5 Things that New Horizons did better than the old games

[Che5hire Cat]

1. Terraforming, building/house placement, landscaping in general
The terraforming feature is just gorgeous, one of the best new additions to Animal Crossing ever. It a huge help to just change up the river and/or cliffs whenever you feel like something is bothering you. It also give us the freedom in terms of creating the most unique islands, as everyone can design the island in their own way now. And thank goodness that we can finally choose where a villager should place their house along where also the buildings should be (with the exception of the RS of course). Besides, I feel like landscaping in NH is so much more enjoyable now due to the fact of how much freedom we have with the island designing.

2. Outdoor decorating
Just like with terraforming, another great new addition which gives you the option to be even more creative when it comes to use certain furniture and items in general without being limit to the rooms in your house. Also plays a part of creating unique looking islands, since everyone comes up with the most amazing ideas of how to use them.

3. The storage & pocket space
I think we can all agree that this is a huge upgrade compared to how limit the storage/pocket space was in the previous titles.

4. Designing the own character
I mean, nothing against Rover and his questions which generates your character's look back then, but being able to choose the hair, eye shape etc. on your own is much better and it gets even better with the fact that you can change it whenever you want. Although some hair styles and colors from New Leaf needs to come back imo. Overall pretty good so far, but still expandable.

5. Mystery islands
Even if the RNG sucks, mystery islands are such a help when you want to find your favorite villagers. And it's actually fun to explore them. Although it's a shame that they removed the hybrid flower islands.

Honorable mentions: DIYs, pumpkins, being able to plant cedar trees everywhere now (not just limit to the north half), northern & southern hemisphere, the way the winter looks in this game (I just love the winter so much in NH), probably some more things which I can't think of right now, lol.

 

[Underneath The Stars]

graphics, storage (definitely) & ability to customize almost everything.
other parts of the game are pretty much the same, and like some are worse/better but it cancels things out as QoL here could be better but some things from previous could be better (such as dialogue)

 

[niko@kamogawa]

I would vote for both graphics and music. Other than that, I like the customisation options that you can do with both yourself and your island! Lastly, I also love the constant free updates we are getting from Nintendo!

 

[Alaina]

#3 is everything. That was literally why I stopped playing ACGC, my favorite villager moved to my cousin's town and I was so sad because you get attached!

And yeah, terraforming made this different enough to feel new to me, along with custom patterns on some furniture and being able to place it outside. Also, beautiful graphics.

I also agree with @Coolio15 about the clothing.

Are magic want outfits new? I've only played the US original and this. The museum in this is gorgeous, with the butterflies especially.

 

[-Lumi-]

#3 is everything. That was literally why I stopped playing ACGC, my favorite villager moved to my cousin's town and I was so sad because you get attached!

And yeah, terraforming made this different enough to feel new to me, along with custom patterns on some furniture and being able to place it outside. Also, beautiful graphics.

I also agree with @Coolio15 about the clothing.

Are magic want outfits new? I've only played the US original and this. The museum in this is gorgeous, with the butterflies especially.

The magic wands are new to this game! I really like the addition of them, too. Sure they’re a little finicky (why can’t I try on clothes when wearing a wand outfit & why can’t the wet suit be a wand outfit?) but as a whole I really like it and think the wands are cute!

Also yes!! Oh my goodness I don’t know how I blanked on the museum but it is gorgeous. They did a phenomenal job with the museum and is definitely an upgrade from New Leaf!

 

[VanitasFan26]

The Graphics:
The graphics on this game are some of the most impressive I've ever seen on a Switch game. The way the flowers move, the trees, and anything else in the wind is just really nice. There are really small details where you can put a Fan inside your home and you can see how different objects affect based on the direction the wind from the fan is coming from. The sounds of the bugs were well done, the water waves were really great, and the wind is a helpful mechanic whenever you're looking for Balloon gifts.

The Gameplay
The way you control your character is really responsive and you can run all over your island. Everything from using tools, shopping, swimming/diving, and basically storing items have felt more fleshed out compared to past AC games. There is more pocket storage, you can store more things in your home more than ever, and there is Nook Mile tasks to do whenever you want to feel accomplished.

