POLL---Be Honest: How do you REALLY feel about New Horizons?

[eggie_]

i like new horizons a lot, but like, it definitely doesnt deliver the same experience as past games. new horizons is just a *different* game with different gameplay goals. I think previous games have focused solely on lifesim, whereas new horizons focuses solely on design, and i would say NH has about a 70/30 split between design/lifesim. I think thats where a lot of the discontentedness with the game comes from tbh. if you've been playing a lifesim series since your childhood and a new game in the series comes out thats not as lifesim, its kind of like.... oh. okay. alright then lol

but yeah i still think new horizons is great. just different and not always what i look for in animal crossing - i love the quality of life improvements that we have gotten, but i still find myself going back to older games just because i prefer the design to lifesim split more in those titles.

 

[Bluebellie]

I love that we can terraform the outside. I’ve definitely have played it more hours than new leaf and wild world. I’m still entertained and will continue to play new horizons, however, I feel like I enjoyed the gameplay better in new leaf. Of coarse I wouldn’t be able to go back to new leaf now because of the graphics and inability to move buildings.
I’m not sure if I enjoyed it more because of the villager interactions, or maybe it was all that extra furniture.

 

[cornimer]

When it first came out I really liked it, but I got tired of it after about two months (for comparison I played past AC games daily for over two years each). It sadly just feels kind of empty to me. I'm really not that into design, and it feels like there's a heavy focus on that while the elements I love from previous games have been cast aside a bit. It just doesn't have the charm/character/community-feel of older games for me, and goodness the villager dialogue is so repetitive and bland

 

[windloft]

i really adore the game as is, but it definitely needs a lot more content. i'm not necessarily a fan of them releasing content updates in such sparse timeframes, but with the world going through what it's going through and such, i guess i understand? i'll still be pouring hundreds of hours into the game, but it could use a lot more meat in its bones.

 

[Louise_]

It’s still a good game and I play it for a few hours a day but I wish there would add stuff that we had in new leaf

 

[-Lumi-]

I'm not sure which poll option to choose. I think the game is good-ish? Better than being just okay but I don't know if it's hit the benchmark for being considered fully good, yet. I think it still has a little ways to go and I'm crossing my fingers we see more content added.

I've put a fair amount of hours into New Horizons (not as much as some other people but still), and if I hated the game I would've put it down ages ago. I do like the game, I just don't love it. I love New Leaf and I loved my experience with it, despite the grievances I had with it. I think the biggest difference between the two games is with New Leaf it A.) felt like a whole experience from the start and B.) the issues I have with the game don't feel as purposeful as they do with New Horizons.

In New Leaf my main issues are: those gosh darn rocks and little ponds, lol. They can totally throw off path layouts and building placements. Villagers randomly moving out and then moving in and placing their houses wherever, the grass deterioration, and then I'm sure there's others I'm forgetting but those are the big ones that stick out to me. None of those feel like things they did on purpose to make my game unenjoyable, though. They were just weird little quirks that were a result of the game they made.

With New Horizons some of my qualms feel like they were intended to be there. I don't think they were intended to annoy me necessarily, but they have a purpose. See: colourblocking furniture to encourage trading with others, making DIYs hard to come by (but also giving you tons of extras) to encourage trading with others, hiding holidays behind updates to discourage time travelling because the developers have decided that's bad, removing some of the more fun mystery islands & lowering interest rates on our savings because they felt like players were cheating and earning too much money, etc.

Others like the bland villager dialogue, not including diving or certain NPCs from the get go, or having store upgrades/more stores being built, not including information plaques in the museum, not having bulk buying (buying in 5 is a sorry excuse for buying in bulk, lol) or bulk crafting be an option, etc. feel like an oversight on their part. I'm not sure if they just thought those things wouldn't be a big deal if they weren't included or they just didn't even cross their minds to add.

