As the Animal Crossing series looks to grow following Animal Crossing: New Horizons, it could find success by studying some of the indie games the series has inspired. Many of the indie titles in the life-sim genre have expanded upon the mechanics introduced by the Animal Crossing series to great effect, and it's time Nintendo take notice and build upon them in turn for its own franchise. One way the successor to Animal Crossing: New Horizons could accomplish is by pulling a page out of Dinkum's book and introducing underground mining to the Animal Crossing series.
Dinkum is an indie life-sim title set in the Australian outback that combines the town-building features of Animal Crossing with farming-sim and crafting elements similar to games like Stardew Valley or My Time at Portia. One area where Dinkum really excels is in its mining mechanics that allow players to harvest large amounts of resources from an underground mine. With how many indie games in the genre feature some sort of mining system, it seems logical that the next Animal Crossing could put its own spin on the mechanic.
Animal Crossing Already Has the Perfect Basis for a Mining Mechanic
The Animal Crossing series has never done much with the concept of mining for resources, but it has a lot of elements that could be reworked to flesh out a complete mining system. Prior to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the most involved mining-like elements were the ability to dig up fossils from cracks in the ground or hit a rock with a shovel for a chance to earn some gems or Bells. However, Animal Crossing: New Horizons upped this mechanic by introducing a crafting system that allowed players to obtain iron, clay, stone, or even gold nuggets from hitting rocks. The next entry in the series could take this system a step further.
Rather than limiting players to harvesting materials from rocks on the surface, the next Animal Crossing game should feature the ability to travel underground and give players the tools to mine for resources there. This feature could function similarly to that of Dinkum or Stardew Valley where delving deeper into the mine yields increasingly greater rewards but also poses increased risks like the threat of Animal Crossing's notorious Tarantulas and Scorpions. As the next Animal Crossing title is likely to expand upon the crafting system of New Horizons, it will need to find a way to make mass quantities of resources more widely available, and letting players mine for minerals would help solve that issue.
Animal Crossing already has the perfect mascot character for this feature in Mr. Resetti, who could use something to do after being largely sidelined in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Historically, Mr. Resetti was the mole who would appear and berate players who did not properly save their game before turning off the console. However, due to Animal Crossing: New Horizons' autosave feature, his talents were redirected towards Nook Inc.'s Rescue Service for players who get stuck in order to avoid softlocking their game.
With how little Mr. Resetti appears in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, giving him a new role as head of a mining operation would be the perfect way to give this fan-favorite character some more screen time and could naturally tie into this mechanic. With how solid of a foundation already exists for this feature, it seems quite likely that the next Animal Crossing game will feature a robust system of mining for resources to be used in crafting. Not only would a system like this take the franchise to the next level, but it would also bring Animal Crossing and the series' indie successors like Dinkum full circle.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available for Nintendo Switch.
