Summary
Animal Crossinghas been a beloved addition to the social simulation genre since the early 2000s. Some ofthe bestAnimal CrossinggamesincludeAnimal Crossing: New Horizons,Animal Crossing: New Leaf, andAnimal Crossing: Wild World. Each iteration of the series follows a tried and true formula, although through the years Nintendo has done its best to make sure each experience is unique. This includes adding new features to the game.
After theHarvest Moon-inspiredStardew Valleybecame an immediate overnight success in 2016, multiple games have come out modeled after the indie game.Animal Crossingis comparable to some degree toStardew Valley, though it’s much more open-ended than the farm simulator. Still, the two have quite a few shared qualities, and when Nintendo decides to release its nextAnimal Crossinggame, it could draw inspiration from The Mines inStardew Valley.
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Animal Crossing Exploration Could Benefit From Locations Like Mines
Animal Crossingcould continue giving its players different situations to navigate in its next game. While another title has yet to be announced, it’s unlikely that the franchise will be abandoned after the massivesuccess thatAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsreceived. As such, the bar will be quite high for returning and new players alike.
While each game adds several new elements, none of the games have caves that can be traversed, like The Mines inStardew Valley. The only caves that currently exist in the series are actually decorative items that were added to the game in theAnimal Crossing: New Horizons2.0 update. If Nintendo opted to add a cave biome to the life simulation, it could mean a brand-new section of the map to explore.
InStardew Valley,these caves are the perfect place to gather materialslike gems, coal, and stones, while players typically must engage in battle against enemy NPCs to advance further into The Mines.Animal Crossinghas no need to include combat in its games, but it could still borrow the idea of caves to work in its favor. When exploring these darker areas of the map, players could potentially run into harmful critters like the wasps that often fall from the trees, tarantulas, or scorpions. Villagers can’t die from being bitten or stung by these enemies, but they should still be either avoided or captured with a net as they can set a person’s progress back.
Perhaps caves inAnimal Crossingcould see a new creature like bats. Currently, there are no bats in the series though some people havecampaigned for bat villagers to be addedto the game. If bats were to be added, players would likely want to avoid them to continue walking around the caves.
Fossils are recurring collectibles inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsthat could be taken to the next level. In the 2020 game, players must dig around their islands to find the fossils. This doesn’t need to be taken out of the next game entirely, but it could be interesting to make fossils available inside caves as well. There isn’t a pickaxe currently inAnimal Crossing likethe pickaxe inDisney Dreamlight Valley, but it could be a useful tool to include if players are going to be mining for fossils.
Adding more exploration elements to theAnimal Crossingfranchise could make the next title all the more compelling. This would also mean that fossil gathering is much more dynamic as there could be more than one way to find them. What Nintendo plans to do exactly witha sequel toAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsis still to be determined, but it could be exciting if it took more inspiration from other games.
