Summary
As a longtime fan of the series, I was one of those eager players who hadAnimal Crossing: New Horizonspreordered from the first moment it was available and, like many, enjoyed the safe haven of my island during the COVID-19 pandemic. My virtual island neighbors became my best friends, and the island itself was a place of comfort and a welcoming refuge for friends and family to gather virtually while quarantine was in place. I continued to faithfully visit my island throughout 2020, 2021, and most of 2022. I completed every task, filled the museum, enjoyed theHappy Home ParadiseDLC, and became rich with bells.
Sadly, life happens, as it does to everyone, and gradually other games took the place of myAnimal Crossingtime. Therefore, by the time I purchased my shiny, new OLED Nintendo Switch late in 2023,it didn’t cross my mind to transfer myACNHdata over to the new Switch, which has to be done separately from the normal transfer of data when setting up a new console. By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late.
About a month ago, I decided to take the plunge andstart a new island. I reasoned with myself that it would be fun getting to start all over.In many ways, it is. However, there are many hurdles that I had to overcome all over again, and many memories that will simply never be the same.
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8Animal Crossing: New Horizons Starts Out Painfully Slow
The First Few Days Don’t Have Much To Do, And All The Tools Break
After deciding to take the plunge and start a new save inAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, I quickly realized that without sneakily adjusting the date/time settings on the Nintendo Switch itself, there really wasn’t much I could do in the game for a couple of real-world days. Starting a new island is a lot of fun, andseeing the opening scenes with Timmy and Tommy after four years was a treat. The experience of beginning the game is an odd mixture of excitement and boredom, as there isn’t much that can be done in the first couple of days.
I was lucky, and as soon as the airport was open I was able to go visit the island of a friend who was still playing, who supplied me with bells and materials to get me started. Even so, each time something is paid off to Tom Nook or resources paid for a building, there is still the game mechanic ofhaving to wait until the following day for things to progress. Only so much weeding and shaking of trees can be done in one day, although I was happy to see that the Nook brothers do not have their store hours set, so they can take items all night long in the early days.
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7Getting Stuck With An Unwanted Villager For A Long Time
Convincing Someone To Move Won’t Happen For A While
When starting an island, there are two villagers who come along at the very start. Because of this,many people will keep restarting until they get two that are goodones to have despite having pretty low odds of getting the most desired characters out of a pool of 413 possibilities. After these two, however, the next couple who move in during the first few weeks of gameplay are not ones that can be chosen by a player, but are simply random characters.
Thankfully, I received some characters who didn’t bother me, although they wouldn’t be my first choices. If I were to have gotten someone who I despised, however,it would be a long time before thechance to make them leave the islandis available, which is frustrating after having so many years of an island filled with best friends from my previous save.
6Rivers And Cliffs Are Suddenly A Problem Again
The Island Feels Like It Shrunk
Personalizing an island inACNHcan involve using the Island Designer App on the Nook Phone to change the landscape, as well as getting Tom Nook’s help to build bridges and ramps. When starting a new island, however,it is easy to forget how long it takes for either of these options to become unlocked. This results in rivers and cliffs blocking off major portions of the playable area and restricting a player and other villagers to only a tiny portion of the island.
I didn’t fully consider the fact that I might be making a new villager be trapped on the top of a mountain alone.
Perhaps this wasn’t too bad, just a small annoyance until I accidentally trapped a new villager on the top of a cliff across the river. By using a vaulting pole and vines that my friend had given me from their fully functioning island,I had given myself access, albeit cumbersome, to the rest of the areas.
Then, once Tom Nook asked me to find locations for new villager houses, I didn’t fully consider the fact that I might be making a new villager be trapped on the top of a mountain alone. At least it wasn’t someone I liked much.
5Recipes And Farming Are A Strange Mystery To My Character
Even With All The Ingredients, Nothing Can Be Done Yet
Cooking recipes with garden vegetables was a later addition toAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, being added almost two years after the game released in patch 2.0. This meant that I had no idea when a player wouldbe able to cook in the gameon a new island.
My friend gave me starter vegetables, and I planted a nice garden next to my house. I purchased a stove, harvested vegetables, and then realized thatmy character has no idea what to do with these objects.
