It has been more than seven years since the release of Animal Crossing: New Leaf on Nintendo 3DS, the last traditional Animal Crossing game. That is, until March 20, 2020 when Animal Crossing: New Horizons will be released on the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo Co., Ltd. attempted to make two spin-offs of the franchise in 2015 with the releases of Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer and Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival, but both were met with criticism, especially the latter.

The main premise of Animal Crossing, ever since the original release on the Nintendo Gamecube in 2001, is to create and upgrade your town using available resources and the help of hundreds of animal villagers.

Due to New Horizons releasing so long after the last games, many improvements and features have been added to the game. The gimmick of New Horizons is that it takes place entirely on an island, and the villagers are all just part of the “Getaway Package.” There are many more villagers and items in this game than previous entries in the series. This makes it the largest Animal Crossing game to date.

One of the biggest additions in New: Horizons is the new online feature. This allows players to visit their friends’ islands through the Nintendo Switch Online service. Up to eight players can play on an island online, or four players locally. 

Though fans have been praising Animal Crossing: New Horizons for all its new features, it has been met with some complaints. Arguably the biggest one is the fact that there can only be one island per Nintendo Switch console, so people who play on the same Switch must share one island. 

For now, fans have to wait for this game to release, but there still is a lot of hype.