Sword, Mario stuff, etc.

Feels like they are making some things "cheater-proof". No problem here.

this feels like how they did Splatoon. here's the main part of the game to start, then you get the rest of the game in small increments over time. it's both a drag but really helps keep it feeling new. the holiday/special events are nice bonuses the way splatfests were. agree the wedding lasted way too long.

As someone who doesn’t time skip, I don’t mind the regular updates to add events, since I won’t be trying to play them early anyway.

The downside is that, years down the line, when Nintendo turn off their Switch servers, anyone playing this as a retro game with no updates installed is going to get a very slim experience compared to anyone who sticks on, for example, GameCube AC even now.

On the plus side, the rolling updates came just as I'd completed paying off all my loans, my Museum was mostly done, my island had a five-star rating, and frankly I was running out of things to do. Considering that was probably hundreds of hours in, that's not a bad amount of initial content at all.

The rolling content itself has been a mixed bag. The Easter stuff was pretty awful, honestly. May brought bushes, which were very welcome permanent additions, and June brought the wedding season event, which offered a lot of nice clothing and furniture but required a LOT of mundane, daily repetition to collect them all. Now in July, we have the swimming update (HUGELY welcome, especially for the new aquarium specimens), and the new "Gullivarr" (whom I still haven't encountered yet; are there certain requirements that must be met first???). And of course August promises more free content. Another shop or upgrade(s) to an existing building? Looking forward to finding out.

On the minus side, personally the closer I get to the launch date for new content for any game (example: Civilization VI), the less interested I am in playing it until said update arrives. When an imminent update offers something new and different, what you have currently suddenly does feel "incomplete". It's more psychological than anything, I guess, but it's there.

All that said, I'm very glad Nintendo has continued to support ACNH with additional content and hope they'll continue to do so for a very long time to come. When the new DLC does come around, it breathes new life into the game, no question, and that's the whole point. If we'd gotten all of this (free, remember) stuff at launch, I'm sure that a lot of people would have already collected or finished most or all of it, and then they'd have nothing left to look forward to.

@Ninjatiptoes I did similar thing then I have checked and had like 140h xD

It probably only feels that way to the few people with zero internet access, the time travelers Nintendo doesn't care about, and the hackers that are salty that they can't expose everything at once.

AC is a 'Live-in' game, in that sense periodic roll-out of content is very much desired and an extremely generous gesture. Makes sense with seasons etc. Also, I'm finding myself hoarding furniture for that "just in case" whim of a make-over. It's nice to have the media get into the spirit of the game, the discoveries become communal. The only other games that fall into this scenario are Stardew Valley and to a lesser degree - the early Sims games.

I’ve logged close to 900 hours so far, and haven’t missed a day yet, I love the way the updates work, just when I start to think I’m out of stuff to do a wee update occurs and it’s fresh as a daisy again. Long may it continue!

Considering how easy it is to please Nintendo fans these days, I would say that the thought of the game being incomplete probably never crossed their minds.

@TG16_IS_BAE
Is the "holier than thou" elitist snark really necessary?

I love that they add new things and it makes me rethink how to design island. (Bushes, sea creatures, statues, etc)

I log onto the Animal crossing reddit cause many people are way more creative than I am, so I get new ideas from that.

I hope at leak of the dreams is coming so I can visit even more islands and get ideas.

Would I love to have more.... Yes but that me being impatient and besides, I still haven't seen much from what the base game offers (fall and winter seasons, seasonal items, recipes, etc)

Fits in the « game as a service » model the gaming industry is aiming for, except it’s free and still gives me reasons to go back. it’s not just a matter of how many copies you sell anymore but now mostly a matter of if people are actually playing the game to make it relevant for years to come. No complaints

I appreciate you naming your island 'Twin Peaks'. Classy.

I think I have a personal problem with a game adding content via updates later. I dislike the notion that what I paid full price for is not the "full" product. However, Animal Crossing is the perfect fit for that kind of content rollout. I still don't like it, but it wasn't as bad as say Kirby Star Allies. I was finished with the game by the time the extra content eas released.

My biggest grievance is with the quality of the content being released. I don't think what they've done has been very fun, frankly. I love the game to pieces, but I find a lot of the extra characters and their content to be tedious busywork. Gulliver use to quiz me about a real world location, now I just have to dig up 5 mcguffins. It's those kinds of details that make the day-to-day experience a bit of a slog.

