--- description: 'Animal Crossing: New Horizons' for Nintendo Switch is the perfect escape from *gestures broadly* all this. title: 'Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Is the Game We Need Right Now image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3ff6bbc557d2a7c/698a0b9c457a527399d63b2a/animal-crossing-new-horizons.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Nintendo's _Animal Crossing: New Horizons_ Is the Game We All Need Right Now by [Matthew Gault](/author/matthew-gault/) ## Matthew Gault Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 17, 2020 2:46 PM CUT  Animal Crossing New Horizons for Nintendo Switch Animal Crossing New Horizons for Nintendo SwitchNintendo by [Matthew Gault](/author/matthew-gault/) ## Matthew Gault Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 17, 2020 2:46 PM CUT On my fourth day on my [_Animal Crossing: New Horizons_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SL6ZXBL/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time037-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B07SL6ZXBL&linkId=51444e24dc3d35b3d442d08c3ea61f9d "undefined") island, I gorged myself on peaches for energy and destroyed all my island’s rocks in a quest to extract every bit of iron. I need 30 pieces to build a general store, but the material is hard to come by. It was a big, unsustainable mistake: the rocks I smashed didn’t respawn for several real-time days, while leaving me without the iron I so desperately needed. This was just one of the many ways _Animal Crossing: New Horizons_, Nintendo’s new life simulator for the Switch, encouraged me to take it easy, chill out, relax, and enjoy the game at a slower pace. It wanted me to stop and smell the peaches, not gobble them up and strip the land of its resources. In _New Horizons,_ your character is feeling strung out by modern life, and decides to book a relaxing getaway. A [shady-looking racoon-dog](https://www.vice.com/en%5Fus/article/y3mek5/demand-for-private-jets-spiked-as-the-rich-try-to-avoid-coronavirus "undefined") named Tom Nook sells you a travel package that sounds like a great deal. But the next thing you know, you’re stuck on a deserted island with a strange cast of characters. Nook then charges you for the privilege of turning said island into a real community, sending you off on various quests and tasks to earn points. _New Horizons_ is an escape that makes you feel productive for reveling in simple activities like fishing or gathering wood — and it’s the exact game we need right now. When I get hold of a new game, especially one I’m excited about, my tendency is to hunker down for long play sessions. I want to dive into the deep end, seeing all that a game has to offer as quickly as possible. That’s impossible in _New Horizons,_ which frustrated me at first. But over time, Nook and the rest of the game’s characters pulled me into the pleasant ebb and flow of island life. _New Horizons_ encouraged me to play in small chunks — roughly an hour at a time — then put it down until the next day. My island retreat, which I named Carcosa, could only change so much so quickly. I mined iron from rocks, chopped trees to gather wood, and pulled up weeds from the soil. But there’s only so much gathering I could do in a given play session. Resources are limited and take about a day to repopulate. Most major projects, like building a bridge or a house, take 12 to 24 real-time hours to complete. Often, after about an hour or two, I found I had nothing more I could do. Sometimes there’s nothing left but to wait and let the island work its magic. Every new play session represented a new in-game day. Nook would stand in the center of the island making announcements. Sometimes there would be a new visitor to the island, like a wayward sailor named Gulliver or a delightfully frightened ghost named Wisp, who needed my help. I’d collect resources, accomplish a few small tasks, and work on the next bit of infrastructure for the island. Maybe I’d build a new bridge, or perhaps I’d work on furniture for the home of a new arrival. It was up to me, but there was always only so much I could accomplish in a play session. These little dips into island life build up over time, creating a pleasant routine: Log in, knock out some daily quests for Nook, then work on some infrastructure projects. I could hunt for butterflies and fossils to fill up the local museum. I might chat with my neighbors to see what they’re up to. I could comb the beaches for seashells and do a little fishing. All activities feed into _Animal Crossing’s_ “Nook Miles” system. Every activity — from fishing to talking to folks — earned me Nook Miles that I could spend on upgrades and gear. There’s a long list of Nook Mile achievements—catching 10 or more fish in a row without losing one, for example—as well as daily activities that cycle every morning. No matter what I was doing, I was always earning Nook Miles. I was always getting resources I needed. I was always making progress. I never felt pressured to prioritize one part of island life over another. I was always rewarded for doing what I wanted. There is freedom in that — and freedom in putting _Animal Crossing_ down after an hour. _New Horizons_ is chill. It lets you dip in and out without consequence. Every trip to your island is a delight, and every day you shape it a little bit more. Over the course of my days and weeks on my island, I had begun to change it into something I wanted. I could alter the flow of rivers, populate it with people I liked, and wander its forests at night looking for ghosts. It was my choice. It was my island and, after two weeks of small gameplay sessions, I had come to feel responsible for it. I never again got gorked out on peaches and smashed all the island’s rocks. I built a sustainable land in a game built for sustainable, long-term play. It felt nice. It felt chill. It felt like island life. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5804599/animal-crossing-new-horizons-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5804599/animal-crossing-new-horizons-review/"},"headline":"Nintendo's Animal Crossing: New Horizons Is the Game We All Need Right Now","datePublished":"2020-03-17T14:46:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:52:16.548Z","description":"It's the perfect escape from *gestures broadly* all this","url":"https://time.com/5804599/animal-crossing-new-horizons-review/","keywords":["Tech"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3ff6bbc557d2a7c/698a0b9c457a527399d63b2a/animal-crossing-new-horizons.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Matthew Gault","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/matthew-gault/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3ff6bbc557d2a7c/698a0b9c457a527399d63b2a/animal-crossing-new-horizons.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Animal Crossing New Horizons","caption":"Animal Crossing New Horizons","creditText":"Nintendo","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5804599/animal-crossing-new-horizons-review/","name":"Nintendo's Animal Crossing: New Horizons Is the Game We All Need Right Now"}}]}] ```