I remember trying to get my hands on the game on release day when things were starting to shut down last year. I had to reserve it online on Best Buy so I can ensure I'll get a copy before they run out. Thankfully, I did because my dad also had to get a few things so we went by car and were able to pick up the game and pay for it. Since I was so cautious with you know,
that, I wiped the game cover with sanitation wipes and headed back home. At this point, I tried my best to avoid spoilers. Thankfully, I did throughout my early experience of the game.
A few hours later, I finally booted up the game and went through the beginner stuff as everyone here did. My first two villagers were Sterling and Diva. I immediately liked Sterling because he was an eagle. Diva, however, I had mixed reactions. Fortunately, I grew to appreciate her as time went on. Oh, they're still living on my island to this day in case you're wondering. Anyway, I remember having to gather branches and oranges on my deserted island and choosing which spot to set up my tent as well as my starter villagers. After doing all those tasks, I named my island. It was Aurelia and I actually had this in my mind for quite some time. Thank goodness it came in handy without thinking too much lol. On a side note, I like how the game handles naming your island where you come up with a name and the animals approve your suggestion to add a little bit of immersion.
With all of that out of the way, I finally got to do some crafting of flimsy tools. I think it was catching bugs but not fish because I didn't have access to all the flimsy tools yet. It took a couple of days, but I didn't mind at all. My sister also started her profile on my island and we did some couch co-op. One of the moments I remember was that I used myself as bait for the tarantula while my sister caught it.
For the island itself, it was still deserted (obviously) and I couldn't access 2/3 of my island due to a lack of bridges and that I didn't have the vaulting pole yet. I liked being limited to wandering around on a third of the island because it made me excited about what I'll uncover when I finally have the ability to explore further. In fact, it made me think that a part of my island was dangerous and that a random tarantula will come out to bite me. Eventually, I was able to craft a bridge and me and my villagers held a small ceremony, unlocking access to more parts of my island.
After that, Tom Nook allowed me to place down three plots of land for random villagers. I invited Patty and Carrie to live on the island while my sister invited Stitches. I eventually got to choose a spot where to put the museum. Speaking of which, me and my sister caught lots of different fish and bugs during the first few days of playing. I thought of putting them all outside lined up in rows so we could donate them at a later date. I thought I was pretty genius to do that only to find out many people were doing the same later down the line lol. I almost forgot to mention we were stuck with the same music playing 24/7 with minor differences after each progression (to be honest, I miss the early game music for it's relaxing tune).
If I recall correctly after donating a handful of fish and bugs to Blathers, I managed to get the town hall building built after a couple of days. Booting up on the day the town hall was finished, I was greeted to the hourly music of 10 AM and I immediately liked it from the start. I felt that my island was starting to feel more alive even though some parts were still deserted. As a few days went by, I was able to build the Able Sisters, more bridges, an incline, and a campsite. Speaking of which, my first visitor was Raymond. At the time, I didn't know he was extremely popular so I took him in because I just liked him. Though I've heard you're forced to make your first campsite visitor live on your island, but that doesn't change the fact I still wanted him. Blame the RNG, not me.
Fast forward a few more days, Rocco, Bea, and Gruff moved to my island. I've improved my island just a bit to get a three-star rating and K.K. finally came! And so with that, all the residents including myself gathered together to watch him play Welcome Horizons and the credits rolled. In general, I still had a fun time playing the game even though some people had issues with the game's flaws.
And that's pretty much my experience with New Horizons in March 2020! There's probably more stuff I didn't mention, but I'll leave it at that. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk and have a nice day.
(so I'm always confused when people say it's hard to earn that, lol)