"You don't beat it, you don't complete it, you live it." Great quote from the article
and i totally agree. ACNH = GOTY.

I have played for 135 hours since 27 June 2020. I still have to collect tons of money from my fruit orchard to pay off my Final debt of Basement expansion, funds for Building Relocation, build Bridges / Inclines and beautify my island.

I am a Time Traveler so i always skip the time whenever i want. I still able to participate in previous seasonal events as long they have surpassed the actual date. I absolutely cannot wait to see the upcoming events.

By the time all hidden things have been added, Nintendo should release the Ultimate version with All updates in cartridge, same as ACNL Welcome Amiibo.

I prefer everything being on the cart on day 1, myself. I never ran out of things to do in New Leaf and I played that from launch in 2013 right up until New Horizons came out. The games-as-a-service model prevents me from playing at my own pace, which is how I like to play my games. But hey, I grew up in the 80s and 90s so my tastes are pretty old school.

Overall, I like the rollouts. As others have stated, it prevents hardcore time travelers from spoiling the game for everyone else. It also gives Nintendo time to flesh out the season in a way that might have either been rushed or would have otherwise delayed the game.

I might time travel here and there for a day or two in either direction, but that's the extent of it...so, I have no issue with the time release of unlockable content. The only people I can see getting mad about it are the folks who are already in the year 2021 or 2022 😂

@N1ntendodo stay freeeeesh

I found the Island Tours the most continuously enjoyable thing in New Leaf. So the fact NH didn't have anything that quite replaced the fun or variety of those REALLY stood out as a serious omission to me.

And it still does. The game is good - but I expected more. Take diving for instance. We now have it back (exactly as it was years ago) - but since this was an Island based entry I was genuinely expecting to be able to dive and explore a fully rendered underwater area around the island. And maybe caving for resources. The budget title The Touryst did both of these well on a shoestring - so Nintendo could've gone further.

I know it's not a popular opinion, but I'm afraid I am in the camp that feels NH is a rather unambitious title. Even the dialog with Islanders and when you catch fish is shockingly repetitive for such an important title.

Now I still like the game - but I don't play it that much for a simple but unfortunate reason: There is just a lot more interesting games in the world.

Criticism for this game is valid - and I'm not trying to be controversial, or make shock statements. It's how I feel - the game is a bit meh to me. Don't hate me for that view. I just hope Nintendo goes further with AC going forward.

Sure, the roll-out includes stuff that was already in New Leaf at launch, but that doesn't really bother me. It's the plethora of other improvements to the game that made New Horizons stand out, and I think they were right to focus on that stuff and patch Redd and swimming in later.

I DO wish they'd get a handle on event timing, though. Two weeks of getting unskippably pestered by Blathers about an event with one day of content was annoying, and filling out repetitive photo shoots to collect all the prizes got really boring after a week or so.

@westman98 Always good to stay realistic.

@Yorumi @ReikoMortis Sadly I agree - and few are admitting this is the case.

@Nicholas64
I played ACNH 3DS, yo !
For more than 1500+ hours since December 2013.
I have HHA and Amiibo Festival as well.
They are shovelwares but still taste decent enough.
ACNH is definetely looks better than ACNL.
I will keep digging in everyday.

Very happy with this way of doing things, and people tend to focus on things that are missing, but fail to mention the great additions to decorating your island and terra forming, which are both game changers for me.

I like the way they give you new stuff to do by updating the game monthly. As it stops the game from getting boring after an while

@TG16_IS_BAE
If that's what realism is in your view, then I cant imagine what "imaginary" is to you...

I get both sides of it - on the one side you’ve got something to come back to, and a feeling of extension and such. However as someone who’s played New Leaf extensively, it feels like they released a game that was only partially finished. Hence why i quit playing a couple months back and focused on my backlog. I’ll wait till later to get back into ACNH, once most of the content is released.

The only time I’ve felt it was incomplete was the absence of Redd and the museum artwork. I was half-convinced Nintendo was holding it back for paid DLC. I’m glad I was wrong, and now I’m going to enjoy the rolling updates as they arrive. I’ve been playing daily since launch and I have no plans to stop anytime soon.

@status-204
Let's pray for ACNH Ultimate edition with All contents inside like ACNH Welcome Amiibo 3DS.

I am way over the recovery point. I wont be playing anytime soon. It has served its purpose though. Its my 3rd most played switch game.