Either way we're left with this gorgeous but ultimately bland game. I'm enjoying it for what it is - I like decorating my island, buying new clothes, giving my villagers gifts, trading with people on line and helping them find the items they need, etc. but it does feel like it's still missing bits and pieces. I've heard other people compare it to a dollhouse and that's what it feels like. Pretty to look at and pretty to create but it's a little boring to play with once you've got everything where you want it to be. My villagers aren't tons of fun to chat with and they never want to play games or anything like that with me, and we aren't seeing a lot of future progression in the works. Especially now that we've seen all the holidays the game has to offer. I want more NPCs, furniture sets, shops, and shop upgrades. Give me something to work towards.

 

[Snek]

I love the AC series and when I started playing NH I really enjoyed it. Over time, I've played it less and less. It's now been a full year and I'm playing other games. I realized that I want more. More content, more villager interaction. Villagers are more like trophies in this game than actual characters. The setting is also not the best. The deserted island theme was fun at first, but now I feel it needs more urban development, or at least more things to do than landscaping and decorating. NH also feels very incomplete. I've played enough hours in this game to know that the devs are dragging their heels trying to complete it and mainly through monthly updates. Many favourite NPCs are missing like Kapp'n and Brewster. How I feel is not out of greed, its out of higher expectations of a Nintendo franchise that I love. I picked "its ok but could be better" option. It could be better, MUCH better, but theyre not getting it done fast enough.

 

[Kate86]

“It’s super amazing, but not my favorite.” I do feel like some of the charm is missing, mainly because so many NPCs are missing. I want more shops, shop upgrades, maybe places to go (like if the shops were on another island like Harvey’s... I can see how there may not be room on the main island to build more). I miss the rewards you would get for completing something (like the Museum Model, which I never was able to get in previous games; or NPC pics, some of which we’re now able to get from using the Nintendo app which is just not the same).

The outdoor decorating is amazing, though. Terraforming is cool, but I kind of wish I hadn’t used it and kept my original layout (the thought of restarting after putting in so much work gave me anxiety so I’m slowly working on fixing the terraforming and I’m almost happy with it). I enjoy crafting (I was actually a little sad that crafting wasn’t a bigger part of the newer updates, like Festivale or the Harvest thing), and one of my goals is to craft every item. I LOVE doing Nook Miles tasks. I’m working on completing my catalog.

I think the thing with this game is that it is more focused on playing with others, such as friends over the internet, or with family (hence the one island per console limitation).

Overall I’m happy with the game and enjoy it, but sometimes it feels a little empty.

 

[meggiewes]

I finally went with "its super amazing, but not my favorite" because it is the only Animal Crossing game I've hit 1,000 hours with and still want to keep playing. The only game I've played more than that is The Sims 2.

That doesn't mean that there shouldn't be changes. I want more store upgrades and more buildings. I think they should unlock the color lock to let us have access to all the colors of furniture available. They should have the Nook Mile items rotate. We need more variety of furniture. I really, really want Brewster back and I want Leif to have his own shop. I want exhibit rooms that I can decorate in the museum that people can come in and look at in dreams or visits. I want a specific gyroid exhibit that I can collect.

But, that doesn't mean I hate the game. I love that when villagers move out, they leave a plot and the next villagers move into the same spot. We can move buildings. We can place objects outside and have fences and play music outside. We can sell things to Timmy and Tommy after hours which means unlimited night fishing!

I'm not willing to put the definitive judgment on if this is a good Animal Crossing game until after all the updates go through. The biggest difference tween New Horizons and New Leaf is that absolutely nobody was expecting the Welcome Amiibo update to happen with New Leaf. New Horizons was designed for updates over time.

TLDR: I know I was expecting a game more like New Leaf with updates on top of it instead of what we are getting. But I still like New Horizons a lot. I have played it for longer and more consistently than New Leaf. I'm not going to judge it a good or bad game until the final update.

 

[Garrett]

I voted "super amazing but not my favourite" because Breath of the Wild is my favourite game. I do love New Horizons though, cannot understand the incessant online moaning and have put it 1,250+ hours into it.

 

[Feraligator]

6th option for me...it's a great game which I've poured hours in (although a lot of that is probably just destroying cliffs one block at a time) but it leaves so much to be desired for me.

