Animal Crossing: New Horizonshas had a strong run, but the free content that kept the game afloat has come to an end. It ends with a bang, as the latestupdate added the Roost, farming, and cooking. It also comes alongside the paid DLC expansionHappy Home Paradise. With so much added to the game, players find themselves with plenty to do, even if they end up wondering what is coming next for the IP.
Every installment of theAnimal Crossingseries has brought something new to the table. From becoming a mayor, island life, or camping, it seems this series has showcased most any lifestyle it could manage. There’s one avenue that could use a re-visit though: putting players back in a mayor role and letting them manage their own cities.
RELATED:Animal Crossing: New Horizons Fan Combines Skeleton and Iron Lamp to Make Unique Decoration
What Animal Crossing: City Folk Didn’t Cover
The concept of anAnimal Crossinggame based on city living isn’t new. The 2008 titleAnimal Crossing: City Folkhad a gimmick in which Kapp’n could take players to the city outside of their town on his bus. There, players would find all sorts of shops, special locations likeMr. Resetti’s office, and tons of new villagers to chat with. This came back in a smaller, more manageable scale as Main Street inAnimal Crossing: New Leaf, which saw fans being asked to help pay for most, if not all of the same shops to return.
What these games didn’t capture is what it would be like for players to manage an entire city, and there’s a chance that the next game could do just that.New Leafalready had players help choose what facilities to build for Main Street, andthe latest DLC forNew Horizonsdeals with designing and renovating facilities for Paradise Planning’s archipelago. Even the new adjustments to Harv’s Island seems to serve a similar purpose as Main Street, with shops players can pay to add. With this in mind, the next step may deal with having players choose what shops stay permanently in their towns.
Becoming the Mayor of an Animal Crossing City
In theory, running a city inAnimal Crossingwouldn’t be anything players haven’t already experienced, especially when it comes to the newer titles. The biggest thing that being the mayor for this city would ask of players is picking new infrastructure in the form of buildings, and potentially choosing what buildings they want to place in their town to begin with. The idea also would invite the potential for an increased villager count, as mayors could placefavorite villagers like Shinoin apartment complexes or townhomes.
From there, players might be able to access familiar features such as interior designing, or even important structures such as schools. These features have beenseen inHappy Home Paradise, but a new city-based game might invite further customization never before seen inAnimal Crossing. This type of game might finally allow players to customize buildings such as their town hall in new and interesting ways, instead of making them permanent preset options.
RELATED:Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 Update is Removing Items for Some Players
The Potential to Bring Back Animal Crossing Favorites
With players being able to pick and choose what buildings go into their city, this means structures will need to have value to prospective mayors. Luckily,Animal Crossingand its many charactershave captured fans' hearts, and there isn’t one villager or NPC that goes without some love. When one NPC is left out of games likeNew Horizons, many players ask Nintendo when that character will make their return.
Giving fans the option to fund and build structures to their city that feature their favorite characters seems ideal as the next step in the series. Making it easier and faster for gamers to get characters such as Brewster and Katrina in a game followingNew Horizonssounds perfect. There’s even potential to bring back more fan-favorites with facilities such as a comedy club for Dr. Shrunk, or even a park with a special fountain that could bring backCity Folkfavorite Serena - both of whom areabsent inNew Horizons.
Animal Crossingmay be about finding one’s way around a new place out in the countryside, but making the next game deal with players building their own city seems alluring for many reasons. The series has become less focused on the atmosphere of players making it on their own, and instead it focuses more on the customization features. The fact thatHappy Home Designerhas become more of an expansion toNew Horizonsonly serves as an emblem of this direction.
Ultimately it’s up to Nintendo where this series goes next, but as series likeKirbyandPokemonare experimenting with games likeKirby and the Forgotten LandandPokemon Legends: Arceus, there’s a strong chance for this idea to work in the nextAnimal Crossing. While this title seems promising, it likely won’t come out until there’s anew Nintendo consoleon the market. That said, fans shouldn’t worry, asAnimal Crossing: New HorizonsandHappy Home Paradiseby themselves should keep people busy for quite some time.
Animal Crossing: New Horizonsis available now for Nintendo Switch.
MORE:Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Last Update Will Make the Game Replayable For Years
