The Animal Crossing Diaries: New Horizons

In the previous Animal Crossing Diaries post that I wrote, I talked a bit about how the game had been a saving grace for me at the time. I found that it was the perfect way to relax and escape everything that was going on and that has remained true throughout this month so far. I’ve got a small pile of games that I’ve acquired recently, but I’m finding myself drawn to escaping on my Island more and more these days rather than getting stuck into something different.

Over the last couple of weeks I have found myself discovering a whole other side to the Animal Crossing New Horizons community and that is everyone over on YouTube and Instagram. Now I know this has existed since the games launch (and probably even before then) but the extent of the Animal Crossing videos I had watched were the random and funny clip compilations. However, I was blown away by how talented some players are when I started watching Island Tours, speed builds and more. The level of detail and creativity in some of the island tours I’ve watched lately is mind-blowing.

I was now hit with a small dilemma. Do I start over my island or not?

Well, lets just say the Island of Minooo is alive and well and is slowly having a few new visual changes to it but nothing major. I would however like to introduce you to the Island of Altissia.

My partner and I have been talking for a while about getting a second Nintendo Switch, and we finally decided to go for it! We ended up picking the Nintendo Switch Lite x Animal Crossing New Horizons bundle from Argos. It actually worked out better value for us to do this than it was to just buy the standalone Nintendo Switch Lite. Of course, this meant I now had a whole new Island adventure awaiting.

About Altissia

The name for the new Island came from Final Fantasy XV. Altissia was one of my favourite places to explore in the game and I always loved the name so when I was thinking of island names, it just felt right.

Altissia is based in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s nice to have the Spring/Summer feel again instead of just snow all the time like there is on Minooo.

The current villagers on the Island of Altissia are

• Ribbot
• Renee
• Becky
• Olaf
• Rizzo (also was one of my original villagers on Minooo)
• Phil
• Static
• Nate
• Stella
• Tammi

I’m not sure if these villagers will be the ones I’ll stick with, I’m tempted to try some island hopping and see if I can get some that are on my wish list. Having Rizzo move in was a surprise especially since he referenced Minooo as well when I first spoke to him after moving in.

I’m trying to go with a bit of a forest/cottagecore theme for this Island. I’ve got plenty of ideas and inspiration of what I would like to do, and it’s slowly starting to come together which is nice. I’m excited to see how it all comes together over the next month or so. Likewise, I haven’t forgotten about Minooo either so going forward I’ll be swapping between the two on a regular basis.

As for Animal Crossing New Horizons overall, the game has been great to unwind with most days after work the last few weeks. I’m looking forward to finding out more about the upcoming January update as well as the fast approaching first birthday of New Horizons in March!

Want to keep up to date with how things are going on Altissia? Follow me on Instagram!

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