Animal Crossing: New Horizonsisn’t really the kind of game where specific moments stand out to new players.Animal Crossingand its community are all about sharing comforts and criticisms. But an interesting part ofAnimal Crossinghas found something where those two ideas meet. It’s inAnimal Crossing: New Horizons’repeated use of face-meltingly bad– and great– puns.
Every time a player inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonscatches an insect or fish, they get a text prompt with a pun.Fishingand insect catching aren’t the only place where there are puns inAnimal Crossing. They’re everywhere, in fact. But fishing and catching insects results in constant puns, every single one of them not for the pun squeamish.
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A fewpunexamples should make the situation clear. After catching a centipede, players get, “99 more and I’ll have a dollarpede.” After catching a tiger butterfly, it says, “I’ve earned my stripes!” Another truly awful pun comes after catching a sturgeon, saying, “Wonder if it can perform sturgery.” No pun is better than another, they’re all unified in their brilliance and ghastliness.
What’s especially great about the puns isn’t the puns themselves, though. It’s how they bringAnimal Crossing: New Horizonplayerstogether. Players share their newly discovered puns online with each other as they find them. They offer each other new puns, or recollect some of the older puns from previousAnimal Crossinggames. It’s a sincere and fun way to celebrateAnimal Crossingwithout having to use the game’s struggling multiplayer.
At the heart of the fun is, of course, the players showing solidarity as the world wrestles with the ongoingcoronavirus pandemic. Many people are stuck at home due to quarantines or simple physical distancing in service of their own health.Animal Crossingand its puns are an outstanding outlet.
Everything that players are doing inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsand everything they’re sharing online is largely by intent, of course. TheAnimal Crossingdevelopersat Nintendo are fully aware that the game is intended to be a sort of comfort food. A simpler and friendlier reflection of real-life without any of the stress and much more manageable progression. Nintendo’s developers have even encouraged people to use the game as a therapeutic option. Though puns can sometimes have the opposite effect.
