Why I Prefer Animal Crossing; New Leaf Over New Horizons.
As we all know Animal Crossing New Horizons came out On March 20, 2020. Many consider it a quarantine savior including myself as I quickly became a huge fan. Since its release we have had the opportunity to participate in several fun events including: the May Day event (where Rover made an appearance which was exciting), Bug Offs, Fishing Tourneys, and the Bunny Day, which was an absolute nightmare! There were SO. MANY. EGGS. Eventually the over abundance was reduced, making the event for enticing.
There was still a lot missing from the previous games that we need, such as the Froggi Chair, Brewster’s Café and so much more! Another thing I really miss is the variety in digging holes. All you can dig up in New Horizons are fossils, which as fun as it is to complete the fossil part of your museum, I miss being able to dig up pitfall seeds (which we have in New Horizons but its only obtainable through crafting) and gyroids. If you don’t know what gyroids are they are unique little collectable items that vary in sizes and designs and made different noises and you can only get them through digging up holes.
Another thing New Horizons lacks variety in, are the rocks. You can still collect quite a bit from the rocks such as stones, clay, iron nuggets, gold nuggets and bells. However in New Leaf you can collect all of those in addition to amethyst, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and silver. Another big problem in New Horizons is tool durability. In New Leaf you didn’t have to craft your tools you just bought them once and that was the end of it. In New Horizons your tools break constantly but, you have the option to craft them on your own and save a few bells or buy them in Nooks Cranny. This is an advantage but, its pretty annoying having to get a new axe every ten hits to a tree.
The next thing that I miss and I hate to bring this up again however… WE NEED BREWSTER. Brewster was a npc (non-player character) pigeon who owned a café called The Roost. You could enter the Roost to have a cup of coffee and relax or you could even get a job as a barista and make your villagers drinks.
Next up, we have Tortimer Island. We do have the mystery islands that you can visit with a Nook Miles Tickets but it just doesn’t have the same charm. Tortimer Island was a location that was separate from the main town. On this island you could catch seasonal fish, bugs and deep sea creatures. You can also buy exclusive furniture and clothing items and even win medals by going on tours. Another down side to New Horizons is that we only have one form of transportation and that is Dodo Airlines. The experience just doesn’t compare to Kapp’n and the songs he would sing while rowing you to the island.
Finally let’s talk overall gameplay and graphics. With updated games or newer versions the graphics are going to continue to change and get better. Another thing is that the graphics just seem to be much more detailed in New Horizons which is really nice and makes it more enjoyable. But I do have a bit of a problem with gameplay in New Horizons. It seems like New Horizons is more focused on decorating your island. You don’t get asked to do tasks for your villagers as much other than the occasional delivery to another villager or catching them a bug. Overall there just isn’t as much to do. Its pretty unfortunate that we lost some of these great features but, both games are still great nonetheless.
Related Articles
https://animalcrossing.fandom.com/wiki/Animal_Crossing:_New_Horizons
https://animalcrossing.fandom.com/wiki/Animal_Crossing:_New_Leaf
