Unleashing Innovation: The Next Animal Crossing Redefines Customization in Spectacular Ways

Highlights

The customization features in Animal Crossing: New Horizons elevated it as the most adaptable game within the series. However, it still posed a limitation by not offering direct customization options for the houses and outfits of the villagers.

In the next Animal Crossing game, there should be improvements made to allow players to have more control over customizing their desired villagers' appearance and homes. This could be achieved by integrating the housing design aspect of Happy Home Designer, allowing players to personalize each villager's home and outfit. This would provide a greater level of control and consistency for players.

The next installment of Animal Crossing will face a significant challenge in surpassing the innovation in customization features seen in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The introduction of the ability to place furniture outside, determine building placements, and even terraform the land made New Horizons the most customization-heavy game in the series. Despite these advancements, one major customization aspect was missing, which, if added to the next Animal Crossing game, could be a game changer.

A key appeal of the Animal Crossing series, particularly in New Horizons, is the opportunity for players to create their perfect towns filled with their favorite villagers. Players were so enamored with this aspect of the game that they would tirelessly embark on Island Tours in search of specific characters to invite to their town. Some even went to the extent of spending real-world money to acquire the most sought-after residents. Considering the immense effort players invested in acquiring their ideal townsfolk, it is disappointing that the game did not offer the option to directly customize other aspects of these characters, such as their clothing.

Animal Crossing Should Give Players More Customization Options for the Residents of their Town

In the Animal Crossing series, villagers used to have predetermined house designs and clothing when they moved into a player's town. If players wanted to modify their villagers' outfits or furniture, they had limited options like gifting them items or hoping they would display or wear new designs from the Able Sisters' shop. However, the next Animal Crossing game should allow players to have more direct control over their villagers' clothing choices and house designs.

Currently, players have ample creative freedom when it comes to designing their own characters and homes in Animal Crossing. It would be ideal if these features extended to the other residents of their town as well. Many players enjoy building unique islands and towns centered around specific themes, such as horror. Allowing players to customize each individual house in their town, rather than just their own, would greatly enhance the ability to match the desired theme and create a more immersive experience.

The franchise already has the perfect template for customization at this level, as seen in games like Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer and the Happy Home Paradise DLC for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Instead of keeping this feature separate, the next Animal Crossing game could integrate the housing design aspect of Happy Home Designer into the base game. This would allow players to personalize the look of each villager's home. Additionally, this customization mechanic could be expanded to include clothing and accessories for each individual villager, providing even more options for players.

While some players enjoy the surprise of seeing their villagers wearing custom patterns or unique accessories, others prefer having more control over their designs. The Animal Crossing series has embraced the doll-like aspect of the games with New Horizons' customization options. To elevate this style of gameplay in future entries, it would be logical to give players the ability to customize the appearance of their town's residents, not just their player character, to match their preferred designs.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available for Nintendo Switch.