@westman98 If you can't imagine being in the other person's shoes, what's the point in talking with them? You're choosing to set yourself up to not understand, so why are you bothering me for an explanation?

@Nicholas64 Except you don’t need an online subscription to download the software updates. They’re free for everyone who has the game, whether they have an NSO subscription or not. Your point makes no sense.

It helps against cheaters (time travel). And updates also offer new features.

I also play (almost) everyday. And I still haven’t completed everything. Because I don’t cheat.

@status-204 at that point we’ll be at least two consoles into the future

I enjoy the pace of updates versus getting all at once. I agree that this is a game you don't beat per se, but instead you live it. Disclaimer that I have never time traveled. What surprises me is how many Twitch streamers stream their own AC play sessions...little boring to watch but fun to play like some sports out there.

This game was feature completed with all this stuff before it went gold then sliced up to be piece mealed out over the course of a year sp Nintendo can act like they’re hip and modern to the world of updating games with new content. The devs refusing to update the game with QOL stuff that everyone has been begging shows that they aren’t really updating the game beyond fixing glitches.

Yes, it does make it feel incomplete. It's almost a drag to check up with the seasonal events... I just want to enjoy them when it feels right.

I haven't touched the game in a month. It is indeed incomplete and lacking features that New Leaf had on day one. Adding said features back later on and treating them like they're new (Leif and diving, ugh) is just insulting.

Not to mention the needlessly long events. Animal Crossing events traditionally do not have a lot of content, and that was fine when it was one specific day, but if they're going to have all events be sprawling weeks-long affairs despite being bare bones, I'm gonna stay away. If I want MMO-style grinding, there's plenty of other sources of that particular flavor of tedium. Bunny Day frustrated a lot of people and rightfully so.

Add in other factors like durability (a worthless game design choice in ANY game) and this game just did not grip me the way New Leaf did. They're gonna have to do something amazing to get me returning to my island now.

I like the updates cause they are a big middle finger to time travelers.

I grew up playing games in the era when these kind of updates were simply not technologically feasible. So I have nostalgia for buying a game and the whole game is on the cartridge or disk.

But that era has passed and it's never coming back.

my problem isn't the updates. it's that they obviously held content back to slowly add it later. it was absolutely not a complete game at launch and it still isn't today. I love the idea of releasing new content every now and then but only IF it's to supplement the game not to slowly transform it J to the full product. I love the game but it feels like a beta, or an alpha build. I can only compare this to New Leaf and it's post launch update, now that's how you do it.

Definitely makes it so that stuff isn't all spoiled at launch by time travellers which is nice, but the rollout just seems sensical given who the devs are. The rollout with splatoon 2's content was amazingly well done, and this is going equally as well so far, so I'm happy with it.

I like the way it’s being handled. It’s hard to be involved in the AC community if you aren’t a time traveler and the time traveling players constantly share stuff that would be spoilers if you’re playing day by day. I’m fine with time travelers, it’s just nice to have surprises too. This method is a good middle ground. Time travelers can time travel but we still get surprises!

No...no it doesnt. The end.

This article seems a little pointless. Animal Crossing has always been about investing in it for months or years, like you said it isn't meant to "end" or be "beat". The people complaining are most likely the ones who put 400 hours in the first month (I have many friends that did) & got burnt out. I think AC becoming mainstream wasn't necessarily great, because now people who were never part of the AC community complain about the rollout of events because they want something different out of the game. I still play New Leaf too so I love that they kinda curbed time travel cheating in ACNH by making events new updates instead of locked into certain dates or programmed in. ACNH has been everything I hoped for & more, even my wife who doesn't game has logged 200 hours! So keep the content rolling out 🤷🏽‍♂️

Thos game has always been incomplete

Vanilla no updates AC:NH feels incomplete largely because it has so few long term goals and projects. The reason previous Animal Crossing games were games where you could "live it," loading the game up for 20 minutes every day to check what's new, was because there were a lot of little projects to work on: paying off the house, unlocking all the shops, finishing the museum, collecting furniture sets, getting the highest HHA scores, etc etc. You made a little progress every day towards long term goals and saw the rewards.

New Horizons has a great core and great early game, but I do think it really needs some mid-late game content and projects and unlocks added over time so that there's a reason to get on for a bit throughout the year. And wanting that from an Animal Crossing game is reasonable, considering New Leaf did such a good job with having longevity.

Acnl had so much more content compared to this game and I dont think this game will match it but atleast we can play this game earlyer since that they released it without some features

The only thing I hate about the events is whenever I remember to play they're already over.

