Well for starters, I can say with absolute certainty that no one has COVID-19 on my island so there’s that.
Animal Crossing New Horizons came out at literally the perfect time, and my purchase was worth every single penny. It has been over 70 days since the pandemic started, and there is still no indication as to when the pandemic will end. During the day, I often find myself gravitating closer to my Switch in order to play Animal Crossing for hours on end instead of dealing with the responsibilities of my real life.
With my real life having job demands and chores, and other responsibilities, it’s easy to try and avoid it all and escape to my virtual deserted island. My friends that I haven’t been able to see or hang out with during the pandemic I’ve been able to hang out with them virtually through Animal Crossing on our individual deserted islands.
Animal Crossing is such a cute game that allows players to fully customize their own unique experience. Animal Crossing’s characters all have different personalities and even the “worst” personalities are there to support you. Animal Crossing flourishes on positivity and it is hard to not find something new or interesting to do every day on your own little “deserted” island. Unlike other games, there is nothing “Bad” that can really happen to you, which is probably the biggest appeal of the game. Everything is mean to just kind of work out, it’s a slow-paced game, and allows for the player to have a chance to just experience what is happening around them.
With the pandemic making the future seem more uncertain than ever before and the news always hanging on pessimism, Animal Crossing brings hope to its players. There is a lot of comfort in that the days are usually predictable, and there is always some sort of reward for playing the game whether it is Nook Miles or extra bells or presents that fall from the sky every few minutes.
I am not trying to say that my real life is terrible, in fact I am quite fortunate for how I am doing during the pandemic and the opportunities that I still have. However with only depressing news on media networks and lack of socializing with close friends and family, I am having a hard time not catching myself in dark places or crying of frustration.
I’ve been playing Animal Crossing since I had my gamecube and was playing in the early 2000s. This was when I was also when I was about in elementary school so I barely understood how the game actually worked at the time. Now that I am older and have played other versions of Animal Crossing like Animal Crossing City Folk, the game has been so much more enjoyable and I’ve invested hours and hours into improving my island and actually getting to know my villagers.
MINAH WEBB 