What to Expect When You Haven’t Played Animal Crossing in a While

So it’s been a minute huh? You took a break from all the responsibilities of running an island, maybe started a new game, or perhaps your switch has just been collecting dust. It feels like it wasn’t that long ago where Nintendo Switches were flying off the shelves and sold out almost everywhere you went. However, it’s been over an entire year since then, so the real question is, how long did the AC fever last for you?

I know people who bought Switches among the chaos and haven’t touched theirs in months. I myself got my switch for my birthday early last year, a mere weeks before the quarantine started, but I do still play with it. Portable Skyrim became my obsession for a while, and now I use it to exercise with Just Dance and am considering getting a Ring Fit, but Animal Crossing?

Oh man.

I played up until Christmas, and after the new year…

I did pick it back up in June for a minute because I love the wedding sets! They’re so cute and the decorations can be used in so many different ways, and I mean come on, look at how cute these two are.

However I only played for a couple weeks and I didn’t pick it back up until the end of September, to see how bad it truly was.

I played New Leaf, and I remember how you would come back from a long break with dead flowers, massive weeds, and a villager or two missing. I’m happy to say, that’s not quite the case in New Horizons.

When you start up, you’ll get that same normal welcome from the best girl on the planet.

Then the first thing you’ll see,

Your wild hair!

Your do will be all ruffled, and then you’ll shake it back into place, revealing whichever style you had during your last play. If you decide that’s no longer the look for you, walk right back into your house and you’ll see the grossest problem from being gone for a while.

Cockroaches!

Similar to New Leaf check all the rooms and simply walk over the small pest. Their tiny ghost will rise up as they fade into the void.

Good riddance.

Once you’ve squashed the last one you’ll get some celebratory music and throw your circular first into the air! Nothing like celebrating your clean house. Find more information about cockroaches here!

Once you’ve given yourself a new look, you can head back out to your island and cry about the mess. I used to have a perfect island… used to.

You’re going to have weeds.

There will be so many weeds. Do not fret, just get to picking and hope Leif will make a visit soon so you can cash them in. Or you can use them for cute decorations! Be comforted in knowing that New Horizons tops out your weeds after 150 have spawned, so yay!

Now that you can look around your island without so many weeds you’ll have time to asses any mess you left and get to designing.

Beware random flowers you left on the beach because you forgot you were going to sell/trade them away… anybody need some?

However it’s also possible if you were growing flowers they multiplied and/or bred hybrids and if that’s the case congratulations! It’s not likely, but considering rain helps them grow there is a chance!

If you were like me, and were time traveling a lot before you stopped playing you might find a lot of Bell trees! I was planting a bag of 10,000 bells every new day I travelled to, not like I needed them, but I just can’t leave a glowing spot untouched. It’s my OCD.

If you logged in to find a plethora of bells, I’m so happy for you.

The most notable thing will be the fact that;

Your villagers missed you!

You may be feeling guilty, or worried that they will prompt you that they want to move, but mostly it’ll be this.

They’ll possibly use a nickname, reminding you of the friendship you formed and comment on how long you’ve been gone. If it says a year, don’t feel bad. It just be like that some times.

Some of them will just appreciate you’re back, and we love those villagers. (Thank you Tex.)

They’ll be surprised to see you around, like wow! Even they can’t believe you’re playing again!

Coco told me this, and I felt so bad, but I did kind of build this island from the ground up, and leave it in a disarray. In fact, my island is still under remodel. I’m so sorry Coco.

The general consensus however told me that they were just worried about me. Bruce got onto me for not taking care of myself, and man did I deserve it.

In lieu of the new update on November 5th, and if you haven’t watched the videos on it, please do, I hope more people get back into Animal Crossing. All the groups I’m in have died down in activity, and I miss the communities.

Get to picking your weeds, preparing your fields for crops, (because COOKING) and have fun! If you’re getting back into Animal Crossing after a long time remember your villagers love you, your plants are fine, and that update is going to make it all worth it.