I wasn’t going to make this a thing originally. I thought only one part would be sufficient to illustrate why this game is my pick for Game of the Year already. But, as I’ve grown more familiar with the game and its innerworkings, I felt like I had to make a second part. Most of that is due to the hilarious things that villagers say and do, one in particular makes me laugh almost every time I talk to him. But before I get to that, what has my island been up to in the past however much time has passed since posts?

This is the current lineup of villagers in my neighborhood as of September 1st 2020

The lineup has in some spots remained the same. Audie, Buck, Drake and Naomi are still here, though I’m trying to get Naomi to leave at the moment, but the lineup is all new aside from those characters. How did it get to this point, one may ask? Well, this game has an interesting mechanic. Since it runs on real time, you can adjust the console’s internal clock ahead until one day, a villager approaches you wanting to move out. This can be any villager, so you have to be on the lookout for thought bubbles so that your favorite doesn’t leave. I did this to get certain cranky older villagers to move out, like this guy, my mortal enemy.

This unsightly beast of a frog is Wart Jr. The only other cranky villager I had to that point was Kabuki, and he at least looked kinda cool. There is nothing redeemable about Wart Jr. And he just would not leave. For what felt like weeks he remained, entrenched in his home, never leaving. Finally he asked to leave and I couldn’t have been more relieved. I would take another cranky villager so long as they look cool!n I got another Snooty villager, not my favorite personality type. As the name suggests, these villagers are very haughty and they at first critique your fashion sense, but once they open up to you, they become nicer. My favorite personality types are Lazy and Jock villagers. Jock villagers like to talk about sports, and working out, and they highlight just how absolutely swole you’re looking today!

They like talking about their dreams of athletic success. My friend Sawyer and I imagined Buck as a jack of all trades, excelling at basketball, baseball and football because of his height and optimal weight. Iggly, however is shorter and more stout, so we imagined him a master of discus, shotput or powerlifting. And then something happened, The Bug Off, in which villagers compete to see who can catch the most bugs.

In addition to invoking the great Larry Bird, when Bird was at the 1986 NBA 3 point contest, he fits the look of a high school football coach perfectly. Then I had an epiphany. If we give him a Hawaiian shirt, he looks exactly like Andy Reid, head football coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, when he coached the NFC in the Pro Bowl when he was with Philadelphia.

Lo and behold, he did

The jock villagers are all well and good; they’re great, they keep me entertained and never fail to lift me up. But the reason I’m here today is to highlight the lazy villagers. There’s one in particular that inspired me to write this post. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to Drake!

This duck came to my island fairly early on, in April. He was one of the initial villagers whom I built 3 houses for, expanding my villager count to 5. Audie came in around that same time and she’s stuck with me for these 5 months, as well. I loved having him around before I kept a log of all the things he would say. And once I did, let me tell you something: COMEDY GOLD! Here, take a look at some of these:

Not only is he hilarious, he’s also inquisitive, often visiting the museum and taking in the aquarium, looking at all the fish. This includes the Moon Jellyfish.

He never fails to ask the tough questions that nobody else asks.

He never fails to look stylish and fly! In New Horizons, you can give your villagers clothes, in addition to furniture and other accessories. Whenever people give me stuff that’s a little out there, I usually give it to him and he rocks it! Take these sunglasses for example. I gave these to Drake after he was rocking a leopard print tee shirt and a bicycle helmet, and oh my goodness:

I can only dream of having this much swag. One thing I noticed about Drake is that he is, in essence, a mere child. While other villagers are more mature and seem like they’re in their late teens or early 20s, Drake is…not. Not that that’s a bad thing, mind you. I actually think it works to his advantage.

He mentions his grandparents almost exclusively, in fact I believe all lazy villagers do. I like these little touches of character, it gives them a bit more development as far as their backstory goes.

His main hobby is play, which means running around with his arms out like an airplane, a hobby shared by Peppy villager, Apple.

