While the player taking the role as a human in charge of a settlement has been a staple of the Animal Crossing series since its beginnings, the next game in the series could possibly do without humans altogether. With each new entry in the beloved Animal Crossing series comes a new opportunity for players to create an in-game avatar of themself, dressing up as they please with a wide variety of options. These options have increased with each new game, but remain limited in one particular way.

The player is, somewhat infamously, the only human among a settlement of animals in the Animal Crossing series. While this effectively allows players to create avatars of themselves, it has also led some fans to question the game’s worldbuilding. One such matter is if humans are endangered in Animal Crossing or not; even if it’s a simple matter of allowing player projection, it still reveals a potential opportunity for an interesting series change.

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons greatly increased the character customization available to players, with countless skin tones, hairstyles, clothes, and custom clothing designs, none of which are locked to a specific gender and can be changed at any time. Although this fantastic stride forward for inclusivity is wonderful, the next Animal Crossing game can still offer plenty of opportunities for player expression even if their avatar isn’t a human. The next game in the series could instead let players create their own animal avatar based on Animal Crossing’s villager species or even the NPC-exclusive species. There can still be just as many - if not more - customization options at players’ disposals if the sequel to Animal Crossing: New Horizons went all-in on animal characters.

The Next Animal Crossing Should Feature An Animal Player Character Somehow

Animal Crossing New Horizons Sasha Player Villager Dress Up Rabbit Bunny

If the next Animal Crossing title has players take the role of an animal rather than a human, they could essentially create their own villager. They could choose from the series’ 35 villager species or even some of the species that are only seen in NPCs, such as foxes, owls, and even tanuki. With the option to choose fur color and patterns in addition to dressing up with clothes and accessories, such a feature would be endlessly fun, especially if players can unlock a way to change their character’s animal species at will, allowing them limitless ways to experiment with designs.

Past Animal Crossing games have already toyed around with this idea on a basic level: the existence of certain fashion items, such as cat ear hats, a cat nose and whiskers, and a duck bill, among others, proves the desire to wear costumes mimicking certain animals already exists. If the tradition of a human villager is one that the Animal Crossing series absolutely can’t part with, then an animal transformation potion of sorts could still be a viable alternative for players who’d like to try their hand at designing their own villagers.

Next: ACNH Hidden Villager Interaction Gets Better With Friendship