Ever since its release back in March, Animal Crossing: New Horizons captured the hearts of players from all walks of life. Shortly after its release, the New Horizons went on to become the fastest-selling Switch game, after it sold more than 11 million copies in a span of just a few days.
Of course, Animal Crossing: New Horizons' success can be attributed to the many improvements it has brought into the longstanding franchise, from major graphical upgrades to a vast amount of customization options and the ability to craft items and furniture. However, no game is perfect, and while Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a great game, here are some tiny quality of life improvements that many hope Nintendo would introduce in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Remove the Daily Announcements
In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the day starts at 5 AM and it is during this time (or whenever the player opens up the game) that the daily announcement will be broadcast to the entire island. At first, Tom Nook will be making these daily updates, but after the player upgrades the Resident Services from a tent to an actual building, Isabelle will take over. Of course, these daily announcements are important whenever something significant happens on the island such as when a new resident moves in, or when special events occur in the game such as meteor showers.
However, when there is nothing important happening on the island, daily announcements tend to be repetitive and unnecessary. To fill in the gaps during these normal days, Isabelle would ramble on about the TV show she watched last night, or her finding something under her couch, which while adorable at first, can get very annoying as time goes by. These announcements also take up the player's time, especially when the player woke up late on Sunday morning and only has three minutes left to buy turnips from Daisy Mae before she leaves the island at noon. Maybe it would be better for all if announcements are only made when something special is happening on the island.
A More Seamless Multiplayer Experience
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is definitely a fun game to play alone, but it also offers players a multiplayer experience to allow them to visit other islands or have their friends visit their island. Unfortunately, while the multiplayer experience is great, it is not as seamless as many players hoped for. Whenever someone else enters or leaves the player's island, everyone who is currently on the island is forced to stop what they're doing and wait for whoever is on the way in or out of the island.
Of course, this is problematic for players who are doing trade with other players via social media platforms or other means. In the game, turnip prices differ from player to player, which is why some would spend their time online in search for the best price. However, a common occurrence during this trade is the extremely slow arrival or departure sequence that occurs whenever someone arrives or leaves the island. Hopefully, a new update would fix this and allow players to come and go in the background.
Place Rugs Outdoors
One of the key selling points in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is crafting furniture and having the ability to place them outside of the player's home. Unfortunately, this does not apply to rugs, given that players cannot place them outside. While this is not that significant, some players are asking Nintendo to allow rugs to be placed outside for decorating purposes. Who wouldn't want a cool rug outside for a picnic or a trip to the beach? And why would Nintendo offer tons of beautiful rugs from Saharah if they can only be placed in the player's home?
Purchase Multiple Items of the Same Kind in Able Sister's Dressing Room
Once the player is able to unlock the Able Sister's clothing shop on their island, they are treated to a wide selection of new outfits that are updated on a daily basis. For avid shoppers, the dressing room allows them to see the shop's entire stock for the day, which makes selecting clothes and shoes easier than picking them out one by one in the shop. However, the dressing room does not allow players to purchase multiple items of the same kind in one sitting, which is problematic for those who are doing a shopping spree.
For example, if the player sees two awesome tops, or wants to buy the same design but in two different colors, they would have to exit the dressing room and enter it again just to make a second purchase. When doing single purchases, this isn't really a problem, but it gets really tedious when purchasing two or more outfits of the same kind. It would be a lot better if Nintendo would update the dressing room UI to allow multiple purchases of the same kind.
More Camera Freedom Outside
Whenever the player is outside strolling around their village, the game's camera is fixed, to make New Horizons reminiscent of previous Animal Crossing games. However, with all the customization options and terraforming that New Horizons introduced, having a fixed camera limits what the player can see. This becomes an issue when designing the island, given that the camera offers a somewhat limited view.
However, when the player is inside their houses, they can freely rotate the camera in multiple directions, which offers a better view of the area that they are currently in. Maybe in a future update of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Nintendo could offer players the option to rotate the camera outside, which will definitely make it easier for them to terraform their islands.
Up until today, it is currently unclear whether Animal Crossing: New Horizons will get a huge update similar to Animal Crossing: New Leaf's Welcome Amiibo, which added several new features, villagers, and quality of life improvements in the game. Of course, given the vibrant New Horizons community that is slowly growing as time goes by, it wouldn't be surprising if Nintendo would offer a big update sometime in the future.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is out now for the Nintendo Switch.
