By Edwin Hickman
With the global pandemic of COVID-19 forcing many to put their lives on hold, the quarantine has taken a toll on everyone. Many are unable to go to school, work, or social events, and plans for graduation, travel, and other events have been indefinitely cancelled. While many schools and workplaces have shifted to working from home, the joys of socializing and experiencing the outside world have been brought to a halt, and one might feel bored, dissatisfied, or even despaired by quarantine life.
During a time like this, video games are the perfect medium to fight boredom and invigorate your senses. Video games are perfect because they offer a wide variety of playing options. Some may prefer a single player adventure, while others may prefer multiplayer action online. There are many genres to choose from, including shooter, action, role-playing, sports, racing, platformer, and puzzle games. Some games offer a fast-paced and exciting experience, while others are slow and relaxed, allowing you to feel comfortable and content.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which officially released on March 20 for the Nintendo Switch, is a perfect game to play during this quarantine. It is one of the calmer slow-paced games, but it is still a great deal of fun. The newest entry in the Animal Crossing series, it is a social simulation where you inhabit a deserted island alongside cartoon animal villagers. Your time on the island is spent collecting supplies to craft tools and furniture, partaking in activities like fishing and bug catching, and earning money to buy clothing and furniture for your character’s house. The in-game clock is the same as the real world, so the game’s day-night cycle reflects real time, as well as the game’s seasons.
My previous experience with the series was Animal Crossing: New Leaf (2013) on the Nintendo 3DS, and this game contains much of the same elements. One of the big changes is the crafting system, where you have to collect wood, stones, iron, and other elements to build tools, furniture, and other items to improve your island experience. The game has you create tools like the axe, which allows you to collect wood and other supplies, the shovel, which lets you dig up buried items, the fishing rod and net, which let you catch fish and bugs respectively, and the vault pole and ladder, which let you access remote areas of the island. Furthermore, the game asks you to collect supplies to build facilities on the island, like the museum, where you can donate fish, bugs, and unearthed fossils to be displayed, and the store, which lets you buy and sell furniture for your house.
While the premise of the game is simple, you can get different experiences out of it. Due to the customization allowed in the game, no two player characters, houses, or islands will be the same. What also contributes to this are the animal villagers. The game has a large selection of these villager characters, but only two will be randomly generated onto your island at the start of the game. Villagers come from different species and have different personalities, fashion styles, and interests. You may grow to love your villagers, or even hate them, but they certainly add to the game’s experience.
Another aspect of this game is the multiplayer. While other Switch games, like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018) have multiplayer that is competitive in nature, New Horizons is mainly cooperative. Players can visit each other’s islands over Wi-Fi and give each other gifts, partake in activities together, and overall share in the experience of the game.
While I am a fan of many different kinds of games, I feel like New Horizons is the perfect game for quarantine for a few reasons. The game is relaxed and allows you to play at your own pace, which is welcoming to newer players, while retaining details that more experienced gamers can appreciate. It simulates a daily routine that might help those who are adjusting to a lack of schedule. It features single player content, which can appeal those who want to remain to themselves while inside, and multiplayer, which can appeal those who want to socialize. Overall, it is an extremely fun game, and I would highly recommend buying it if you own a Switch.
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