Just reminded myself I was supposed to do that fishing tournament. Too late.

I find these updates to be "bonuses" than "updates", to be honest. Yes, I played New Leaf (Welcome amiibo) on my 3DS and while that game has plenty more content than New Horizons, what makes the latter the superior experience for me is how it breaks the mold for once than simply rehashing the same concept that we've seen for nearly 12 years at the time (15, if Welcome amiibo is included).

I mean, the weeds and trash we find FINALLY have a purpose to be collected thanks to its fairly simplistic crafting system (even though Pocket Camp did it first, but whatever), flowers no longer die from being trampled on, we can shift virtually everything around on our island...New Horizons, on side of the plate, feels like a true sequel to the GCN game for being a new breath of fresh air, in my opinion.

Imagine having to come up with a reason to complain about free updates...

In my opinion, after some time, it feels like an 60$ game who have way too many free2play aspects. I like free updates in every paid game, but not this kind of updates where in order to get something, you have a limited time to finish an event. This is how free2play game are, making events to drag you back in the game. I actually like a game to have a start and an end, some good dlc and a game +, if it’s possible.

To me, it's more that the updates don't add enough. Okay, we got swimming and underwater creatures. The feature works exactly the same way it did in New Leaf though. The only difference is the otter. How much does he really add though? Not much. I'd much rather have had the villagers be able to swim too. Maybe some water furniture that we can put around the island.

I'd also love to see the animal villagers interact with things. We place chairs and what do they do? Sit on the floor under a tree. If you want them to sit in chairs you need to limit the number of trees you have. It's not a big deal but it's about the little things. The little things start to pile up though and become a big thing.

Also, when is the next store upgrade? We all know it should be coming. They might be giving us monthly updates for the game, but it feels too little too late. They aren't pushing the envelope as fas as we know they could be.

I believe the point of the rolling updates was so there is no spoilers from the time travelers. That's it.

You unlocked most things in the other games within the first month or so. Getting a new guest character that can show up randomly like Gullivarr was mostly unheard of. (New Leaf got Harvey years later but that's an exception.) It's weird knowing that if I set my clock to Christmas, it wouldn't be Christmas because there's no Christmas patch yet. But by the time it's actually Christmas, there will be. Having things added over time via patches isn't really that different from playing any of the other games correctly and slowly experiencing all of the content anyway.

My official guide book should be the ultimate reference, but there have been many feature updates since it was published. It doesn't even have the art gallery.

@Rika_Yoshitake,

Ah but those updates should have been included right from the start and even though people wanted new features on this game like terra forming for example, as they always want new features while at the same time moaning that the game has not really changed all that much, then start complaining the old features are not included and the game is still the same.

I don't think even they know what they actually wanted in the first place.

@PickledKong64,

You will be still saying that even when they add everything that's missing.

@Crockin,

The terra forming and decorating the island is a great feature that's sadly overlooked by the complainers, it's such a game changer imho.

I spent almost 200 hours playing I think.. sounds like a lot but I haven't played it in weeks.

If the whole game were included then I would most definitely have played longer.

Tbh, I'm burnt out on it. I spent like 500 hours on New Leaf. I won't be buying the next game.

@TG16_IS_BAE,

Your comment is exactly an example of what's wrong on here, a person with issues about a game will often state the games defenders are being dismissive about their concerns, while at the same time being dismissive about anyone defending a game because they have no issues with it.

There is no right or wrong with any of this, if you do not like a game or feel it's lacking in some way then fair enough, but by the same token if you like it and have no issues then fair enough as well.

Not picking on you personally as I am aware you tend to be one of the more positive people in the comment sections.

@Nicholas64,

Stating things as facts with no actual facts, just personal opinions, which makes your rant redundant.

It's about the single Switch game I've spent the longest amount of time on, but it's definitely getting boring. After me and my fiancée have had about 200 hours in it, we both just don't really see any more fun to have with it.

When the July summer update came out, we spent ~3-4 hours swimming around and stuff, then got bored again. We haven't touched it since (and we rounded the 200 hours in early May, then stopped playing until June where we spent ~1 hour then saw the wedding season stuff was boring, after which we waited until the July update.)

I honestly wish all content had been available from the beginning so that I could've experienced it while the game was still fun to play.

