I feel like there is a lot missing from New Leaf, and it makes me a bit sad. New Horizons does have some new mechanics and furniture of it's own and it's a beautiful game but it feels almost... hollow? In comparison to New Leaf.
1.) Shop variety. I
get we're an island getaway this time but I wanna believe if I had visitors coming to vacation on my island they'd want more than two shops, lol. I miss Kicks & Leif having their own store (or in Leif's case a section in Nookling's once it upgraded), Club LOL (it would be lovely if there was a club for K.K so that NPC villagers could still visit when he's playing!), the post office, Recycling centre, and Brewsters! I understand why we don't have Shampoodle (the mirror), or Luna (you can just go to bed), but I'd still like to see something more, shop wise.
It's also a bummer that the shops we
do have feel like incomplete versions of themselves thanks to New Leaf. In New Leaf The Able Sister's upgraded
twice. We had the addition of Shampoodle which I understand isn't needed and I'm okay with that, but we also had Label get her own section of the store which I miss. The Nook store also upgraded five times! I think it's silly that Nookling's doesn't upgrade at all - selling three large furniture pieces a day is ridiculous and I honestly think part of why Nookling's doesn't upgrade this time is because they know they don't have a lot of furniture to sell.
2.) NPC's. This game doesn't have nearly as many NPC's. I do like the addition of Flick & CJ but having so many less NPC adds to the world feeling a little bit empty. Part of this is because they've omitted stores so we don't need the shop keepers, or the NPC doesn't have a purpose anymore (I miss you Phineas
), but you can definitely
feel the difference. For a game that has the ability to be bigger & better than New Leaf it's odd how empty it feels. And I know there's the argument that more NPC's will come with updates because that's how we got Leif but it's frustrating that so much of this game is, "maybe it'll come in an update!".
3.) Mini games. I miss Tortimer's island for those cute minigames when playing with friends and I also liked the addition of having mini games in the 3DS & Wii U!
4.) Tortimer's Island is also gone. I loved Tortimer's island both for the mini games and being able to catch summer bugs & fish all year round! This was especially nice in the middle of winter when maybe you wanted a break from the snow.
5.) The campground. We still have the campsite but I miss having the campground and being able to scan in Amiibo's to see villagers or NPC's in campers! It was such a cute addition and a fun way to find new furniture.
6.) Furniture variety. This one is a given but I mean both indoor furniture sets (this game desperately needs more buyable furniture sets for your house!) and the few outdoor PWP's New Leaf had. Don't get me wrong, I
love the outdoor furniture in New Horizons and being able to place it without it needing to be a PWP! I just miss some of the fun variety. The different styles of street lights, the cute spinnable jungle gym, the little cardboard cutout thing, etc.
7.) Along with shop upgrades I miss the train station and town hall updates! I like how they were optional so you didn't
need to change them but if you wanted to I think there was three different exterior types?
8.) Speaking of exteriors - I miss the variety that New Leaf had. I
love that I can change the exterior of my house all in one go instead of having a mashup of different pieces until my house is completed
but I miss the different exteriors that New Leaf had. It would've been a lot of fun to have a Sweets Exterior for Christmas!
9.) Fruit. This one is a little strange to me, I'm not sure why we don't have as many fruit types? It's not like they gave us new fruit, they just... got rid of other ones. I miss having banana's on my beach! I like have tree's on my beach but I'm not a big fan of how coconuts look. We're also missing lemon trees, persimmons, lychees, and mangoes! Along with having perfect fruit. If I'd known there wasn't perfect fruit when I first started my island I wouldn't have been so picky about getting apples, lol. I miss em because the apples look all pretty and sparkly and I loved giving my villagers perfect versions of the fruit they'd ask for!
10.) Goodbye letters! Maybe this one is silly, but I really miss getting goodbye letters. I would save them in New Leaf,
especially if I hadn't gotten a villagers picture, as a way of remembering them. I also feel like it was just a really sweet touch, them sending one? Maybe they didn't feel like they were needed in New Horizons since villagers only ever move out after they've asked you, but still.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but there's likely more.
