Animal Crossing: New Horizons November Check-in

So technically, this is a bit of a September-October-November check-in, since I haven’t written one of these in a while. I wanted to do a Halloween special last month, but as usual, time got away from me and, well, it’s too late now. I don’t really see myself playing anything big until the new Spider-Man game drops in a few weeks, so until then, it’s pretty much just Pokémon and Animal Crossing for me.

I celebrated my birthday in October, and was beyond happy to spend some time with my villagers. The whole “surprise party” that they plan for you is so cute, shit hurt my heart a little bit. I also loved that they give you some cupcakes to hand out to the villagers that didn’t make the party. I was lowkey a little sad that Dom wasn’t at my party, but I had Dizzy, Freckles and Beau there, so it was still great. My sister also stopped by with some gifts, and it was a fun day all around.

Marshal and Sylvana also celebrated birthdays (September 29th and October 22nd, respectively) so its been a busy time, party-wise. Thankfully, COVID doesn’t exist in this little world, so no social distancing required.

Closing out September and into October, I had 2 new villagers arrive on Windfall – I’ve had a few animals ask to move out, but I told them all to stay. I finally agreed to let Beau and Marina leave, just because they’ve both been on my island since the beginning, and I currently have 3 Lazy-type villagers, and 2 Normal-types (which is entirely too many). I’ll miss them a lot, but was able to find someone on Reddit to take each of them, so they won’t disappear into the dreaded void. I hope they’re both enjoying life on their new islands!

My search for new villagers was somewhat fruitful – I didn’t find either of my two must-haves, but I did get Frita, a Sisterly-type sheep. I haven’t had a Sisterly villager for ages, so I’m enjoying having her around. I also ran into Knox – he’s a cranky villager, and he dresses like a knight. I love the chicken villagers, so I was happy to invite him to Windfall. Now Admiral has a grumpy friend to keep him company!

Fast-forward to Halloween, which was super fun – it was more-or-less the same style as the holiday in New Leaf, but with the updated graphics and with my island fully decorated, it was a fun couple of hours. Getting to see all the villagers in their cute costumes was probably my favourite aspect; occasionally, they would gather in the plaza and use the special Halloween Reactions at each other, and it was too adorable.

My only minor complaint was the lack of rewards from Jack (aka the Czar of Halloween). He only gave out a handful of items, whereas in New Leaf, there was an entire set of furniture to be earned. Obviously with the October craftables, there was still a ton of new spooky-themed stuff, but it made giving candy to your villagers a short-lived thrill. Getting Jack’s Robe for the fifth time got a little stale as the evening wore on.

The only real scare of the night was when I almost got jumped by a scorpion as I was looking for Freckles, but thankfully it ran off a cliff and disappeared instead. I wore one of the Able Sisters witch costumes for the evening, but dressed as Persona 5 newcomer, Kasumi Yoshizawa, during the day. What were your Halloween costumes – virtual or otherwise?

Now that Halloween has come and gone, I’ve been busy-ish on my island, terraforming a new entrance, and moving some of my villagers around to new areas. I’m dying to get my hands on the new mushroom recipes that are around in November, and I’m honestly kind of cheesed that you only have 5 or so mushrooms available on your island per day. In the spirit of DIY, I feel like they should have made them spawn throughout the day, like the seashells on the beach do. Beyond that, I’m still trying to come up with ideas that I’m satisfied with for decorating my island. I’m starting a tulip field, but I’m not sure if I should stick with just one colour, or mix in multiples. I also want a lavender field somewhere. I think.

I’m curious to see what the final update of the year has in store for the game – I’m guessing a Thanksgiving event is imminent (it was always fun in New Leaf) and I know a lot of players, myself included, are hoping that Brewster’s Café is going to make its triumphant return. I kind of doubt it, but there’s always hope. Despite my minor complaints about New Horizons, I’m still playing the game on a daily basis, even just to say hi to all of my villagers. It’s a comforting little routine to have when the days in quarantine can feel long and/or stressful.

But anyway, on an unrelated note, I’m not sure what else I’ll have on the go for this blog as the year comes to a close. I’ve been getting back into playing Pokémon competitively (VGC, not the card game) and I’ve been trying to figure out a way to maybe incorporate some posts about it, but I’m not sure how that would work. I’ve been struggling a bit with content, and finding the motivation to sit down and write, but hopefully some kind of inspiration hits me. Until then, hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!