The nextAnimal Crossinggame is right around the corner, or, at least, that’s what we keep telling ourselves. When the Switch 2 was announced with no new entry in the beloved series, we were all left twiddling our thumbs, wondering when it would finally arrive. However, while I am still desperately watching every Nintendo Direct in the hopes that Nintendo will finally unveil the nextAnimal Crossing, I’m also taking this very long break to think about what I want from it and how the next game in the series can improve upon its foundations.
Crucially,Animal Crossing’sbiggest limitationsand issues absolutely need to be addressed in this next game. While I do love the series, I often find myself reflecting more on whatAnimal Crossinghas lost and gotten wrong than I do on its positive qualities. As much as I hate that negativity, I believe it can help shape the future of the series into something better, something that’s less gameplay-focused, and ultimately more social. However, in order to make that happen,one majorAnimal Crossingissue needs to be fixed first.
Animal Crossing Has Never Gotten Letter Writing Right
It Always Feels Pointless & Generic
Animal Crossinglets you write letters to your fellow villagers, and I’ve always loved that feature.It is something that, at least in theory, should bring you closer to your villagers, builds upon the series' themes of communication, and is something I’ve not seen other life sim games ever replicate. However, there may be a reason for that, as while it is an amazing idea, letter writing is one ofAnimal Crossing’smost limited features. After five games, one would assume that Nintendo would have found a way of fixing this issue, but it still persists inNew Horizons.
The main issue withAnimal Crossing’sletter writing is that it is far too generic. While you can pen the most poetic and heartfelt letter to a villager, they’ll send you back something that ignores practically everything you say and offer a few random remarks instead. That’s becauseAnimal Crossing’svillagers don’t write custom letters, but instead send a reply based on how the game has graded your initial correspondence. If you send a letter that the game thinks is nonsense, then the villager will tell you as much, even if it actually makes sense.
While I don’t expect villagers to write to me like real people, it would be great to get a tad more personalization beyond their catchphrase and name being featured in their response.
It is all graded on punctuation, spacing, and the correct capitalization of letters, at least, according to security researcher James Chambers, who broke it down onX. It all makes letter writing a gamified element to achieve the highest score and get gifts from villagers, rather than adhering toAnimal Crossing’soriginal goaland being about actually and meaningfully communicating with your digital friends. While I don’t expect villagers to write to me like real people, it would be great to get a tad more personalization beyond their catchphrase and name being featured in their response.
The Next Animal Crossing Should Improve Letter Writing
It Needs To Feel More Personal
ThenextAnimal Crossinggameneeds to vastly improve its letter-writing mechanic, and the best way of doing that is to remove, at least partially, its grading system. While there should absolutely be some measures in place to prevent or discourage players from sending rude, inappropriate, or utterly nonsensical letters to other villagers,it would be amazing to see more custom letters being sent by villagers, rather than the stilted, generic, and boring responseswe’ve gotten so far.
Of course, to pull something like that off, Nintendo would need to implement some form of AI that can understand prompts, questions, or even phrases found in the player’s original letter and then create a more realistic or meaningful response back. Alternatively,it could have responses to words or phrases like “how are you?” or “let’s be friends” already coded in, ensuring that there are, at the very least, answers to basic questions. The former solution is obviously more complex and taxing, while the latter is simplistic yet better than what we’ve got right now.
To be clear, I’m not looking for a full-blown pen pal relationship with a digital friend, as cool as that could be. Nintendo would need to implement an incredibly smart AI that remembers everything you said to each specific villager, and each villager’s unique traits and backstories, and all the conversations you’ve started. However,single responses to individual letters would be great, and would feel like agame-changingAnimal Crossingfeature, something that really respects the series' core identity while giving players something exciting to look forward to every day.
Animal Crossing Needs More Ways To Interact With Villagers
Interaction & Communication Is Key
I’ve always found the fact that it does not matter at all what you write to other villagers to be one ofAnimal Crossing’sbiggest flaws. I may be alone in that, but it does feel like it could be a core component of the experience.I’m a firm believer thatACshould focus more on the player’s interactions with villagers, rather than on improving the gameplay loop or adding more mechanics for fans to busy themselves with.Animal Crossingshould be a life sim first, and the best way to achieve that is to make villagers more important.
Letter writing should really be just one way to communicate with villagersinAnimal Crossing. Running up and talking to villagers often results in the same generic responses, especially in later entries, and inviting them around to your house usually just results in them checking out your furniture and then leaving. Similarly, visiting another villager’s house can be a tad boring as there’s usually little to do. Incorporating minigames that can be played with villagers, such as board games like chess, being able to fish together, or a race to collect the most bugs, would be a lot of fun.
I’m happy to accept that I’mplayingAnimal Crossingwrong, and that letter writing is a small part of the experience. However, I can’t help feeling that there’s a lot of missed potential here, and that a newAnimal Crossinggame could make the most of it.Animal Crossinghas always been a safe space for me to go to whenever I’m feeling down or lonely. Receiving a nice letter that responds to what I’ve said would be a nice surprise in a dark moment, and another wayAnimal Crossingcould retain its spot as the best cozy game franchise.
