In decades to come, folks around the world will be telling their children and their grandchildren exactly what happened during those first few months of 2020. It was a time of great stress and uncertainty as the Covid-19 pandemic rapidly upended the lives of millions of people, with governments announcing nationwide lockdowns, businesses shutting down left, right, and centre, and the public forming orderly queues just to get into their local grocery store.
For those who play video games, there’s one title in particular (well, two if you include DOOM Eternal) that dominated the conversation during 2020 and will be mentioned in reverance years from now thanks to its profoundly positive impact during such grim times, and that’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Launched on March 20th, 2020, just one day after the state of California issued a statewide stay-at-home order and three days prior to the British Prime Minister announcing the UK’s first lockdown, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was quite literally a life-saver for many people. It transported us into a completely care-free world in which our only source of stress was trying to decide where to place Blathers’ museum tent. It distracted us, if only for brief moments of time, from the dire reality of 2020.
It’s hard to believe that the game came out three years ago, yet here we are. To reflect on its release and subsequent impact, our lovely video producers Felix, Alex, and Zion recently got together to chat all things New Horizons, so grab yourselves a nice, tasty beverage and settle in for some cosy banter.