The Customization and Terraforming
By far the best thing about this game is the customization and terraforming. You can customize certain furniture and items from crafting, have a lot of custom patterns or objects on your island from someone else who designed it using the Kiosk, and of course the one thing that stood out the most is terraforming. Making your island the way you want and how you want it to be has never been so expressive and giving you the freedom to do whatever you want.

 

[Halloqueen]

While I prefer New Leaf in many regards, five aspects that New Horizons got right:

1) Player customization: The ability to choose your skin color was long overdue, and there are finally a few black hairstyles available. It was very unfortunate that you could only have a darker skin tone in New Leaf by taking time out of your day to sit out in the sun and get the character a tan, and that the tan would itself diminish over time if not constantly maintained. Granted, on the flipside, I feel like the ability to change your hairstyle immediately from the comfort of your own home is a mixed bag; while Harriet and her Shampoodle shop were less convenient due to the once-per-day limit, her presence added more "realism" and "depth" to the experience because it was another character you could interact with. Also New Leaf featured a proper white-colored hair color, whereas New Horizons only has grey. Regardless though, I digress, the ability to more accurately represent yourself in New Horizons is absolutely wonderful.

2) Decorating the island is obviously a major defining feature of New Horizons and it's very fun. I can't tell you how glad I am that you can rotate the stuff you place, since the Public Works Projects in New Leaf were always forward-facing. For an example, in my main town in New Leaf I decided to set up a bonfire and initially wanted to surround it with log benches that would face it, but unfortunately they only face forward. I was fortunately able to salvage that idea and improved it by, instead of log benches, planting trees and cutting them down to use the stumps as seating.

3) Villagers not moving out without consulting you first and getting your permission. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

4) More storage. Say what one will about the furniture, New Leaf vs. New Horizons, yadda yadda, the storage space is nonetheless very much appreciated.

5) No more grass deterioration. Thank goodness. Absolutely hated that feature.

Oh, and...

Bonus #6) The ability to destroy rocks. Thank goodness. Poor rock placement in New Leaf could ruin a town.

Also, while I'm not a graphics person, I will say that New Horizons looks very good. It's a bit of a shame that perfect fruit isn't a feature of this game so we can't see the Perfect Apple in all of its shiny glory, but hey.

 

[VanitasFan26]

The magic wands are new to this game! I really like the addition of them, too. Sure they’re a little finicky (why can’t I try on clothes when wearing a wand outfit & why can’t the wet suit be a wand outfit?) but as a whole I really like it and think the wands are cute!

Also yes!! Oh my goodness I don’t know how I blanked on the museum but it is gorgeous. They did a phenomenal job with the museum and is definitely an upgrade from New Leaf!

Yeah the magic wands are really neat (even though they made too many of them) it makes it easier to switch between outfits very easily.

 

[Moritz]

My 5 things are

1) the biggest and most important one for me bags. We have bigger bags and stuff auto stacks.
It makes the older games feel archaic. Try as I might I just can't get myself to enjoy the older games because of this.

2) the ability to sell at night.
In the older games, the game just dies past a certain hour. Now you can keep playing 24/7.

The clothes shop also has a larger selection now at one time which is very nice.

3) crafting and customising
Customisation also means you can play 24/7.
If there is something you want for your island, you can do it with this, so long as you have the DIY.
I refuse to believe I'm the only one crafting a bench and then making it blue at 2am

4) villagers move into predefined plots.
It is so annoying having your town design ruined by villagers moving in. Especially when they move in on your flowers. Does anyone else remember breeding their flowers on the beach to avoid this?
So glad it's fixed.

I'll throw into this point that they don't move out on their own. Thank god.

5) terraforming
There are very few things to worry about when starting an island and none of them are big deals now. Even the worst island layouts you can work around with terraforming.
It just opens the flood gates with creativity.

I'll also throw on to this one that rocks can be moved. No more awkward paths that curve around them.

Also we can put down paths. I made one on new leaf the other day using custom designs and my god was it the most tedious thing I've done in such a long time.

I have more I could add but its 5 items list
But things like villager hunts, villagers doing stuff instead of being weird zombies, the mystery islands you can go to if you need more resources, nook miles always giving you something to work towards... there is a lot to love about this game that older titles can't deliver