Animal Crossing defined cozy gaming — yet cruelty made the original special
Skipping town and starting over somewhere new is never easy, and being immediately placed into indentured servitude and called annoying by all your neighbors certainly doesn’t help. But that’s exactly how 2002’sAnimal Crossing begins. Somehow, I find this to be one of the most charming introductions to a game series ever made, and, on a nostalgic lark, I recently ventured back to start a new town. As someone who also just began a fresh Animal Crossing: New Horizons island ahead of the 3.0 update, it was hard not to compare its opening with that of the original, especially because the differences are hilariously stark.