Maybe I'm older and expected more, but my opinions stands that I feel ACNH is pretty bare bones compared to ACNL. The QoL features and customisation is great, though.

 

[Halloqueen]

I feel that I can't deny that it's a pretty great game in a bunch of respects like character customization finally letting us choose skin color and some black hairstyles, villagers not being able to leave without first talking to you and getting your permission, terraforming, being able to decorate your island, and being able to destroy rocks, among other things. It has a lot of good aspects and those aspects are good enough to have kept me playing for hundreds of hours.

However, despite all of those things, I still favor New Leaf as the definitive Animal Crossing game. The series standard furniture sets and all the new stuff they added via Welcome Amiibo, the more lively town environment with all of the NPCs you can interact with and shops you can visit, the bigger and better rooms of fully upgraded homes, Cyrus being able to customize tons of stuff with different colors and even being able to use the various different ores like ruby and sapphire (that are the basis for the birthstone collectibles here on the forums) in addition to him being able to make cool stuff like music boxes and miniature fossil models. Working at Brewster's café, gyroids, Club Tortimer and its minigames. Heck, even being able to set appointments to visit your villagers at their home at a designated time and being able to buy junk they threw in their house (like clothes). There's so much content.

Like others have mentioned, I'm withholding full judgment of New Horizons until all of the updates cease and the game is considered fully complete. Lots of great stuff might be added to the game in the future and we won't have the full picture until then. That said, as things stand now, New Horizons is great but it could be way better.

I feel like this post makes a good point as well:

i like new horizons a lot, but like, it definitely doesnt deliver the same experience as past games. new horizons is just a *different* game with different gameplay goals. I think previous games have focused solely on lifesim, whereas new horizons focuses solely on design, and i would say NH has about a 70/30 split between design/lifesim. I think thats where a lot of the discontentedness with the game comes from tbh. if you've been playing a lifesim series since your childhood and a new game in the series comes out thats not as lifesim, its kind of like.... oh. okay. alright then lol

but yeah i still think new horizons is great. just different and not always what i look for in animal crossing - i love the quality of life improvements that we have gotten, but i still find myself going back to older games just because i prefer the design to lifesim split more in those titles.

The life sim aspect does feel lacking compared to the previous games, and design does take a big focus...but only to a degree. The island decoration, definitely. The home decoration? Definite downgrade, the only decently sized room is the main room. As someone who really loves decorating the homes in these games, New Horizons rooms disappoint me and more often than not I have to make compromises to my vision. That sucks.



As for the poll, tough choice. My first inclination was to choose "it's a super amazing game, but not my favorite" because it does a bunch of things right, but it also lacks the sort of depth to the world I'm looking for and leaves me wanting in many regards as well. As such, I decided to go with "It's okay, but could use a little work." Not sure that's accurate for me, but it seemed like a decent middle ground.

 

[lemoncrossing]

I’m not gonna lie, the constant negativity and complaints about this game can be really exhausting. I know that I contribute to that problem, so I’m just going to keep this short!

It’s a good game, but not a good Animal Crossing game. The customization (from terraforming to crafting) and graphics are outstanding. A+. But the music, character, and general lack of things to do could use some work. The events in NH are subpar at best & are not as good as the old games. But overall, for the direction the series is taking (with its focus shifting heavily to customization and decoration), it’s great. Some AC:NH screenshots could be easily mistaken for real-life photographs. It’s a great game but it’s just missing a bit of the typical Animal Crossing quirk & charm!

 

[Che5hire Cat]

I'm in general someone who enjoys games that gives you lots of freedom to create your own little paradise and NH offers exactly this. I would say it became my favorite Animal Crossing title and yes I even do like it more than New Leaf for many reasons, like the terraforming feature and outdoor decoration for examples. However, it still needs improvement. The game as how it is right now is not bad, but also not perfect. It has some faults that can be fixed if Nintendo puts the effort into it and I hope they gonna add more buildings as well as bringing back some of the old items one day.

