February has seen a plethora of rumors concerning gaming companies, from the now seemingly de-confirmed PS5 reveal event to even a handful of Nintendo Directs. Rumors have pointed to one, if not two, Directs happening this month, with one said to focus on the upcoming Animal Crossing: New Horizons. And just yesterday, Nintendo confirmed that at least this rumor was legit.
The Nintendo Direct is scheduled to take place Thursday, February 20 at 6 a.m. PST/9 a.m. EST, a full month prior to the official release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It is said to heavily feature what Nook Inc.’s Deserted Island Getaway Package entails. but since it is scheduled for 25 minutes, there's a high likelihood that more will be shown. This turns the question to what Nintendo will show for the upcoming game, so here's a few ideas.
Animal Crossing 8-Player Gameplay
Perhaps one of the biggest selling points for the new game is its 8 player online co-op functionality. Animal Crossing New Horizon has detailed this system a few times, but there's not really be an extensive deep dive into it. Even a few minutes of gameplay would be enough to get the hype train going, as there's indubitably a few players excited to live on an island with friends. It has been confirmed that Animal Crossing New Horizons won't support cloud saves, which seems like a strange choice, but that won't stop a plethora of friends from checking out the functionality.
Animal Crossing: New Horizon's Character Editor
Character customization is often a big deal in any game, and with Animal Crossing: New Horizons, it sounds like it'll be bigger than ever. Aside from choosing gender, players will have an array of customization features such as hair, noses, mouths, clothes, and more in conjunction with confirmed details like skin tone. All of this sounds really fun and is a good for players to really dive into their characters, but not too much has really been shown. A couple of minutes in the character customization screen would likely do wonders for many fans of the franchise.
Animal Crossing: New Horizon's Crafting System
Perhaps more than the character editor and multiplayer gameplay before it, Animal Crossing: New Horizon's crafting system has been shown to some degree, whether that's crafting axes or shovels. Still, though, the full extent of it has not been shown. It'll be interesting to see what all can be built and put together on the island, so a deeper dive into this area would likely be well-received by fans.
Animal Crossing: Isabelle, Tom Nook, and Other Characters
Isabelle has been confirmed for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, although this time around, it appears she may be fulfilling a slightly different role. Images of the character have shown her to be in what looks like vacation apparel, and it's confirmed that she doesn't come to the island until later in its development. As such, seeing Isabelle enjoying a well-earned vacation would be a nice change of pace.
Aside from Isabelle, it would be nice to see Tom Nook and other confirmed characters in Animal Crossing: New Horizons carrying out their roles. Tom Nook's is, of course, relatively self-explanatory, but the full extent of his role, how other characters are involved, and more would be like a warm welcoming committee to precede its launch.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons releases March 20, 2020, exclusively on Nintendo Switch.