@Zeldafanforever,

Exactly the reason, they do not want to ban time travelling because to some it's the way they play and pretty hard to police at the end of the day, but at the same time they can control the events so people hear about them when they should.

@Spoony_Tech This. Especially if you’re a time traveler. Once you blast through all the content in the game, what are you going to do then? We get updates at the beginning of every month now. It’s not so bad and could definitely be worse.

@Rika_Yoshitake Gamers these days want to be able to blast through things and when they aren’t handed to them right out of the gate, they complain that they aren’t getting their money’s worth even after putting on months of work into the game BEFORE getting bored with it and thusly pretending it lacks the features needed to keep them interested long term.

No, the game doesn’t feel “incomplete” to me. There was plenty to do in the base game before they started rolling out updates.

The only “issue” New Horizons has in that regard, which i don’t really consider an issue but others do, is adding content post-release that are mechanics from the previous games ALONG with features that didn’t exist in the previous games. I frankly agree that diving SHOULD have been in the base game and not an update as it’s such a little feature and doesn’t really make that big of an impact on the game, especially since they didn’t innovate much when implementing it into this game. When I read that diving would be returning, i thought we’d actually be able to see what’s under the water, and pretty coral reefs and stuff. When we got it, It’s simply okay, and I can see how it can get boring fairly quickly, especially if you time travel all the diy recipes and sea creatures (If you get bored in that scenario, it’s more on you than it is on the developers tbh).

But other than that? Meh? No? A lot of the missing features are pretty unimportant, and were probably largely ignored by players of the previous entries in the franchise when the novelty wore of. It’s pretty commonplace for nostalgic players to get prissy when things are missing, even if they’re largely unimportant and don’t impact the overall experience of the game. You can get hundreds of hours of gameplay out of New Horizons before you get bored, and this is with most past game features missing, so that either says something about the entertainment value of New Horizons or the Animal Crossing franchise as a whole.

@Freddyfred It didn’t really have that much more content, to be honest. Only a few key mechanics here and there, most of which existed in the entries before New Leaf. Thinking back, New Leaf really just outsourced most of the things you could do in the game to interactions with NPC’s. New Horizons instead streamlined most of the mechanics to make it easier on the players, and less tedious to play, but some NPC’s had to be sacrificed or repurposed as a result (Reese and Cyrus for example).

A lot of the other features weren’t that important. Tortimers island where you played mini-game’s and collected medals for more furniture? You don’t need a whole island to play Mini-games in New Horizons. You can just invite some friends over and do it. And from what I remember, one of the mini games was catching a bunch of bugs? Or a bunch of fish. And we play hide and seek with our villagers everyday as they’re increasingly difficult to find. New leaf having more fruit wasn’t that great either, as fruit are either just decorations or used to break rocks faster or cut down trees.

Was there something that was really fun in New Leaf that you wish we could do in New Horizons? Dream Suite and Brewsters are returnin in New Horizons according to data mines so those don’t count.

@SalvorHardin I know right? Its like they’re working through a pandemic or something!

They did make some QOL changes, like fixing the incredibly stupid visitor schedule for example. They just never announced the specific changes. But check out the dataminer Ninji.

Having skipped New Leaf, everything being added is a welcome addition. I do miss the additional/expanded buildings from City Folk, but it really doesn't fit the island life look.

The rollouts are just a nice way to bring you back every once and a while. I would be excited if they made the NES games return, even if it just pointed to the App.

my main issue is, they saw success with splatoons model and decided to use that for animal crossing… which makes NO sense as splatoon is an online shooter while animal crossing is a single-player game with major appeal… to children. children who likely dont know anything about configuring internet settings. chances are theres a tonne of kids out there playing the launch version of new horizons and missing out on the feature-full games the rest of us grew up with. aside from decorating your town, wild world even had more content as it didnt rely on updates to give villagers personality etc.
i get that this games target audience is people who hacked new leaf. that is abundantly clear. and thats so cool but it feels like theyve been disregarding the newcomers. i personally love this update model as it ensures a lot of surprises and keeps us interested, but its so unfair to the few players who dont know you have to update to fully enjoy the game

@johnvboy no I wont. But its definitely incomplete now.

Since everything present is based off its past, then yeah, it's got less content than every prior Animal Crossing game.

@Yorumi most people saying this is new content are new to the franchise- it sold more in the past 4 months than any prior game in the series did in its entire lifetime, so all these millions of newbies don't realize how all these additions are from prior games (specifically New Leaf).

