Nintendo hasn’t released any information on what’s next for theAnimal Crossingseries, and that lack of information has forced me to make a drastic decision: whether or not to completely restart my island inAnimal Crossing: New Horizons.I’ve been playingAnimal Crossingfor most of my life, and in that time, I’ve never restarted a game. Now, after five years and with nothing new on the horizon, I’m considering wiping the slate clean since there’s nothing left to do.
There’s been nothing new from Nintendo aboutAnimal Crossingin years, not even an announcement that another entry is in the works. It does seem incredibly likely that another game will happen for the Switch 2 at some point, especially sinceNew Horizonswas one of the best-selling games of all time. But, given this lack of information,there might be a significant amount of time before the next game comes out, which means this could be the best time to reset everything and experience a fresh island getaway all over again.
Restarting My New Horizons Island Is Tempting
Erasing Years Of Progress Might Actually Be Freeing
It’s been five years sinceAnimal Crossing: New Horizonscame out in March 2020, and, in that time,I have never once restarted my island. Sure, there have been a couple of full island razings for total makeovers, but those changes have always been for aesthetic modifications or seasonal updates. Completely restarting and losing everything, including my massive catalog of DIY recipes, everything in the museum, all my Villager pictures, and all the bells made from the Stalk Market seems daunting and quite a bit harder to justify.
On the other hand, I haven’t playedNew Horizonsfor a long time and, with no sequel even close to being announced,restarting everything fresh would give me something to do in the meantimeand potentially reawaken my love for the franchise. Filling out the museum, building friendships again with my favorite Villagers, and slowly decorating an island from the ground up sounds refreshing.
The Next Animal Crossing Could Be Years Away
Radio Silence From Nintendo Isn’t A Good Sign
Nintendohasn’t mentioned anything to do withAnimal Crossingsince the final update forNew Horizonscame out in November 2022. With how long game development takes now – consider the eight-year gap betweenNew Leafin 2012 andNew Horizonsin 2020 – it’s not too surprising thatthe nextAnimal Crossinggame isn’t even close to being released. In fact, I wouldn’t count on the nextAnimal Crossingfor another few years, especially considering how many franchises Nintendo is juggling.
In the meantime, Nintendo hasTomodachi Life: Living the Dreamset for 2026as a life simulation alternative.
With therumors surrounding the next game,which include a potential city and a much larger market, another game havinga substantial development period is understandable. Any sequel will need to one-upNew Horizons, and while aspects like Villagers' dialogue and relationships should be easy to outdo, more technical challenges like multiplayer for visiting towns and communal spaces will take a while.
I Wish We Knew More About The Next Animal Crossing
No Real News Has Made Me Indecisive
In recent years, Nintendo has tended tokeep its projects and their eventual release dates close to the chest. Rather than hype fans up years in advance, like how Besthesda announced the still-unreleasedElder Scrollsgame back in 2018 (when E3 still existed), Nintendo prefers to announce when a project is set to release only a few months before its launch.
This strategy didn’t work quite as well with the Switch 2, as Nintendo had to issue disclaimers that there were no announcements to quell fan expectations before the eventual reveal, but it will likely continue for most game releases. Given this approach,there’s no way to know when anotherAnimal Crossingsequel will drop out of nowhere. Even knowing a vague timeline of when the nextAnimal Crossinggame will come out would be helpful in deciding whether or not to restart.
If the game is only partially through development and set to release sometime halfway through the Switch 2’s lifecycle, thenrestarting now is a no-brainer. However, if the game has been expedited due toAnimal Crossing: New Horizons’runaway success and Nintendo is going to surprise us all early next year, then there would be no point in starting from scratch. Given that a long wait seems more likely, it might be time to pull the trigger and re-enter a state of debt to Tom Nook.
