What Happens When You Abandon Your Animal Crossing: New Horizons Island

Screenshot: Nintendo/ Kotaku

I wanted in on the action, however I d also heard that Animal Crossing video games penalize players for leaving their towns untended.
Sure enough, sticks littered the ground. All of the trees were completely flowered with fruit and bags of money (something that would happen over the course of a vacation, in fairness). The shoreline seemed to have more seashells than sand. I counted more than half a dozen cross-hatches suggesting dig areas. The crafting resources, like sliced wood, that I left spread about were still precisely where I left them. However beyond that, the island wasnt exactly in disarray.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a video game that requires attention. The method its structured, youre expected to play every day, or a minimum of check in to see whats up. Like brushing your teeth or securing the garbage, Animal Crossing is, at its core, a chore. So what takes place if you forget to do that chore for 2 months?

I havent gone to The Okay Cay, my Animal Crossing: New Horizons island, since late May, when a so-called good friend utilized the game to screw me out of 30 bucks. Ever since, Nintendos PacSun-themed life sim has actually gotten numerous updates. Now, you can swim. You can dream and, on Sunday nights, take pleasure in fireworks. The most current addition reintroduced the “capability” to fail on your face.

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Previous Animal Crossing games notoriously reprimanded missing gamers by sprouting unmanageable clusters of weeds. When the human villager is in absentia, do the animal residents choose up the slack?
If youre returning, you can bet on those citizens having a combined reaction. Heres a grab bag of how I was dealt with:

Isabelle, irrepressibly joyful as ever, informed me that, after a long haul, I might finally go swimming and diving offshore. Oh, however I d initially require to acquire a wetsuit before doing so. Go figure.
Rudy was over the moon to see me. He taught me how to bend. He likewise called me a mush, and regreted the reality that, regardless of persistently staying with a training regimen that d make Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson wince, he still could not raise his home.
Walker was despondent– could not think I d been missing out on for “more than 3 months.” (Fact check: Its been 2 months and six days.) At the end of our chat, he persuaded himself we d just been playing a months-long video game of hide-and-seek, which he was extremely bad at it.
Gayle asked me if Ive been preventing her, then spiraled into a pitiable tirade of insecurity and insecurity.
Tammy was less troubled. She told me she understood, stated that a packed social calendar is frustrating, and kept in mind that, every now and then, she needs her area too.
Tom Nook, always laser-focused on organization, didnt even acknowledge my absence. He appointed me a job and informed me I ought to prioritize it even if I didnt “have the time.” Thanks, Tom.

Most importantly, a decade away appears to cause the Happy Home Academy to cool its pompous britches. Over the course of the 2020s, my inbox received just one scolding message.
In other words, tending to Animal Crossing: New Horizons is another task you can always delay “till next week.”.

All it took was one cockroach to replicate your typical NYC apartment.Screenshot: Nintendo/ Kotaku

Most of it came from the Happy Home Academy, an uptight property owners association that found it worthwhile to send me repeated messages about my houses ranking (ranked B, with 1,804 points, every time) before, obviously, choosing enough was enough. “We feel this should be apparent, however its not good interior style to permit cockroaches to run about your home,” they composed.
Purging your house of cockroaches is, fortunately, less challenging than it is in the real life. All you have to do is stroll over them and theyll disappear in a surge of cutesy stars. (Were it so easy …).

Two months of abandonment is, all things considered, not so bad. What happens if you leave your town alone for a year– or, much better yet, a whole decade?
The outcome just included to Animal Crossings Twilight Zone ambiance. Versus all known laws of botany, The Okay Cay was not overrun by weeds. Not a single villager aged a day– though every one of them had some sort of snarky quip.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a game that demands attention. Like brushing your teeth or taking out the garbage, Animal Crossing is, at its core, a task. I havent visited The Okay Cay, my Animal Crossing: New Horizons island, given that late May, when a so-called friend utilized the video game to screw me out of 30 bucks. Previous Animal Crossing games notoriously reprimanded absent gamers by sprouting unmanageable clusters of weeds. The outcome only added to Animal Crossings Twilight Zone vibe.

No one, as far as I can tell, moved away. The Okay Cay received some new locals: cockroaches. This stimulated some hate mail.

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