@Roto13 Except this is worse, because both Redd and diving could have been added sooner, and don't even get me started if/when they add gyroids, because all the days it's rained on my island means I could have had over 1,000 gyroids now! Adding in series regulars to me was cutting too much- Redd and diving should have been in there from the start, no reason to hold them out for updates. Redd has been in every single game, why did it take an update (which mind you some will never get, because not everyone has wireless internet to connect their Switch to in order to download it- so imagine Animal Crossing without Redd, because to some that will be the case) to get him?

I'll admit right now that this is the first Animal Crossing game that I've invested a significant amount of time into. So far, when (I'm in the mood for it) this game's a gem. (bar the lurching framerate everytime I get ambitious with a building project) They REALLY need to patch that as its no fun zipping through my Chinese restaurant and market area, as the framerate drops and stutters around the low twenties!

It IS off putting that I'm having to simplify everything! Especially considering a large draw of the game is letting us, the player allegedly get creative. Please patch it Nintendo!

I'd also HAPPILY drop good money on potential pilotwings, or Waverace DLC! As they'd both fit into this game perfectly I feel.

@TG16_IS_BAE Yeah, when the game came out I put out the same notion that it feels unfinished and got downvoted into oblivion, just for stating my opinion. They were like “best unfinished game I ever played” and then weeks later they complain about lack of content and characters, something I was worried about from the start, hence why I said It felt unfinished. Now they’re finally being like, “huh, it kind of feels unfinished, but no its just updates right? Updates were always intended right?” Idk man, every other animal crossing game came pretty much in a complete form, it was all there, so New Horizons deviated from what we all are used to. I found that Animal Crossing fans, of all people, are super petty and judgmental, at least some are. I don’t care about the time the content is released really, I just want good content and to not have a game with less content then all of the last games, which is how New Horizons is. We have less than half if the characters, less than half the furniture, and not much that replaces it, so they better be having a ton of updates. I need froggy chair and all that crazy furniture like the mad scientist techno themed set or something. And Brewster!!! And more design slots would be nice, like we need 100 at the least.

@ladyquietbottom Agreed on all points. Most people that complain about others are also taking part in similar behavior of those they complain about.

“Do not complain about the snow on your neighbors roof, if your own doorstep remains unclean.” Great little Chinese proverb.

I think the problem you address in your comment is stemming from the digital age. If Nintendo can just push updates whenever they want, why sell the initial game in a finished state? This has been going on for years since digital distribution got cemented in, that’s why at least reading user reviews and such is best practice these days, to protect yourself as a consumer.

@Zeldafanforever I mean how is this different from any other video game? The thing about video games, is people progress at different rates and then post stuff on the internet about it. Like with every video game you play, this is a thing and people don’t get mad if someone on the internet is farther along then them. If you don’t want spoilers, then avoid certain places on the internet.

@ladyquietbottom I didn't say that I cared about spoilers. Nintendo is the one that wants to prevent the spoilers.

@KarmaGoona some people don’t want to play a video game for a year, for hours and hours a day. Thats just crazy for most people. Even as a time traveler, Its just as long as any other video game and even longer. So I have no idea how long non-time travelers play I couldn’t imagine. I just don’t have the want to play a game for a year straight, having to go by the games schedule. I’d rather live by my schedule and not devote my life to a video game.

@Zeldafanforever Oh, yeah, then why do they care? I don’t get that.

@ladyquietbottom Nintendo just doesn't seem to like spoilers about their games. Coincidentally, an article from this site back in March talks about the Day 1 patch: "The patch notes highlight that 'time travelers' (meaning players who change their console's date settings to experience the game running in the past or future) will not be able to experience any of the seasonal events planned for New Horizons ahead of time. "
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/03/you_cant_access_seasonal_events_in_animal_crossing_new_horizons_by_time_travelling

@carlos82 I think it's the difference between someone spoiling the plot of a movie that's still in theaters, and someone telling you the ending of fight club or the sixth sense. At some point, there is an enjoyability or at least surprise penalty for picking something up late. That doesn't diminish the fun added by a bit of discovery and mystery for earlier adopters.

Not really...
Have you ever heard of the term "games-as-service"? I don't know if I can say this game is one, but these games focus a lot on longevity.
Otherwise, they could've released this game this month with the latest update included there. Imagine if the game had been delayed alongside Cyberpunk 2077 and FFVII Remake just for that.
What I am hoping is to expand the size of your island someday...