Highlights

  • Animal Crossing's charming exterior hides potential darkness, with fans questioning Tom Nook's moral alignment.
  • Tom Nook's obsession with profits creates roadblocks for players, causing frustration and resentment.
  • As the franchise expands, Tom Nook's insatiable appetite for power and money raises concerns about his true intentions.

The world of Animal Crossing is one of the most delightful ways to spend time playing a game. That said, there can sometimes be darker undertones to Animal Crossing that the next game in the series should finally address. In Animal Crossing, players come in contact with a variety of adorable characters, but one in particular may actually be quite sinister under all the cuteness.

Animal Crossing is one of the quintessential cute and cozy titles that bring a lot of comfort to players. The adorable villagers in Animal Crossing are just one of the many draws to the game, but when it comes to Tom Nook, an ongoing debate about the character's true nature needs to be brought to light, even in a purely playful way.

Animal Crossing New Horizons money trees with game logo
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The Long-Running Animal Crossing Tom Nook Debate

On the surface, Tom Nook just seems like another adorable villager that players encounter on their islands. However, as the franchise has gone on, many fans have started to question Tom Nook's moral alignment. Animal Crossing is known as a lighthearted experience, but Tom Nook and his nefarious ways can give the games a darker edge.

Tom Nook's Notorious Greed

As the real estate mogul of the island, Tom Nook has a tight-knit relationship with money. Maximizing his profits is the character's ultimate goal, and it can make the game's progression system more difficult than one might think. For such a cozy game, the Animal Crossing games make sure that Tom Nook sets up plenty of roadblocks that keep the player from getting what they want easily.

Being in debt to Tom can make for some frustrating experiences that begin to cause some players to harbor a deep-seated resentment toward the business-savvy raccoon.

An Insatiable Appetite For More

Tom Nook simply cannot be stopped. As the franchise has grown, so has Tom Nook's business ventures, and there is no sign of slowing down. At the beginning of the series, Tom was the humble manager of the town shop. But things took a turn in New Leaf when Tom expanded his interest in real estate.

Opening Nook's Homes, Tom dug his claws deeper into the economy of the island. In New Horizons, Tom took an even greater step with the creation of Nook Incorporated, where he worked as the head of the company. As time goes by, it seems as though Tom Nook is on the path to creating a monopoly on the island where he alone holds most of the community's financial power.

Settling The Tom Nook Debate Once And For All

With recent rumors of a new Animal Crossing game potentially in development, the next installment in the franchise should put the Tom Nook debate to rest once and for all. To some, he is simply a misunderstood raccoon trying to provide for his family. To others, a menace. Whatever the next game ends up being should address Tom's apparent lust for power and money.

The Tom Nook debate has been a long-running discussion among players on the internet, and it's birthed some amazing memes. Although Tom's true intentions remain a mystery, it's a guarantee that the villager will once again be an important player in the next Animal Crossing game, and only then may it be revealed how much further his power has reached.