Here we come to one of the main innovations of New Horizons – crafting. It works easily and intuitively – you find the necessary resources and recipes, and then make items on a workbench in the city center or on your own when you can make it.
You can create absolutely everything that your heart desires. Collected branches – made a fishing rod or a landing net. They added a hewn stone to the branches – they got an ax, with which you can get different types of wood, suitable for creating already more complex objects, such as furniture and advanced tools.
Not to say that the game has a certain specific goal, as in economic strategies, or the need to maintain the constant needs of the characters, as in The sims, you just naturally, step by step, improve the infrastructure of the island, making it a truly comfortable place to stay.
As in the previous parts of Animal Crossing, virtual time and calendar are fully synchronized with the real time of the player, due to which the effect of life simulation is achieved.
For example, you cannot build a house, even if you spend the whole day in the game. To complete some of the actions here, you literally have to wait until tomorrow, and sometimes longer. The gameplay is directly related to the daily return to the game and observing the gradual development of the settlement.
Moreover, synchronization is responsible not only for changing the time of day, but also directly affects the flora and fauna. So, to catch certain types of fish or insects, you will need to start the game in the evening or, conversely, early in the morning and so on.
A similar scheme works for various unique in-game events, such as meetings with new heroes, as well as holidays that you can celebrate with the characters of the game.
Present in New Horizons and multiplayer component, which allows players to travel from island to island and go to each other to visit.
It is difficult to discern obvious shortcomings in New Horizons; rather, the concept of a leisurely, almost meditative life simulator can scare away players who are used to following the intricacies of dramatic stories, overcoming complex tasks and achieving specific goals in more realistic, from a visual point of view, settings.
