Animal Crossing: 10 Features That Need To Be In The Next Game At Launch

Highlights

• Implement bulk crafting to save players time and enhance decorating.
• Expand multiplayer activities for more engaging gameplay with friends.
• Bring back unbreakable golden tools as rewards for dedicated players.

For decades, the Animal Crossing series has captivated players with its charming characters, endless customization and item options, and relaxing gameplay. Its comfy blend of social simulation and creativity has made it beloved by players from around the world.

As each new release evolves and builds on the success of former games, its Animal Crossing fans are left wondering how the next installment sets the bar higher. While players patiently wait, it brings to mind what can be improved and added to make the franchise more immersive and even better than before.

10 Bulk Crafting

Many DIYs With One Touch

When Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released, it introduced a new crafting mechanic that allowed players to learn DIY recipes, gather materials, and build more items than ever. However, some fans may view the current crafting system as tedious, especially when making multiple items, such as wooden chairs or iron wall lamps.

While there is a way to speed up crafting by tapping the ‘A’ button, adding an option to craft in bulk would prevent wasting precious playtime and let players focus on decorating to their heart’s content.

9 Multiplayer Activities

More Fun Things To Do With Friends

Playing online or locally with friends in New Horizons can be fun but can also feel limited. From drinking coffee on the second floor of the museum to participating in the Bug-Off or Fishing Tourney, there’s only so much one can do while visiting someone’s island.

In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, groups could travel to Tortimer Island and participate in one of 12 timed tours. Activities such as exploring new locations alongside friends could give players more reasons to play together in the next game.

8 Improved Item Usability

Making Items More Interactive

With thousands of items in the New Horizons catalog to collect, players can get creative with how they decorate and place them. Despite being able to turn on TVs and play random notes on instruments, most items don’t have functions that can be controlled by the player.

Imagine how easy it would be to travel around on a bike or scooter or how fun it would be to play a game within a game on a virtual Switch. Adding new ways to interact with items would give the player a better gaming experience.

7 Expanded Character Customization

Even More Ways To Express Yourself

The New Horizons 2.0 update introduced several features including new hairstyles through Nook Miles Redemption and speaking to Harriet on Harv’s Island. However, it’d be wonderful to see even more character customization options.

With more extensive character customization games such as The Sims 4 available, it’s only natural for Animal Crossing to step it up. Perhaps in the future, players will be able to choose from an expanded library of brand-new hairstyles, skin tones, facial features, facial hair, and even new options like tattoos, piercings, and body types to create a character that is the best representation of themselves.

6 Part-Time Jobs

Clock In And Get Paid

While there are many ways to make money, it may take a long time for someone to pay off every expansion, exterior renovation, and storage upgrade.

In New Horizons’ paid Happy Home Paradise DLC, players can work for Paradise Planning and earn Poki. Older fans of the series may recall being a barista in New Leaf at The Roost, gaining coffee beans and furniture from Brewster as payment. Adding part-time jobs would be a refreshing opportunity to interact with villagers and earn bells daily in the next game.

A Rewarding Feature For Dedicated Players

Tool durability was added to New Horizons which made gameplay more realistic. Upon using it for a certain amount of time, a tool can break and disappear, putting actions like fishing or digging on hold until a new one is available. Even though they are crafted with better materials, golden tools are difficult to obtain and are also prone to breaking.

In past games, golden tools were unbreakable and served as rewards for a long-time player’s achievements. These golden tools should make a comeback, allowing players to reap the benefits of their hard work without the constant need for replacing broken equipment.

4 Improved Island Customization

Decorating Without Restrictions

At its core, customization is a key element of Animal Crossing that gives players the freedom to make a unique island that is completely theirs. Even with terraforming, customization can be refined even further in the next game.

Being able to place items diagonally, change the rotation of buildings, lay rugs, and use Happy Home Paradise features like partition walls and counters outdoors are among the many ways that players could have more control over their island’s appearance and build areas that reflect the ideas they envision.

3 More Villagers

The More, The Merrier

In the original Animal Crossing for the GameCube, the player starts with six villagers, one of each personality, and eventually can have 15 living in their town. Despite being the newest game in the franchise, New Horizons lowers this number to 10 villagers.

The next installment of Animal Crossing should make the maximum number of villagers above 10 to fill the empty spaces of an island and make a large, bustling community that a player can love. With each new villager, there would be many personalities, interactions, and much more to discover.

2 More Stores And Upgrades

Shopping District Possibilities

In New Horizons, players are only able to pick the location of the museum, campsite, Able Sisters, and Nook’s Cranny on their island. With other merchants such as Saharah and Leif located on Harv’s Island, the current game missed the opportunity to have a shopping district similar to New Leaf’s Main Street.

The return of fan-favorite places like Club LOL, the Dream Suite, and Timmy and Tommy’s upgradeable store, along with new customizable establishments like a music store or a bakery could give the player and villagers more places to interact with and foster a greater sense of a tight-knit community.

1 Free Camera Movement

Adding A Whole New Perspective

The Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 update added the Pro Camera App, unlocking the Handheld and Tripod Camera as well as several filters including a fisheye lens. Even with more modes, fans are still unable to make the most of the camera with fixed angles and rotation and limited zoom abilities.

Introducing free camera movement would be a game-changer, allowing players to see their island from all directions, making it much easier to arrange items, navigate through the landscape, and capture impressive pictures of their island.