Summary
The follow-up toAnimal Crossing: New Horizonswill have big shoes to fill when innovating on the customization features introduced in that game. The wayAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsimproved player agency in the development of their island with the ability to place furniture outside, choose where buildings will be placed, and even terraform the land made it the most customization-heavy game in the series. However, despite these improvements, it lacked one major customization aspect that could be a game changer for the series if it’s added to the nextAnimal Crossinggame.
A big part of the draw of theAnimal Crossingseries, andAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsin particular, is the ability for players to create their ideal towns filled with their favorite villagers. This aspect of the series was sopopular inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsthat players would grind Island Tours looking for the specific character they wanted to move into their town, and some even were willing to shell out real-world money to acquire the most coveted among these residents. With all the effort some players went through to get their ideal townsfolk, it’s a shame the game didn’t allow players to directly customize other aspects of these characters, such as their clothes.
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Animal Crossing Should Give Players More Customization Options for the Residents of their Town
Historically, when a villager moved into the players town in theAnimal Crossingseries, they had a pre-established house design and layout as well as clothing they’d wear. If players wanted to change anything about the outfit or furniture of their villagers, their only options were to gift them the items or put new clothing designs in theAble Sisters' shopand hope their villagers would wear them or display them. To improve upon this aspect of the series, the nextAnimal Crossinggame should give players the ability to more directly control what their villagers wear and how they design their houses.
Animal Crossingalready gives players a lot of room for creativity when designing their own character and home, and these features should extend to the other residents of their town as well. Many players enjoy creating unique islands and towns based around a specific theme, with manyAnimal Crossinghorror-themed townsbeing quite popular. It would be a huge improvement for islands like these if players could customize each individual house in their town rather than just their own to better fit the theme they are going for.
The franchise already has the perfect template for this level of customization in a game likeAnimal Crossing: Happy Home Designeror theHappy Home Paradise DLC forAnimal Crossing: New Horizons. Rather than relegating this feature to a separate game or mode, the nextAnimal Crossinggame could integrate the housing design aspect ofHappy Home Designerinto the base game to allow players to achieve a custom look for each of their villagers homes. This mechanic could further be extended to include clothing and accessory customization for each specific villager to complete the customization options available to players.
While some players like the surprise of seeing their villagers wearing the silly custom patterns they’ve made or strange accessories they’ve gifted them, others prefer to have the consistency and control that direct customization features would offer them. For better or for worse, theAnimal Crossingseries has really leaned into the doll-like aspect of the games withAnimal Crossing: New Horizons' customization options. If the series wants to take this style of gameplay to the next level in a future entry, it only makes sense to give players the ability to customize the rest of their town’s residents beyond just their player character to suit their preferred designs.
