It's possible that Animal Crossing: New Horizons has established a reputation as one of the most influential games, alongside titles such as Breath of the Wild and Skyrim. Or, at the very least, some players may have anticipated this to be the case, but with Nintendo effectively discontinuing support for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, aside from a few minor bug fixes, this is no longer the case. Last but not least, the Happy Home Paradise DLC and the 2.0 update were the final major updates that players could expect, whether they were paid or free.
Essentially, the Animal Crossing player community is now responsible for maintaining the momentum, and only time will tell if the game is as timeless as Skyrim and Breath of the Wild. Certainly the most popular game in the series, New Horizons has caused Nintendo Switches to sell out in a number of locations around the world. However, the modding communities for out-of-date games such as Fallout: New Vegas and The Witcher 3 are an important part of keeping them alive. Animal Crossing: New Horizons, because of its current content, would be the ideal model for modders to follow in order to keep the game timeless. However, it is hindered by a single issue that must be addressed.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Is a Fantastic Game for Modders.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons has grown into a popular sandbox and crafting game, building on the success of previous titles such as New Leaf and Pocket Camp. Finally, players can decorate the outside of their homes, but they can also actively terraform land and bodies of water to their hearts' content, which is particularly exciting. The pandemic and lockdown procedures have inspired players from all over the world to create beautiful and impressive islands ranging in style from cozy cottagecore camps to horror settings inspired by the Silent Hill video game.
However, despite the game's popularity, there are a number of things that could be changed or improved in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Most noticeable is how stairwells and bridges do not align with building entrances, which has caused players to struggle when attempting to design attractive entrances for their museums or Nook's shop, among other things. More than that, terraforming in New Horizons is simply restrictive in many ways, such as the number of stairways and bridges that can be constructed. Many people would also enjoy moving the permanent structures, such as the pier, the airport, and the plaza, if they were possible to. And then there are the countless possibilities that mods could bring, such as new clothes and items, as well as the possibility of expanding the size of islands, to name a few.
Why Animal Crossing: New Horizons is unlikely to be heavily modded in the future
Animal Crossing: New Horizons already has a dedicated community of modders, which has resulted in a large number of hacked islands. Instead of referring to them as modded islands more frequently, players refer to them as hacked islands. This is partly due to the time it takes to install mods, but it also has a negative connotation associated with it. Even time travel, which has become increasingly popular with the release of New Horizons, is not universally accepted by the playerbase. Essentially, it violates the basic premise of Animal Crossing, according to which players are expected to spend days, weeks, and months slowly gathering items and resources in order to beautify their respective islands.
However, with the release of New Horizons, many people have moved past that and simply wish to create their own dream islands, which is why time-traveling and treasure islands have become popular, thanks to the accessibility of the internet. Even though modding Animal Crossing is possible, it is neither as widespread nor as simple to do so as modding other video games on the PC, and it certainly does not receive the level of support that games such as Skyrim and Mass Effect have received from their respective developers. Even when comparing console mods to PC mods, they are significantly less popular than PC mods due to their inaccessibility.
One method requires the use of a powerful PC to emulate the Switch, whereas the simpler methods only require the installation of custom firmware on the device itself. However, Nintendo has a bad reputation when it comes to modding, pirating, or otherwise exploiting its intellectual property in ways that were not intended by the company, which has resulted in the permanent banning of Switch owners. The result is that a large number of users will be less inclined to modify their Switches, and thus fewer modders will experiment with Nintendo's games as well. This is true despite the potential that New Horizons may have with mods.
