I didn’t choose to restart my island on 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Animal Crossing: New Horizons, I simply forgot that Nintendo is still living in the dark ages and I wouldn’t be able to transfer my exploits over to a new console. So as I set up my shiny new OLED, I cringed in horror as the realisation hit me - my island had been sucked into the ether. Raymond was gone, as was all of the gay cartoon artwork I had displayed on the beach like some form of wholesome sapphic lighthouse, guiding fellow gays throug🌳h the night as they descend upon my island.
Now it’s all gone forever. This happened so suddenly that I managed to brush it off, thinking I’d never return to New Horizons since I’d already filled my museum, paid off my loan, and abused the Turnip market to its logical conclusion. But then the Animal Crossing Direct rolled around, and had me and millions of others jumping back i🧔nto the game like we never left. The final free update was more substantial than any of us could have realised. It would introduce hundreds of new items, increased movement options, alongside Brewster’s Coffee House and so much more. It looked incredible, igniting a flame of charm that had long been extinguished thanks to Nintendo’s tiresome pipeline of seasonal events.
Th🅷at would have been enough by itself, but as the Direct seemed to be drawing to a close, Nintendo dropped a bombshell in the form of Happy Home Paradise. This expansion is essentially Happy Home Designer which was originally released for the Nintendo 3DS, but folded into the base game through an independent island with its own villagers and progression that no longer feels solitary. Your character, items, and personality all transfer across as you begin building dream apartments for curious villagers who will follow your interior design talent to the ends of the Earth. It’s an amazing idea, but thanks to my airhead brain, I’m still unable to access it and so many other🐷 goodies.
New Horizons operates on a strict mode of progres🔯sion, especially in the opening weeks as your island slowly forms into a functioning town with shops and facilities. In the first week it is little more than a handful of tents, with Tom Nook asking you to raise money and place buildings that will eventually lead to major amenities being introduced. However, there comes a time each and every day when you can’t go any further. You could catch bugs and fish to your heart’s content in order to raise Bells, but characters will eventually ask you to come ba♛ck tomorrow when a shop or house has been built and you can get the ball rolling once more. Even though I restarted my island a few weeks before the big update was set to arrive, I was pushing my luck to ensure I was ready for its release. I’m still not.
My island is still in a bit of a state. My home is coming along nicely and I have a handful of residents happily vibing in the town square each day, but Isabelle hasn’t even rocked up yet. The Able Sisters are just about to build their shop and the museum is little more than a handful of exhibits, so I’m stuck in a cycle of progression where I just need to keep moving forward until I get to the go𓆉od stuff. Now I understand this is all my fault, and I could easily take advantage of Animal Crossing’s time manipulation and skip forward to where I want to be, but that’s cheating and I ain’t about that life. Instead I will keep trucking along, cursing as I hand in fossils and venture to random islands with my Nook Miles Tickets hoping to find a potential villager who isn’t a complete loser. Raymond, I didn’t mean to betray you like this.
On the flipside, restarting my island has helped me develop a new appreciation for how wonderful New Horizons really is. It arrived as the world was being swept into a pandemic, providing a perfect distraction from rising infection rates and being unable to see our friends and families. For months we toiled away at Animal Cross💙ing until there was nothing left beyond customisation, and that’s no fault of the♈ game, it wasn’t designed to be binged like a Netflix show or a first-party narrative blockbuster. It’s meant to be savoured, its relaxed atmosphere and whimsical aesthetic being reflective of that. Now I’m going through that adventure all over again, logging in for an hour each day as I build something to be proud of.
It’s also a lovely routine to help ground myself when the world threatens to swallow up constantly. For a little while I can pretend all is well as I shape my island into something beautiful, even if I still can’t access the expansion and everything I worked for last year is dead and buried. Sometimes you need to wipe the slate clean and start over, and Animal Crossing makes taking such a 🌃leap much easier than I might have expected. I’ll get Raymond back one day, even if I have to kill to make it happen. You’re mine, catboy.
