Animal Crossing: New Leaf

When I first picked up Animal Crossing: New Leaf, I had no idea what to expect. It was my first encounter with the series, and I only decided to get it because I had seen it mentioned positively in articles and videos about separate games. My hopes were high when I first booted it up, and I was completely done within an hour. The slow pace and general lack of direction just didn't mesh with whatever expectations I had formed, and it wasn't until a whole year later that I decided to give it a second chance. Luckily, entering with an open mind that second time gave me the opportunity I needed to truly appreciate what was on offer in this charming little game, and I ended up putting a few dozen more hours into it after that.

As with the rest of the series, New Leaf acts as a "life-simulator," letting you do plain, real-life things like furnishing your home, going shopping, planting flowers, or interacting with your neighbors. The big change here is that you are no longer just a citizen of the village where your game takes place. Instead, you accidentally become its mayor, introducing a small set of new responsibilities and privileges, like setting up fundraisers for town improvements or designing the town flag. However, if you want to participate in a fishing competition instead of doing mayor-y stuff, your capable assistant Isabelle can handle the desk while you're away. Don't neglect those responsibilities for too long though. There's a lot of really good content locked behind the fundraisers I mentioned before.

That's a lesson I learned the hard way. My interest was so focused on my interactions with my villagers or on my home improvements that I didn't open a few major businesses until really late in my time with the game. I actually neglected my actual town so much that when my wife started to play, she fully rearranged almost every flower and tree, not only to improve how everything looked but to make it possible to actually walk through the town normally. My hyperfocus when playing this game means I probably still haven't seen half of what it has to offer, but I still really enjoyed it anyway, so I don't mind too much.

My interest in New Leaf would come in waves, so a significant portion of my time was spent becoming friends with my villagers again, rather than actually building up my town, but I had fun nonetheless. However, with New Horizons available now, it's probably best to choose that one between the two. There's a lot of new features, and the game is so much prettier. While some content didn't make it over to the newest entry, most of New Leaf's offerings are also accounted for. However, if you want more Animal Crossing and have exhausted the Switch entry, there's a lot of fun to be had in New Leaf.

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