Hugging needs to be a thing in New Horizons

[Boccages]

For those of you who have followed all the big E3 conferences, you might have been impressed by this 2D hand-drawn game called Spiritfarer (PC and Xbox). It looks like if Terraria, Animal Crossing and a 90s Disney movie had made love and birthed a weird game. During the announcement trailer, it was shown twice that you can hug the anthropomorphic animals you take care of on your boat.

I remember saying ? Hey ! This should have been an Animal Crossing feature ages ago! ?
I would love to hug my favorite villagers. Even better, make an event out of one villager moving out so you can say one last goodbye!


So what do you guys think?

 

[Cheybunny]

That would be so cute!

 

[Jason Voorhees]

Please god, no.

 

[Scarfy]

Yeah that sounds really cute. I think a side hug would be a great addition for taking photos.

 

[Maiana]

Hugging would be so adorable >w<

 

[Pellie]

Please god, no.

Not a big fan of hugs, hm?

I could imagine hugging your villagers like OP said when they're moving out as a goodbye thing, otherwise
on events such as birthdays etc.

 

[Paperboy012305]

I’d prefer waving back to villagers to return, and it seems likely you can if New Horizons has touch screen.

 

[lars708]

I'd be fine with it but the amount of memes that would come out of it will probably kill me

 

[Bcat]

I’m cool with it! Bring on as many cute new interactions as possible!

 

[BeardosFangirl]

The Smug villagers.....They'd never leave us alone.

On the other hand, I could get an actual bear hug from Beardo, so there's that to think about.

 

[LadyDestani]

Hugging would be awesome! But I think it's something the player should initiate either through a dialog option in certain scenarios or as an emotion like waving. That way those who don't want it wouldn't have it forced on them. And I think the animals should be able to refuse if you're not good enough friends yet, like in the old games when villagers would get mad at you for bugging them before you'd earned their friendship.

 

[Jason Voorhees]

Not a big fan of hugs, hm?

I could imagine hugging your villagers like OP said when they're moving out as a goodbye thing, otherwise
on events such as birthdays etc.

It's like the Pokemon Refresh thing. I really don't like it as that's not what the game is about. If I wanted to hug something I'd hug my family, and if I wanted to hug something in a game, I'd rewind time and play Nintendogs.

 

[MarcelTheFool]

Please oh please let me hug Tabby and Pietro! I disagree with the "that's not what the game is about" idea. I mean AC has always been about friendships and building them. Hugging is an affectionate thing you'd with someone your close to, including friends! So it would make sense to me to be able to do so. Maybe bro fist/handshaking/waving as other players suggested? I just want to interact with my villagers more

 

[Jason Voorhees]

Please oh please let me hug Tabby and Pietro! I disagree with the "that's not what the game is about" idea. I mean AC has always been about friendships and building them. Hugging is an affectionate thing you'd with someone your close to, including friends! So it would make sense to me to be able to do so. Maybe bro fist/handshaking/waving as other players suggested? I just want to interact with my villagers more

I like interacting, don't get me wrong, but it's very demanding when you're an adult with a job and family that need time with you.

I like to relax and focus on design, both of the town and my players house, and other features the game has to offer, like completing the museum and catching all the fish and bugs.

 

[MarcelTheFool]

That's valid. Personally for me after work I like talking and doing favors for my villagers after I spend time with my parents. Hopefully it would be optional like pokemon refresh is that way it wont have to be all up in your face for those who don't want the feature but it still be there for those who like it!

 

[Fey]

I'd find it cute. I see the Animals as my in-game friends after all—and hugging friends seems natural.

It's like the Pokemon Refresh thing. I really don't like it as that's not what the game is about. If I wanted to hug something I'd hug my family, and if I wanted to hug something in a game, I'd rewind time and play Nintendogs.

I respect not wanting to hug the Animals, but don't think Animal Crossing and Pokemon are comparable in this case.
Sure there are lots of other aspects to the game, but interacting with the Villagers is definitely one of the core features (and has been for a long time, as far as I can tell)

 

[cats_toy]

Hugging would be cool along with giving your villagers gifts for no particular reason.

 

[Shellzilla_515]

I feel a bit neutral about this. On one side, it would be really nice to get a hug from villagers, especially when they're big like bears, eagles, etc. But then there are those people that will twist things no matter how innocent it is.

 

[Mink777]

Pointkess feature imo. I'd rather them focus on the more important stuff.

 

[2kimi2furious]

LET ME HUG MY BEAR AND SHEEP VILLAGERS AND LET ME DO IT NOW.