Despite my job taking up hours of my time each day, recently I felt myself going a little stir-crazy. My husband, an avid gamer, decided now was my time to shine, so he bought me a Nintendo Switch and their most recently released game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

The release is the latest in the Animal Crossing series, which was originally released on the GameCube system in the early 2000’s. The premise of both games is the same: your character is in charge of building and expanding a small town. The new game, however, is different in the sense that you’re dropped into a nearly deserted island rather than a pre-built town. Throughout the game you’re expected to gather materials like tree branches, wood, iron and stone.

The materials gathered allow you to build tools, complete tasks, explore new islands and interact with the game’s various simulated characters, called villagers. The game also offers players the ability to catch or find dozens of insects, fossils and fish, with each island offering a different variety of both.

While my husband plays hours of games, I’ve never really developed his zeal for the computer and system-based games. People across the world anxiously counted down the days until Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released on March 20. I wasn’t incredibly eager to try the game. However, watching my husband play within the first few days of the release I was interested.

The game can be a submersive experience as it reflects the time of day, so when it’s night time in the real world it will be night time in the game. While I have yet to experience it, the season also changes with the real world, so players can expect snow, changing leaves and blooming flowers. With the changing seasons also comes changing wildlife offering players a new variety of insects and fish to catch throughout the year.

The weather isn’t necessarily reflective of the real world, however it does change. Players experience wind gusts, rain, but mostly sunshine. The game is designed beautifully with vivid colors, well-done animations and incredible graphics. You don’t have to be a gamer to appreciate the talent and hard work that went into its creation.

As someone who isn’t highly experienced with playing video games, I find the game to be incredibly easy to navigate. Even if you’re taking your time playing the game, working your way through the tasks, there’s always something to do that will occupy even the littlest of kids. The game’s rating of “E”, meaning it’s suitable for all ages, rings true.

Currently, I’m slowly making my way through the game, ticking off tasks that include picking a place on the island for a museum, donating items to a museum, collecting items to build a store, fishing, catching bugs, chopping down trees and scanning the beach for items to collect and sell.

The best thing about this game, especially for children, is that it is what you make it. If you’re an adult enjoying the game, you can take the game to the limit of what you can imagine by designing custom patterns, earning money to purchase new clothes and building the civilization up to your heart’s content.
However, if you’re a 5-year-old there’s still plenty to do – including chopping down trees, digging, fishing and more. While I’m not a parent, I can imagine it can be difficult to find a game or activity that doesn’t involve closely monitoring it. As long as the game is accessed without internet, Animal Crossing: New Horizons allows parents to let their children play without having to hover. Without the internet, there is no risk of violence, questionable material or strangers hacking and or entering the game. It is just a nice, simple game children can occupy themselves with.

The one downside to the game, especially for families with multiple children, is that only one person serves as the representative, meaning they start the game and choose the layout of the initial island. While you’re able to have up to eight unique profiles and characters access the island, sharing in duties and completing tasks, in order to serve as the island representative each player needs their own console and game. While there is still a limitless number of things to do while not serving as the representative and not a lot of people run into the problem, it’s something to be mindful of if you know your children would prefer ownership of their own island.