We Played Animal Crossing: New Horizons @ Anime Festival Sydney

This weekend we were able to attend the Madman Anime Festival in Sydney, which allowed participants to get hands on with Animal Crossing: New Horizons. We were able to play the demo a number of times and have included our thoughts below.

The demo is the exact same one that was at PAX East last week, so unfortunately there isn't a low to unpack. Out of my group I was placed with, I was the only Animal Crossing veteran so I took charge as best I could. My tour guide took us through the island, starting us off with crafting, which allowed us to craft a Vault Pole to cross the river. From there, we did a little fishing on the beach, and unfortunately the only thing I was able to fish up were tin cans... During this time I caught eye of the new flowers, which I dug up to get some name confirmation, and learned chrysanthemums are indeed called mums, and the hyacinth keep their name. We then took a brief visit to Nook's Cranny and the Able Sisters before hitting up the museum.

The Museum seems to be the main selling point of the demo, because we spent a hefty amount of time there, and whenever I glanced over at many of the other demo stations, they all seemed to be doing the same thing, and I don't blame them. The museum looks absolutely beautiful, and the amount of detail is incredible. They really gave an upgrade on the museum in New Leaf, but this time it really does feel like you're in an actual museum, or even an aquarium! Not too long after we explored The Museum, our demo ended.

We did film the demo, but instead of uploading the same demo that's already been on the internet countless times, we've elected to upload some gameplay of a rep that was apparently playing the game on the first day.

 

The video doesn't show off much new, but we do get a small glimpse of Blathers' initial tent (even though it's blocked by a peach tree), though it was very refreshing to see a different type of gameplay outside of the demo. When the demo wasn't playing, the TV screens simply played the Direct.

It was a surreal experience finally being able to play this game, and are very thankful we were able to attend.The game looks and feels incredible, and we can't believe it's less than 2 weeks away!

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is out in less than 2 weeks on March 20th. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Tumblr to stay up to date with the latest Animal Crossing news!