That little snaggletooth that she has is so cute. Also she’s tiny and kind of chunky and she wants to be a pop star! She’s my other favorite!

I think I like her so much because of her design and because of her catchphrase. For those unaware, every villager in Animal Crossing has a unique catchphrase, which usually fits their species, personality, name, et cetera. Drake’s is quacko, Buck’s is pardner, which I absolutely adore, Iggly’s is waddler, you get the idea. But my personal favorite, is cheekers, Apple’s catchphrase. It’s just so silly and so perfect for her that it makes me chuckle every time.

The character of this game carries well beyond your character’s dialogue with other villagers. In fact, occasionally, they’ll have conversations amongst themselves. And it varies depending on the personalities of the villagers, an awesome touch.

Some of these are out of context, sure. But I think these images do a good enough job of illustrating what happens when these characters get together and what shenanigans they can get up to. Take for instance, this exchange between Buck and Drake, two diametrically opposite personality types.

It is here where Drake solicits my help.

Little variances in personality from villager to villager keep the character of the game fresh so that it seems like there’s always something funny and unique happening. Like Drake and Boomer, despite both having the lazy personality, have different hobbies, Drake’s being Play and Boomer’s being fitness, so that means he’s usually stretching, lifting weights or carrying wood. Audie and Apple, both Peppy villagers, differ in hobbies, with Apple’s being Play and Audie’s being fitness. That’s not to say we don’t see Apple lifting weights, and when she does so, it’s usually in her track jacket.

All of this is to say, a bunch of effort went into making the environment and atmosphere feel as realistic as possible, with villagers having their own routines, hanging out in the plaza or in Drake’s case…

Doin’ STUFF! And by stuff (oh excuse me, STUFF!) I mean crafting objects according to DIY recipes, which they then give you. Certain villagers have their friends who they hang out with, though there are only 2 in my case, Drake and Buck, who hang out quite often. Buck has even talked about forming a 3 on 3 basketball team!

These two are some of the longest tenured villagers on my island and the two I talk to the most often. This isn’t to say life on the island is all harmonious however. Villagers sometimes get angry at each other and have their disagreements. Like this almost-too-real thing from Drake that actually almost made me cry:

First off, it hurt me to see him so sad, because Drake’s default mood is super happy. Secondly, I feel what he feels all the time, in my dealings with people, especially my friends. So, when he asked me to deliver an apology present to Iggly, I obliged. This is Animal Crossing’s power. It makes you empathize with these characters, who are merely lines of code, and makes you become friends with them. In fact, even after a mere day away from the game, I start to miss it, as one would miss their own friends. It’s one of those games where you can make progress incrementally, in the span of a half hour per day. I wouldn’t trade Audie, Apple, Buck, Drake, Flurry, Iggly and the rest for anything. Because they are my friends, and I take care of my friends when they need me to. It is for this reason that Animal Crossing New Horizons is my game of the year already.

After giving Drake’s gift to Iggly, they made up, and presumably resumed eating snacks together, all because of me.

Another thing that catapults this game into perfect 10 status for me is the lack of a clear objective after the credits roll. I resolved to gather as many bells as I could to fully expand my house. I’m up to over a million, and I got there by selling bugs and crafting items and selling them, sometimes I craft Hot Items, which sell for double the bells. I’ll give a quick update here once that’s finished. Also, if the villager lineup happens to change, because right now, as I’ve said, I’m trying to get rid of Naomi and swap in someone else, I’ll also update with the current information.

Shortly after the first review went up, I set up a music area near the plaza. Right now it contains a guitar, a stereo, and 2 microphones, though I would love to put a bass, or some sort of keyboard instrument in there as well. New to this game is the ability for villagers to sing along with whatever music is playing on speakers, and that’s precisely why I wanted to set one up. Well, I have gotten more entertainment out of it than I expected as people walk up to the microphone and sing and sometimes shred on guitar for a bit. One day, Drake and Apple started singing along with the music in the plaza and…this is the result!