Literaire Studentenvereniging Flanor

It’s been a couple of weeks since the new covid measures have been put into effect and suddenly we have a bit more time on our hands. Besides using that time to catch up with reading (which definitely should happen), Iris, our Commissioner of External Affairs, is obsessed with Animal Crossing. Why, you say? You’ll read it here! (This blog post was made possible by Jessay’s persuasive powers)

When I was younger, I got obsessed with playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf on the 3DS and when Nintendo released the trailer for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, I was extremely excited. The game I loved so much returned with new and supercool features. They made it easier to decorate not only your house, but also your island! 

If you don’t know what Animal Crossing is, I’ll give you a short summary: you’re dropped on a deserted island or piece of land and you have to build a community. Hours and hours, I’ve already spent playing this game. Completing my encyclopedia, cursing every time I caught yet another Sea Bass (sigh) and fainting whenever I saw a Tarantula. I haven’t decorated that much yet, simply because I am a perfectionist and therefore procrastinate the decoration part.

The villagers that live and move to your island or that you encounter during the game are also a big part of the fun. They can be really sassy and sometimes it’s such a hassle to get your favourite villager to move to your island. You can have max 10 villagers on your island, so if Julian, one of my favourite villagers, visits your island and wants to move in, but you already have 10 villagers, you have to bully away another villager by hitting them with your bug net (No promotion to bullying! Bullying is always wrong!). I once attempted to bully away a villager from my island to get Raymond, but I got so sad after hitting that villager, so I gave up. 

A friend of mine also plays the game and we accidentally gave our islands the same name: Idris, the country of the Shadowhunters (book recommendation to understand this reference: The Mortal Instruments or any other Cassandra Clare book, basically). We came up with the idea to also actually turn our islands into this book world, but for now we’re still collecting money and items. 

The new update and expansion pack Happy Home Academy do bring new opportunities, although, I have yet to explore them (Sorry Jessay!). With the new expansion pack, you can now decorate holiday homes for villagers. Also, you have the ability to build walls and counters, for which I’m way too excited. 

If this looks like a promo talk to you on why you should play Animal Crossing, then you’re absolutely right! (This is no paid sponsorship, though. If only.) This is how I am spending my little bit of extra time these days. Let us know yours on Whatsapp if you want. Maybe we’re going to continue this “lockdown times” series, maybe not. Thank you for reading and have a nice day! <3