Animal Crossing: New Horizons was a massive success for Nintendo when it launched as it provided an entire island for players to customize and populate with a wide variety of animal neighbors. Despite the wide range of options and post-launch updates that added more content, something was missing in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Whether it was the island itself feeling cramped, or some of the content updates being the addition of previous features, one certain thing is that a new installment needs to expand its scope so that it has a chance to match the latest game's success.
One of the most crucial things a follow-up to Animal Crossing: New Horizons needs to do is make sure that at least some of the post-launch update content is in the new title's base version. The most straightforward way to do this is to keep most of the content and easily push the sequel as an all-around improvement and ensure that any content updates are for new and meaningful inclusions. Nintendo can also take an element found in one of the bigger updates, and greatly expand upon it.
Farming and Cooking Needs to Stay in Animal Crossing
Farming is a wonderful mechanic in several games, offering players a nice and relaxing way to grow an assortment of fruits and vegetables that serve as a steady income while potentially being cooked into a variety of dishes, with popular titles like Stardew Valley centering their focus on becoming a farmer. Animal Crossing: New Horizons added farming as part of the 2.0 update, and it was a simple but brilliant inclusion because it is something that adds a lot to any game.
This is not to say that New Horizons was lacking in content before the inclusion of farming. Quite the opposite is true as players can sink dozens of hours building their dream village and collecting everything there is. A farming mechanic, especially if a cooking mechanic comes along with it, can offer hours by itself of content by having a variety of crops to grow with a whole assortment of dishes to create. Animal Crossing: New Horizons added cooking alongside farming, meaning there is also potential for it to be expanded. On top of the revenue generated from pursuing farming, the simple act of picking crops and deciding what to do next is incredibly satisfying.
There is potential for farming to be expanded in the next game, as the mechanic can go far further than what was seen in New Horizons. Since including barns and coops might raise some moral ramifications concerning what makes cows like Naomi a villager versus livestock, a different direction can be taken from many games with farming. There can be a focus on having a vast assortment of crops, be it fruits, vegetables, or even spices. More crops also mean more options for juices and jams that can be sold, given as gifts, or consumed for a boost. Although fish dishes can be cooked, placing an emphasis on vegetarian meals could offer an opportunity to highlight foods from various cultures where meat is not emphasized in most diets.
The next game has two worthwhile directions to go. One is expanding everything that worked in New Horizons, refining what made fans love that game while giving meaningful reasons to return to the concept. The other is going out of this world for Animal Crossing, experimenting with new features and concepts that still keep the meaningful experience intact but in a way unlike anything else in the franchise. Keeping farming in the next Animal Crossing title would be a nice feature as it adds to the world, but there is potential to see it expanded to a point where there could be a farming-themed title in the series.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available for Nintendo Switch.
