While some of the initial quarantine playerbase may have drifted, it seems Animal Crossing: New Horizons is still going strong. The game is wildly popular with many fans, and is receiving new content to keep players around. New Horizons may even get its own lego set, though it's far from the only physical creation the game has inspired.
One of the most important aspects of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is how it inspires creativity. This is its main gameplay loop, as players gather resources and villagers to craft their ideal island. As a result, players have built up all sorts of interesting things in-game. The creativity bug has bitten some players so strong that they have not stopped at building things in the game, and a few have moved on to real-world creativity.
For many, the creations are still digital in nature, even if they are outside the game itself. For example, one player created a weather tracking app for New Horizons, helping predict rare events like rainbows. Memes are another great creation, like one fusing New Horizons with Among Us. However, one player and his roommate decided to think of their actual animal companion with their creation. They created a miniature cat house shaped like Tom Nook's Cranny. The house has a bigger door for the cat, a tiny window, and even a slanting, corrugated paper roof, making it both accurate and cute.
The house is simple enough to make, or at least easier than other New Horizons buildings. One of the highlights is the tiny bulletin board, which has several notes addressed to the cat. Despite Tom Nook being a Tanooki, his home being used as a cat's house does make some sense. Nook may be a hospitable sort, but he is infamously greedy, to the point where the game Spiritfarer poked fun at him. What better real-life animal to inhabit his home than a house cat, which any cat owner will tell you comes with a pre-packaged love-annoyance relationship.
The included photo makes it look like the cat likes its new home. There is the question of why the chosen house wasn't a house belonging to an actual cat villager, but those are more malleable anyway. Besides, New Horizons is all about finding new homes. That's why creations like The Wizard of Oz on an island work so well.
As for the future of the game itself, the autumn update will probably not be the last. It's clear players are not done making new things both in, and based off of, the game. And with things like Naruto's Hidden Leaf village taking up island space, the new creations will likely only grow bigger and better.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available for the Switch.