On March 19, 2020, at about eleven o’clock, I pre-ordered “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” which was set to be released at midnight on the 20th. Little did I know I would be almost addicted to it and playing it at least once a day.

This game, made by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch, is much like its predecessor, “Animal Crossing: New Leaf,” in the sense that you create your own adorable character and govern a community made up of adorable little animals. The main difference: you live on a formerly deserted island and have to build this community from scratch. As “resident representative” you get to harvest materials to craft things, build houses and shops, and catch fish and bugs.

The premise of the game is that you were chosen to take part in an island getaway package financed by Nook Inc., owned by Tom Nook, to whom you are always hopelessly indebted to. He helps you grow your community and gain residents. He also arranges for your house to be upgraded every once in a while on account of you taking out loans that need to be paid off before you can upgrade again.

Personally, I think this is the game of the year. As I said before, I play it almost every day. One thing I like about this game is it takes place in real-time. If it’s noon on April 4 in real life, it’s noon on April 4 in the game. This causes certain things to be available on certain days, and allows you to watch trees and plants grow rather than just spawning fully the moment you plant them. While, yes, you can “time travel” as Nintendo players call it, by changing the time on your system, it is advised against. I am guilty of doing this a couple of times, but for the most part, I enjoy the slowness of it.

This game is very different from other games I normally play. Most of what you’ll find on my systems are various action games, such as “Skyrim” and “Call of Duty.” I absolutely love “Animal Crossing: New Horizons,” though, because it is extremely calming, and I don’t have to worry about things chasing me all the time, aside from the dreaded wasps or tarantulas found on occasion.

This game definitely deserves five out of five stars for graphics, story, and overall gameplay. I highly recommend it to anyone as I feel it could be enjoyable to everyone in some way.