Notes on Animal Crossing: A Pseudo-Philosophical Reflection

On 20 March 2020, Nintendo released Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the latest instalment of its popular cutesy video game series.

Whether or not this was intentional, the game’s release couldn’t have been timed more perfectly. Just a few days later on 23 March, under mounting pressure from the deadly virus that was spreading rapidly throughout the country, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told everyone to stay at home, thus ushering in the start of the UK’s very first national lockdown.

It was a frightening time to be alive. With anxiety, fear and confusion at an all-time high, Animal Crossing provided a much-welcomed means of escape, by allowing players to live on their very own virtual island. This was a world in which, not only did the coronavirus not exist, but virtually nothing bad could ever happen.

A year later, and the situation has barely improved. The UK coronavirus death toll has well surpassed 100,000 and the nation has plunged into its third national lockdown. I, on the other hand, am several months into my new life on Birdland: a beautiful island paradise that I named after a jazz club. Every day I catch fish and sell them to two racoon twins that run the local shop. I donate fossils to the island’s museum curator, an eccentric owl named Blathers. I chat with my unerringly friendly animal neighbours, which include a stylish metropolitan antelope, a gym-obsessed gorilla, and several frogs.

I have finally given in to the sweet release of Animal Crossing, and I have no regrets.

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Such a happy illusion can only last so long. The world of Animal Crossing has always been a quirky and bizarre one. It’s part of the game’s appeal. But recently, more and more disturbing questions have appeared from out of the woodwork. Questions that I fear I cannot answer, but not for lack of trying.

What is about to follow is a series of short essays addressing some of the philosophical issues and implications raised in Animal Crossing (New Horizons, specifically).

I realise that Animal Crossing is just a video game. So, I accept that some concessions must be made and some things must be taken at face value. I want to focus on what I consider to be the most interesting, deep-rooted existential questions - the ones that keep us (read: me) lying awake at night - at the expense of everything else.

I won’t be ruminating over why I can seemingly fit enough sea bass in my pockets to feed the 5000 but suddenly decide that one more apple is just too much. Instead, I’ll be talking about things like art, death, capitalism and slavery. I’ll be posting these as semi-regular posts here on this blog.

You're welcome, Tom