The world we live in is taking a turn for the weird and scary. With the constant threat of COVID-19, or Coronavirus, threatening the World’s very Social structure, almost everyone is being told to hunker down inside their homes and prepare for the long haul, I myself have had to take time away from my University Campus and attend classes at home for an unspecified amount of time due to the Virus. Most people just want to get away from all this widespread fear and panic, with whatever means available to them.
Funnily enough, a game that allows a person to leave their everyday (or not so everyday but more panic inducing) lives. Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released on the 20th of March 2020, in the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic, gifting the people who are suffering from these effects a way to escape the wave of fear that’s spreading across the Planet.
The game presents this as an opportunity from returning character and Loan Shark, Tom Nook. Tom has a package that allows a person to get away from their current life and start life a-new upon a deserted island. Building it from the ground up to a lively and community driven town.
The player will find themselves doing various activities such as:
- Fishing
- Gardening
- Catching Bugs
- Chopping down trees (or not)
- Building Houses and Property for various needs
- Building Bridges
- Mining Rocks
- Flying to other deserted islands for resource gathering
- Paying off Copious amounts of In-Game Debt (Thanks Tom Nook!)
- And much, much more.
One more important activity that can be done in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, is that players can utilise online play to visit each other’s Islands. It allows players to check out what each other have done in their time on the Island as well as trade items and even sell items from their own island for (potentially) a higher price.
These mechanics and activities are all important to someone playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons in this day because it allows them to experience the things that they can’t do while stuck inside their houses. People can fish for exotic creatures (and not so exotic ones such as rocks) and can even catch tropical creepy crawlies, such as Scorpions and Tarantula Spiders.
The possibility that people can visit each other keeps us all connected during these trying times. Sure we have the internet and social media but there isn’t anything quite like gathering a bunch of friends to adventure across your Island of hard-ship. This is certainly something you can’t do in real life, especially with all the governmental crackdowns on gatherings.
In this trying time, Animal Crossing has become our saving grace. Allowing us all to stay connected and somewhat productive in these trying times.
Thanks for reading!
– Nathan “Naff” Hibbert
Naff's Gaming Blog 