Nintendo’s Animal Crossing series has been going strong for almost twenty years, but there are tons of similar games that are also worthy of attention. Whether players prefer the decoration aspect of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the quirky characters, or the peaceful setting, there are lots of other titles which can give them the same feelings.
The original Animal Crossing debuted in 2001, and since then four more mainline editions have been released, including the 2020 hit Animal Crossing: New Horizons. In Animal Crossing games, players control an animated villager who can participate in a variety of day-to-day activities, such as fishing, bug catching, and visiting with various anthropomorphic animals.
New Horizons promises to keep players entertained for hours with the various things to do and explore. But once players are tired of playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons, they should turn their attention to these equally fun (and adorable) games, which will surely fill the void left by New Horizons.
If You Like Animal Crossing, Try These Other Titles
2018’s Garden Paws, developed by Bitten Ghost Games, is a role-playing game that allows players to choose between animals like a cat, badger, or chipmunk, just to name a few. Players are tasked with expanding their creature’s family, which involves repeating a series of daily activities like in Animal Crossing, such as growing plants, taming animals, and managing the farm.
2018 also produced the likes of Little Dragons Café which, as its name suggests, allows players to care for and run a café all while raising their own dragon. Not only must players manage the café, which includes curating the menu and managing employees, but they must gather and grow their own ingredients for the café, providing a variety of different challenges and activities.
The Sims is another long-running series. Like Animal Crossing, The Sims also allows players to create a simulated life for their in-game characters, but with much more freedom, choice of opportunity, and more adult subject matter than Animal Crossing. The most recent edition in the franchise, The Sims 4, was released in 2013, and there are currently over 30 Sims 4 DLC packs to choose from if players want to modify their experience.
2016’s Stardew Valley tasks players with maintaining a farm that they’ve inherited from their grandfather. Like Animal Crossing, it lets players do a variety of everyday, seemingly mundane tasks like growing crops, raising animals, and fixing machines, but the game makes it fun. Players will similarly encounter a variety of quirky townsfolk who will always have something interesting to say. Unlike Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley's farming is not tied to a real-world clock, so players can play as long as they want without running out of things to do.
These are all great games for anyone who can’t get enough of Animal Crossing, but it is by no means all of them. There is also the new Nintendo Switch indie game Spiritfarer, the realism-focused Farming Simulator series, and many, many others. The only hard part is deciding which to try out first.