As a life simulation title, Animal Crossing: New Horizons offers gameplay mechanics that could be found in everyday life. Decorating, fishing and bug catching, and the Stalk Market are all ways we interact with the world of Animal Crossing in a laid-back, casual format.
But what else could make the game better? Clearly, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is selling and reviewing well, but are there mechanics from other similar titles that could spice things up for a future Animal Crossing sequel?
Here are eight mechanics from other titles we would love to see in the next Animal Crossing game:
Farming
We already have a slimmed-down version of farming available in Animal Crossing with the flower-breeding mechanic and fruit trees, but how great would it be to be able to have rolling hills of corn, pumpkins, and turnips?
Other similar titles to Animal Crossing in the “life sim” genre have made farming their main focus, such as Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon, so having Animal Crossing take note and add a deeper farming mechanic would be great.
Utilizing your fields for turnip growth for the Stalk Market would be an easy way to integrate farming into Animal Crossing, but beyond that, it could work similarly to the fruits, with native vegetables at the start and more to be found later.
This would allow for new furniture sets based on each vegetable (or other growable plants), as well as random, one-off DIY recipes like crazy.
Diversifying the Animal Crossing economy is something that is definitely a must, as even with how enjoyable the fishing and bug-catching are, having other avenues for the players to make a living would be more ideal.