Unlocking cooking inACNHrequires “Be A Chef! DIY Recipes+” to be purchased with Nook Miles, yet it will not even appear as available until the island has reached three stars and K.K. Slider has held his first concert. At that point, the recipe card can be purchased for 2,000 Nook Miles, and the mystery of what to do with a stove will be revealed to all villagers on the island.
4I’m Not Rich With Bells And Nook Miles Anymore
Selling Weeds Can Be A Grind, And Nook Miles Tickets Are To Be Cherished
PlayingACNHfor several years on my original 2020 island, everything was unlocked, my house was fully leveled up, and I had purchased nearly everything. MyAnimal Crossingbank account was flush with bells and Nook Miles. If I saw something in Nooks Cranny that I wanted, I could easily purchase it, no matter the cost. Meanwhile, my storage was filled with all the wood, iron nuggets, and other resources that could ever be needed for crafting.
Starting over on a new island,it takes a long time to earn the bellsto pay off debts to Tom Nook, much less save up for anything else. Early on, it can be difficult to make money, particularly if one is donating fossils and fish to the museum and is relying on selling fruit, weeds, and common bugs and fish to Nook’s Cranny.
Being faced with this sudden new level of poverty can make the game simultaneously more enjoyable and frustratingas memories of still being rich in a previous game were present in my memories.
3Shops And Island Growth Takes A Long Time
I Need New Clothes, Mabel!
Animal Crossinghas never been meant to be a quick game that can be completed in one or two sittings, butfor someone who wants to have the cutest clothes, the wait for Able Sisters can feel much too long. Without having access to visit Able Sisters on my friend’s island, I would have been incredibly frustrated with the lack of clothing options available.
Witnessing the growth of Nooks Cranny was more interesting, however. First selling to Timmy and Tommy in Tom Nook’s tent and then seeing them progress to a run-down shack of a store, while knowing what it would one day become felt a bit nostalgic and cool. Likewise, the tent that Tom Nook uses for all his operations in the plaza before the Town Hall becomes a reality was fun to see. One thing I learned from this is thatI really wish that Tom Nook’s little golf putting area that he had in the tent would have carried over.
2An Empty Museum Is Both Good And Bad
Fun To Collect New Items Again, But The Elusive Catches Are Frustrating
Activities such as fishing, catching bugs, and the rest are what make up the bulk of gameplay inACNH, and having a brand new, empty museum to fill can be invigorating — to a point.Getting that little rush from having Blathers excitedly taking items that the player donates is wonderfuland something that I had not been able to enjoy for quite some time on my previous island, which had a completely stocked museum.
Perhaps on this island I should let go of my completionist side and just enjoy the journey rather than worry about catching them all.
Remembering how long it took to fill the museum and how many late nights were spent trying to catch that elusive fish before the month changed at midnight, and it was gone was less enjoyable. Tracking down every piece of artwork from Redd, searching the internet for any advice on that last missing sea creature, these were allthings that were fun the first time around but felt daunting to face a second time.
Perhaps on this island, I should let go of my completionist side and just enjoy the journey rather than worry about catching them all, but either way, it does tend to come with a bit of sadness.
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1All My Friends Are Gone, Or At Least Have Forgotten Me
A Sense Of Loss Prevails When Talking To Villagers
Let me preface by stating thatI realize this is a video game with fictional characters. That said, the time spent on my initial island inACNHwith my friendly villager pals was a unique time. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire world was in chaos, and life was confusing and isolated. My villagers became my friends, even if they were not truly real.
Not playing the game for over a year did little to lessen the bit of grief I felt when I approached Fauna, who had been with me since the beginning in 2020, and she did not know me.It was as if all my friends had been zapped with the neuralyzer fromMen In Blackand had no memory of meor our previous life together. Oddly, I didn’t have it in me to bring her to my new island. I would rather start fresh with new friends on this new island than attempt to recreate the same experience.
Overall, that is the biggest lesson from the new island. Trying to force the same nostalgic memories to happen again doesn’t work in the game any more than it would in real life. To enjoy restarting an island inAnimal Crossing: New Horizons, I need to be prepared for a new experience that is filled with unique opportunities, different friends, and a fresh start. I need to look toward new horizons and let go of the past.
