Nintendo’s adorable social simulation series hit its peak with the release ofAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsin 2020, and since then fans have been keen to know what’s next for the franchise. TheAnimal Crossingseries has had five main entries and several spin-offs, but there is still no official news yet regarding a sequel toAnimal Crossing: New Horizons. The success of the most recent game and itsHappy Home ParadiseDLC, as well as the devotedAnimal Crossingfan base, are perfect reasons for another installment, but there are some things players would like to see in a sequel.
Animal Crossing: New Horizonsbrought its own mix of new featuresand characters, like in-game weather and seasons that adjusted depending on what hemisphere the player was actually in. Gamers were let loose to design the island community of their dreams, completing tasks, collecting resources, and crafting items as they went.Animal Crossing: New Horizonswas cozy gaming at its finest, and one of the standout elements of the game was the variety of villagers players could befriend – a feature that a sequel could still improve upon.
RELATED:The Next Animal Crossing Has to Make One Mario Feature a Proper Mechanic
Villager Crossovers In Animal Crossing
Since its launch,Animal Crossing: New Horizonshas received frequent updatesand new content, usually revolving around the various seasons. These include new themed items, events, characters, and even some refreshed gameplay features. Alongside the handful of new characters that players can encounter, familiar faces have also made their way to the island as popular villagers fromAnimal Crossing’s past make a comeback. Character-focused content has also provided some fun crossover opportunities, such as Nintendo’sSuper Mariooutfits that were added to celebrate the beloved franchise’s 35th anniversary.
Crossover characters have been used in the series before, but it’s definitely not something the developer has explored in great detail or for a mainstream audience. FutureAnimal Crossinggames could take advantage of this, introducing characters based on other franchises either as features of the base game or fun post-launch content. These could be centered around events like franchise anniversaries, or just random occurrences tolinkAnimal Crossingwith other popular series. Nintendo clearly has plenty of properties to choose from, likePokemon,Super Mario,The Legend of Zelda, orSplatoon, and because of the company’s unique vibe, many of these franchises would slot seamlessly into anAnimal Crossinggame.
Expectations For The Next Animal Crossing
Players have created plenty of their owncrossover content inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsthanks to the game’s creativity and options for customization, but it would be a great new addition if Nintendo represented some of its own franchises in the next game in a more official way. Meeting the various villagers is one of the things that draws gamers in, and it would be fun to get to know some famous faces like Professor Oak or Link in anAnimal Crossingsetting, especially as anthropomorphized animals. Alongside a slew of new or reimagined characters, fans have a few ideas of what they’d like to see in a sequel.
Animal Crossing: New Horizonshasn’t had any recent significant updates, so the time feels right for the announcement of the franchise’s next phase. Some players would love to see future games go open worldasAnimal Crossingadapts to wider industry trends, and in turn, make some improvements to how players can travel across the in-game world and recruit potential villagers back to their base. More variety in where players can call home would be a great way to mix things up, whether this is giving them a choice of where they can start their village or more options for traversal like a camper van. Others would like to see the personalities of the villagers they encounter become less surface-level, which is somethingAnimal Crossingcould emulate from the smash hitStardew Valley. It’s yet to be determined what the nextAnimal Crossinggame looks like, but fans are already excited to find out.
