We all long for the days when we could leave our homes and go socialize with our friends and family. Oh to spend a leisurely afternoon shopping instead of scurrying to the store in semi-panic and leaving as quickly as possible with only half of what you wanted. And wouldn’t it be nice to strike up a conversation with a friendly group of strangers? Well, there’s one place where all that is still possible, and in fact better, because you’re the mayor and everyone else is a talking animal.
That’s right, we’re talking about Animal Crossing, the open-world Nintendo game where you live in an idyllic town full of anthropomorphic animals who want to be your friend. The newest edition of the game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, just dropped on March 20, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Naturally, with most people stuck at home, video gameplay is going through the roof, but Animal Crossing, at least judging by all the social media posts, seems especially popular. It makes sense if you think about it. A lot of games nowadays involve wandering around some post-apocalyptic wasteland shooting things and scavenging for supplies, which hits a little too close to home at the moment. Now a game where you get to hang out with your cute animal buds and maybe get a little fishing in? That’s a fantasy worth escaping into. New Horizons also allows you to play cooperatively with your friends—exactly what we need in the age of social distancing.
It seems that everyone is posting on Twitter, Instagram, and other social sites about their Animal Crossing adventures.
And while most people are using it as a way to not think about the current pandemic, there are plenty of people with a more morbid sense of humor, who couldn’t help but create some Animal Crossing memes worthy of these dark times.
In France, people are even using it to protest their president.
But not all the Animal Crossing/Pandemic memes have to be dark. At least one woman found a way to keep it wholesome.
Not all of us have Animal Crossing to help us get through these trying times, but even so, maybe we can learn something from the joy and creativity it inspires. It’s not always easy, but finding something that makes you happy, or at least distracts you, seems like a fine idea right now.
READ MORE:
- Make ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ your desert island game
- The ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Nintendo Switch is simply delightful
- ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ was delayed to 2020, and fans are losing it
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