Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released a couple of weeks ago, which seems to be perfect timing, considering the growing coronavirus pandemic.
According to mental health professionals, diving into the game is a great idea because of the slow-paced activities that can be compared to mindfulness. The game puts your character on a deserted island to start a new community, and right away, you are put to work. Whether it be making tools, decorating, gathering fruit, catching bugs, fishing, or building a relationship with the other neighbors, the game’s therapeutic qualities make it the exact kind of game we need right now.
Animal Crossing is a unique and peaceful game, filled with calming music, aesthetics, and no competitiveness. It provides a simple, craft-friendly escape with no set timeline or rule book, which allows players to completely zone out from real life, something that might feel very much needed right now. These repetitive movements and calming activities can stimulate mindfulness, producing similar benefits to focusing on breathing, or taking in one’s real-life environment. Dr. Regine Galanti, author of Anxiety Relief for Teens, says, “Giving yourself time to engage in an activity you enjoy can be a helpful distraction in a world full of uncertainty, and finding those activities that are fun and meaningful for you is definitely helpful in a crisis.”
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is extremely customizable, giving the player all the control they want over their island. In a time where we may not be able to decide where we can go, what supplies are available, and who we get to see, the game offers unique comfort that gives us that decisiveness we are lacking in this unprecedented time. While there’s a general goal, each day can be whatever the player wants. Seemingly mundane activities like fishing or catching bugs can be safe havens, especially while the virus prevents us from doing that in real life.
It’s not just the distraction of the game that makes it so helpful, but the world that it creates for you. In a time that we are asked to socially distance ourselves from our family and friends, the game offers us a virtual community. You’re rewarded in the game for talking to your neighbors every day, even if it’s just a short conversation. However, if you put the game down for a few days, your island falls behind a little. There are more weeds to pick up, more work that needs to be done to get back on track. But, your neighbors are still there for you, even if your NPC was doing its own form of social distancing.
Back in the real world, for me personally as an out-of-state student, it’s been particularly hard being separated from all of my friends, both those thousands of miles away, or even my childhood friends that I can’t even see right now. But this game, this silly, calming, and amazing game, is teaching me how important it is to reach out, even if we are going through a difficult time. My little community on my Nintendo Switch serves as a reminder to reach out to our loved ones now, to maintain those relationships even if we can’t be together. New Horizon is a lesson that says we are never alone, and your community will always be there to support you, even if you fall behind some days.
Now is a better time than ever to fully immerse yourself in another world. For you, it could be some other videogame, book, movie, or whatever you want to escape to for a little while. As for me, I’m going to keep playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons, as it’s the perfect game to make each day a little easier. Stay safe everyone, and remember, as a community, we are going to get through this.