 

[tiffanistarr]

I have a lot of mixed feelings about NH. When I am in the mood to decorate it's the best, but then I remember we paid $60 for an incomplete game. Like the lack of furniture items in this game is astounding to me. There is a huge lack of QoL. I think the terraforming and the ability to decorate outside is a HUGE win for me, but where are the other furniture items? Where are other NPCs? it's very sad they have reduced some NPCs to either be non existent or just a shell of what they were.

The clothes in NH are the best they've ever been in any AC game apart from the clothes you can buy in PC. I would love to see more events like the trophy ceremonies from the old bug and fish tourneys. I loved seeing the winners get their trophies. I loved going to Katrina's place to get my fortune told. I miss Gracie.

There's a lot of things that are just so different from previous games. However, I don't feel like they're going to be coming back either. Like Brewster maybe, but I don't see any of the other NPCs coming back. I would love it though.

 

[Felix Felicis]

It's a nice game, with very cool new features compared to old ones, but we miss a lot of things, a lot of items, the island, some shops, the café, npc, events (we have new as well but I need more) so I can consider it as the best one. New Leaf wasn't unable to provide outside decoration but I think I enjoyed it a lot, much more than New Horizons.
The game also has ergonomic problems: not being able to buy more than one item of clothing at a time, the same for crafting, long and incessant dialogues for example at the airport, loading times ... just boring and not at all fun. Without forgetting the dialogues of our villagers who are poor and uninteresting.

 

[charmingpeach]

It's a good game for me, I enjoy playing it, but it doesn't scratch that "Animal Crossing" itch that I get often. The game has a lot of potential in my opinion, it has beautiful graphics, and terraforming is a great feature to have. The QOL are also really useful and long overdue. However, it's just missing charm if I'm being honest. I think it's due to a large number of NPC's missing, the quirky furniture and the buildings, it doesn't make me feel cozy. To me, New Horizons feels like a really good canvas that is missing its color. The game as is now would leave a bad taste in my mouth if it were the final product, and that's just how I honestly feel about it. Many say it's their most played AC, but for me, it really is not sadly. New Leaf continues to be my most played and I've personally moved to playing other games to get my thirst quenched when it comes to lifesim but I do check on this forum occasionally or other Nintendo news webs to keep up in case something exciting happens. I do hope that changes in the future really, but if you ask me for my opinion as is now; I still like it, I enjoy playing the game if I pick it up, but it has a TON of work to do if it wants to call itself a real Animal Crossing game.

 

[Blueskyy]

I can honestly say it is amazing, but not my favorite. I have been revisiting New Leaf and realizing how much the music makes me so happy. I can name the themes of specific times, which I cannot do with New Horizons STILL. I also go work at The Roost and do more favors for villagers. I did an island tour or two last night. After doing these few small things, I realized that I actually still prefer New Leaf over New Horizons and could spend more time with it, even though my New Leaf town isn't as nice looking as my New Horizons island. I love both games a lot for what they are, but I wish Nintendo could release some of the greatest features from New Leaf more quickly for New Horizons (The Roost and Brewster, mini games, increased villager requests). Until then, I'll fire up my 3DS for only one reason: to play New Leaf.

 

[-Blue-]

I wasn't sure whether to choose the 'It's ok, but could use a little work' or 'I like it, but it needs a lot of work.' Because I enjoy the game more then it just being 'okay', but also think it needs more then just a little bit of work to get it to the level where the previous titles were.

 

[Burumun]

Didn't vote in the poll, because I do love the game, but yeah, it could still use more work. When it comes to customization, NH is the best so far, but it still sorely needs more furniture options. As for villagers, they're definitely leagues better than they originally were, but there's still room for improvement - I don't want to have to talk to each villager five times to get two requests per hour when NL had them give you their requests right away, for instance.

Then again, after a year, I'm just so tired of the criticism. Most people are fine, but there are a few who seem to spend all their time on here complaining about the same few things people have been complaining about since release. Like, if you hate the game that much, just play something else.