Now entering its third year, Animal Crossing: New Horizons appears to be coming to a close, creating space for a potential New Horizons sequel or a new game in the Animal Crossing series. New Horizons has given many players the ability to take a virtual vacation from the stresses of everyday life. However, the slice-of-life simulation game has continued to omit changes and updates that would offer better long-term playability, creating frustration for those still enjoying ACNH's content. It is possible many of these big changes could be planned for an upcoming title in the series.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out March 20, 2020, reimagining the Animal Crossing world players were familiar with from smaller Nintendo consoles. The ability to escape to a customizable, tropical island gave many a much-needed way to connect with friends and offered players thousands of hours in design potential with furniture, landscaping tools, and custom patterns. However, a lack of updates, DLC, and new events alongside a short main-story narrative made long-term gameplay difficult, and New Horizons saw a steady decline in popularity throughout 2021.
While the Happy Home Paradise DLC and 2.0 update for New Horizons that released in the fall of 2021 gave players a short-term boost of content, the additions came alongside frustrating news from Nintendo. No further paid DLC or large-scale updates are currently planned for the game, which many have taken as an indicator new projects for the Animal Crossing series could be coming. However, it is unlikely the new installment will be a sequel to New Horizons, as the current location and story have largely been completed throughout the current game's lifespan.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Lacks The Narrative To Gain A Sequel
One of the biggest reasons Animal Crossing: New Horizons likely won't receive a sequel is due to a lack of narrative content. ACNH's gameplay is primarily player-driven. Instead of interacting with characters and building relationships, or finishing quests to progress an overarching narrative, players focus on upgrading their home, the town, and villager houses to obtain a high island rating. The primary goal, convincing K.K. Slider to perform on the island, can be accomplished in just a few days with dedicated gameplay, leaving the player to then focus on island decorations and paying off home debts to Tom Nook.
A sequel to New Horizons could be set on a different island, and could introduce new bugs, fish, or resources, but would likely consist of the same gameplay as the first title. Players would have to build a new island, upgrade their homes, create villager homes, and likely have another overarching goal that is achieved by improving the quality of the community. Because most of the key factors that made Animal Crossing: New Horizons unique, like island living, would be stale, gameplay would likely be boring and repetitive. Because of this, it would be more efficient to give players the ability to have multiple New Horizons save files, and focus on designing a new game with fresh objectives.
It is possible an Animal Crossing: New Horizons sequel could be designed to port a player's previous save data from the first game and allow them to take their villagers, furniture, and accomplished house upgrades to a new setting. A new town location set in a desert, or in a rural community, could offer new goals while keeping a player's inventory, tools, and collections intact. However, because much of the gameplay in Animal Crossing comes from collecting, the developers would need to add a whole new inventory of obtainable items on top of what is already available in the game. This could be overwhelming both for the developers and the players, especially with the poor New Horizons storage options that have bogged down gameplay.
What Animal Crossing's Next Game Could Learn From New Horizons
Instead of creating a sequel, Nintendo should take a look at what did well and what was lacking in Animal Crossing: New Horizons and apply it to an entirely new adventure for the Nintendo Switch. For example, an Animal Crossing game where players have the ability to travel and live in several towns with different themes could be an exciting change. The travel options in New Horizons got players off their own islands, providing a sense of adventure and giving unique exploration opportunities. This type of game could also add "wild" locations filled with fruit, vegetables, collectibles, and resources that weren't in New Horizons, giving fans an entirely new experience with similar mechanics.
An Animal Crossing game that allows players to open their own shop within a town could also be a fun twist on gameplay. Instead of relying on New Horizons' Timmy and Tommy to buy items for Bells, players could create their own specialized retail location. Here, goods could be sold to both villagers and visiting friends, with prices set by the player that must be changed based on supply and demand. Players could even have to compete against rival locations in town or pick a specialty like food, clothing, or furniture, offering good reply value for those wanting to try a new save with a different focus. These functions could expand the crafting systems of New Horizons, and encourage players to use customization kits to create more valuable unique items.
Additionally, a new Animal Crossing game could focus on fixing the areas in New Horizons that have remained consistently problematic. The crafting system still lacks a bulk-craft option after two years of updates, forcing players to craft items one at a time. Players also must have the needed items for crafting in their New Horizons inventory, with the crafting mechanics unable to access what is being stored in a player's home. Because pocket space is frustrating limited, this requires players to continuously switch back and forth between storage and their crafting table. Providing quality-of-life fixes could make the next game in the series more fun to play, and offer a more streamlined and immersive simulation experience.
While having another adventure with the New Horizons island theme could be appealing to some, it is more likely Nintendo will put time and energy into creating a new Animal Crossing adventure for players to enjoy. However, it could be some time before a new Animal Crossing game is announced, with 8 years separating New Leaf and New Horizons. Despite this, the popularity of Animal Crossing: New Horizons could help speed up the time until a new release, and hopefully, players will be able to create new towns with a new and fun theme sometime in the near future.