Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a popular Nintendo Switch title that took the franchise into a new realm of popularity. The game made great strides towards introducing fresh mechanics into the simulation franchise, but some veteran players can’t help but notice some missing content from past games. While there is a lot to do in New Horizons, many fans comment that it doesn’t feel as lively or unique as previous entries in the series do.
The game is missing several staple characters like Pete the mail carrier, and the villagers are much different than they were in previous games.
10 More Festivals
It’s no secret that compared to other games; New Horizons is a bit bare-bones when it comes to events. Fan favorites like Flea Market Day and Shamrock Day are still missing from the game, along with many other festivals that appear to have been completely removed.
Instead, many like Valentine’s Day have been replaced with seasonal items in the Nook Shop.
9 Villager Dialogue
Villager Dialogue in the game is pretty flat in comparison to previous titles, a topic that many YouTubers have documented. Most of the villagers use the same lines of dialogue, especially when they are from the same personality category like snooty or jock.
This can especially be seen by the overwhelming amount of villagers that have imaginary bug friends. While this is a running joke in the game, it is a bit concerning that so many animals are seeing and hearing the same bugs.
8 Villager Attitude
Villagers seem pretty bland when it comes to attitude and emotions. In previous games, villagers could outright insult the player and felt more real in terms of their reactions to things. This can even be seen in previous games while the player is still working for Tom Nook.
Much of the cheeky dialogue is now removed, making the task of getting to know villagers a bit blander.
7 Villager Interactions
While villagers do still interact with each other, it doesn’t seem to be to the degree that they did in past games. When walking through town, many villagers will be spread out, with a select few running around separately or singing within the town square.
In previous game’s villagers seemed to run into each other much more frequently and could easily affect each other’s moods.
6 Villager Quests
In past games, villagers were much more inclined to bug the player to run simple errands for them. This would include delivering items to other neighbors, and sometimes they would bury treasure around town. These small missions helped to make the world feel like it was constantly moving.
At times the player could even ask villagers themselves to do a task for them in exchange for rewards.
5 Better Houses
The villager homes in the New Horizons are hit or miss. The villagers seem to either have great homes that fit them like seen with Victoria, or they’re incredibly bland. This can be attributed to the limited furniture sets in-game as there just isn’t as much to customize homes with.
Many of the homes feel lacking when compared to their previous iterations in the rest of the series.
4 More Residents
Most players have found that unless they heavily decorate their island, things feel a bit empty. With the power of the Nintendo Switch, many players were hoping that the game would go back up to having fifteen villagers per town like in the original Animal Crossing game.
Instead, the game decided to stick with the New Leaf trend of only having ten villagers at a time. This will hopefully be updated in the future as there are now almost 400 villagers in the series.
3 Villager Visits
In previous game’s villagers would actually ask to come over and visit your house at an appointed time. You would need to be home for the visit so that they could come in and admire your home. Not showing up to the appointed time and date would make the villager upset.
Villagers could also occasionally visit the player’s home unannounced making the world feel even more alive.
2 More Furniture Sets
As mentioned above, the lack of furniture sets can really start to hurt the game. While you can customize items, this can only go so far. As of right now, there are over 100 items that are missing from the previous games, including the infamous Froggy Chair that veteran players have noticed.
While many of the newer household items are appreciated, furniture sets were a core part of the series.
1 Buying and Selling Goods
While this does still happen occasionally for selling, villagers use to try to sell and buy items from players frequently. This could lead to a strange mix of decorations in their house and a chance for players to acquire an extra item or shirt that they had been looking for.
This was especially prevalent on Flea Market Day when players could walk into a neighbor’s house and ask about buying the items they had set out.
