“Animal Crossing: New Horizons” is a brand new Nintendo Switch game that came out on March 20. Players are transported to a deserted island and get to transform it into a place full of bustling activity.

     “Animal Crossing” is not a new video game. It has been around for almost 20 years, the first game being introduced was on April 14 on the Nintendo 64. It eventually led to a few other platforms over the years, the most popular ones being “Animal Crossing: New Leaf” for the Nintendo 3DS and “Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp” for mobile.

     “I played the original animal crossing on the Gamecube,” social science student teacher Michael Schwingbeck said. “I haven’t gotten to play the others. I still couldn’t wait for this one to come out.

      “Animal Crossing” is known for its fun anthropomorphic animals. Tom Nook is a tanuki who is a businessman. He works at the Residential Services along with Isabelle, a shih tzu. There is also Timmy and Tommy Nook who work at Nook’s Cranny where the player can buy and sell. Along with those characters, the player starts off with two random villagers from all different kinds of animals.

     “It’s known to be relaxing because of having friendly animal friends in an island environment,” junior Mia Elsadek said.

     There are a lot of different activities to do in the game, such as fishing, bug hunting and digging up fossils. The player gives their findings to Blathers, an owl who works at the museum. The most recent event was the Easter event, known as “Bunny Day” in the game. The player hunts for eggs by hitting trees, rocks and fishing. By doing so, they are able to create different furniture for their houses.

     Another feature in the game is customizable clothes. Online, many players share their creations of their cute avatars. When a player gets the Able Sisters’ clothing shop, they can share codes of their different outfits for other players to wear. Along with that, the characters are not gender specific, as characters use they/them pronouns for the player. They are also other new gameplay features that weren’t in other games before.

     “I really like the terraforming ability where I can change the structure and geographic layout of the island,” Schwingbeck said.” I’ve been able to make a bay and a giant hill for my city center”

     According to Schwingbeck, this is a game that is self-paced and there is really no story behind it. With the player not feeling rushed, this game is known to be quite calming and peaceful. 

     With this long-waited game finally out, there have been many memes and overall a relaxing time for those during a stressful situation. Friends can play together with it’s well known multiplayer access and have a fun time. 

     “I like to play animal crossing with friends online and it’s a great way to be social,” Elsadek said.