Animal Crossing: New Horizons should be starting its second seasonal event any day now, with Earth Day’s real-life date fast approaching. The game’s first holiday celebration, Bunny Day, ended recently, much to the relief of many players who were disappointed with its implementation.
Even Nintendo may not have predicted how big of a hit Animal Crossing: New Horizons would be when it was released in March. Despite some frustrations around areas like New Horizons’ multiplayer mode, the game has been an absolute hit, coming at an especially opportune time for players who are practicing social distancing due to the coronavirus and looking for a way to de-stress and interact with friends. Whatever the reasons for its success, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has smashed sales records, earned rave reviews, and become a social media phenomenon.
The Animal Crossing series typically features limited-time events tied to real world holidays, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons is no different. At the end of March, Nintendo revealed that the first two New Horizons events would be Bunny Day and Earth Day. As Animal Crossing’s Easter equivalent, Bunny Day came at the beginning of April, lasting for nearly two weeks and leaving the game on the actual date of Easter. It’s clear that Earth Day won’t be following exactly the same pattern, since the actual date of Earth Day is April 22nd and the event still isn’t in the game. It’s possible that Earth Day will only occur in New Horizons on its actual date, as was the case with holiday events in previous Animal Crossing games.
Nintendo hasn’t revealed what Earth Day will entail in New Horizons, but there is one familiar face who’s likely to show up. When it announced the Earth Day event, Nintendo shared an image featuring the face of Leif the sloth, who ran a gardening shop in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Leif’s focus on plants would make him a perfect fit for Earth Day, potentially offering new plants and gardening items for players to decorate their islands with.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ first holiday may not have gone off without a hitch, but there’s still plenty of time for it to correct its course. While New Horizons will probably never been quite as popular as it was in the first few weeks after its release, it’s a game that’s meant to be played over a long period of time, and Nintendo says it’s going to be adding new events throughout the year. Earth Day clearly isn’t following the example set by Bunny Day, so it will be interesting to see a different approach to holidays in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now on Nintendo Switch.
Source: Nintendo