A big part of progression in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is completing tasks in the NookPhone and earning Nook Miles that can be redeemed for a variety of rewards. Since Animal Crossing: New Horizons doesn't have a definitive end game, these tasks act as good measure of a player's time spent in the game; some of the cumulative tasks help guide players towards completing major in-game milestones like filling out the Critterpedia or achieving an S Rank house from the Happy Home Academy. However, the rewards for these milestones feel a bit lacking, and could use an update in the next Animal Crossing game.

Aside from being intrinsically rewarding for many players, Animal Crossing: New Horizons' main form of reward for completing lifetime milestones are Nook Miles which can be used to purchase a range of rewards from new hairstyles, DIY recipes, construction permits, and even furniture and clothing. Additionally, players will earn different titles that can be added to their passports and will be visible when they connect with other players online. While these rewards are decent enough, there is a lot of room for improvement in an Animal Crossing: New Horizons sequel that could make completing milestone tasks even more satisfying.

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons Could Have Done More with Milestone Rewards

Although furniture and clothing items can be purchased with Nooks Miles awarded from milestone achievements, one way Animal Crossing: New Horizons could have improved this system is by offering special items exclusive to completing certain milestones. There are tons of unique items that can only be obtained from events like the Fishing Tourney or Bug Off that could have been used as random rewards for completing milestones for catching fish and bugs. While purchasing items with Nook Miles gives players a choice in which reward they get, it takes some of the fun of a surprise item away when they can see the list of options to choose from.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons' golden tools are another infamous reward that completionists will acquire as they are unlocked by completing certain milestones like catching every type of fish and bug or shooting down 300 balloons. To make these special tools more attainable for casual players, Animal Crossing: New Horizons could have had bronze and silver variants that unlock at lower milestones to help reward players for their efforts and entice them to continue working towards their golden variants. This way, players who don't want to commit to a completionist style of play can still earn special tools of their own.

If the Animal Crossing series is intent on keeping this form of tracking and rewarding a player's progress, then it needs to improve upon the daily challenge feature offered in Nook Miles+. While these rewards are a nice way to give players who've completed most of their lifetime milestones a way to consistently earn more Nook Miles, limiting them to three challenges a day loses replay value fairly quickly. Instead, Animal Crossing: New Horizons could have taken a page out of many mobile games' books and allow players to spend a currency like Bells to purchase a new set of challenges once their daily offerings were completed.

Since Nook Miles were the Animal Crossing series' first true attempt at tracking and rewarding milestone completion, it makes sense that it wouldn't be a perfect system. However, the next Animal Crossing game needs to learn from the mistakes of its implementation in Animal Crossing: New Horizons if it is going to evolve the concept further. Giving players more unique rewards at shorter intervals would be a great way to keep casual players hooked while still encouraging completionists to shoot for perfection when completing the game.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available for Nintendo Switch.

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