The next mainline title in the Animal Crossing series has been officially revealed during Nintendo’s E3 2019 Direct presentation: Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Players embark on an ultra-exclusive Nook Inc. Deserted Island Getaway Package and enjoy a peaceful existence full of creativity, charm and the freedom to roll up their sleeves and make their new life whatever they want it to be. Players can collect resources they can craft into everything from creature comforts to handy tools as they set up a homestead they can decorate freely, both inside and out.
The game takes place on a deserted island, with the player character being chartered to it thanks to “Nook Inc.’s” “The Deserted Island Getaway Package.”
In the reveal trailer, the player character is shown setting up their tent on the deserted island, which would indicate players’ main responsibility in New Horizons is building a town from the ground up.
The player is then shown shaking a tree and obtaining two sticks from inside, then heading to the interior of a building owned by Tom Nook to craft something using his workbench while Tom Nook and one of the Nooklings watches on.
With the sticks, the player creates a “flimsy axe,” with which they smack trees to get more materials and a rock, which spits out different types of minerals.
The player can also be seen placing furniture outside on a beach (including a beach towel, compact radio, log stool, campfire, shoes, and green coconut drink) as a dragonfly flies by.
The next scene in the trailer shows the player decorating the front yard of their tent next to a clothes line, tree and small garden, new types of weeds and flowers, and several cooking set-ups on fire pits, then catching a butterfly and fishing in a nearby river as a day and night cycle runs through.
The next scene shows the player pole-vaulting over a river before it cuts into another scene taking place in the fall season (confirming the return of the season cycle), where the player digs up a tree and places it in their inventory as Olivia sits in the background by the river.
The trailer then cuts to the player rolling up a snowball in the winter as Freya and Eunice (wearing a sweater instead of a scarf!) chat outside a cabin.
The player is then seen inside Fuschia’s home, where series-new speech bubble designs are shown off.
Tons of new outdoor objects are seen in the next scene as the player paves native paths in the ground and Hamlet waters some flowers in the background.
The next scene shows the player collecting flower petals without removing the flowers from the ground, as well as tons of different types of outdoor furniture decorating the exteriors of houses.
Up to eight different players are seen playing together in the same town – the later Treehouse Stream confirmed that there will be 8-Player local wireless and online multiplayer.
The final scene shows Tom Nook presenting the player with their debt — meaning we won’t be escaping Tom Nook’s strong, capitalist hand this go-around — and mentioning a “NookPhone” the player owns. You can see how it works in the extended gameplay demo below:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons will launch on March 20th, 2020.
What’re your thoughts? Was this everything you expected and more? Check out our hopes for Animal Crossing on Nintendo Switch!
Looking for more information? Check out our comprehensive list of absolutely everything we know about Animal Crossing: New Horizons so far!
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Written by Daniel Dell-Cornejo
Daniel is an editor at Nintendo Wire. Always with his head in the clouds, he is never apart from his creative thoughts – a blessing for an aspiring fiction writer. As a journalist and lifelong gamer, he aims to provide readers with the very best in Nintendo coverage.
