Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been a huge success for Nintendo, and its already beaten sales records for both Super Smash Bros. and Pokemon. The game released at the perfect time and has been a bastion for players quarantined around the world.
At the beginning of April, New Horizons got its first holiday, which now come in the form of free updates, instead of being included in the game from the start. Theoretically, this would allow Nintendo to do even more with holidays than in the past, but so far it isn't working that way.
Bunny Day has been a bit of a debacle in New Horizons, and it's frustrated fans to no end. Things certainly could have been worse, but, unfortunately, the holiday didn't go better, especially so close to launch.
Animal Crossing New Horizon's Bunny Day Has Been A Mess
The crux of the Bunny Day event is for players to collect a bunch of eggs then use them to build a variety of festive DIY recipes. It sounds like it could be fun, but the big problem is how the game gives eggs to players. Eggs don't have to be gained in a special way, they're simply given out while gathering materials like normal. Players can get them from shaking trees, digging up areas, fishing, and more. The frustrating part is how many eggs the game shovels on players.
The issue has since been patched and is better, but the number of eggs kept interfering with collecting basic supplies. This was especially frustrating for anyone that hadn't advance very far and needed wood, iron, or anything else to build a shop or other buildings. Try and get some iron, get eggs; try and catch a fish, get an egg instead. This cycle directly interfered with the core design of Animal Crossing. Bunny Day lasts for twelve days, and if it wasn't patched it could have severely hampered progress for players. Even with the patch, eggs still interfere with collecting materials. Honestly, for future holidays Nintendo should find a way for players to get items that don't interfere with that core gameplay loop. Holidays present a lot of opportunities, but they should add on to the experience, not detract from it.
Future Holidays Need to Have More Variety
While the core idea of Bunny Day has been a problem, holidays in Animal Crossing simply need to have more variety in the future. Some of the furniture and clothing designs are cute, but that's all that's on offer. Holidays have the opportunity to bring new ideas and gameplay experiences into Animal Crossing. Add interesting new minigames into the mix, or premade islands that players can visit to meet new characters or interesting settlements. Because holidays are being developed after launch it allows for a lot more flexibility in terms of what's added. Animal Crossing's core gameplay is better than ever, and the perfect relaxing time sink, but it'd be great to see Nintendo be ambitious and add on something truly interesting.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is now available on Nintendo Switch.