The bets, the cuteness, the Animal Crossing Bells persistent sense of friendship: All these are millions fans to the franchise and what have drawn me. It stands in contrast to the anxious or violent energy which pervades many other video games that are popular. That is a big reason every game launch within the show is a highly anticipated event. The current outpouring of memes, fan artwork, dialogue, and rapturous praise for New Horizons in particular reinforces exactly how much the series has touched lives, largely because of just how unassuming it all is.

It's also not possible to ignore how well-timed New Horizons' arrival has proven to be. When Nintendo announced nearly a year ago that the game would be all set for a spring 2020 release, fans lamented the lengthy wait. Fast-forward into March 20, when New Horizons became available on Nintendo Switch -- as promised -- and that formerly scheduled launching felt much more fitting than ever. The sport had landed during a pandemic, as countless people were practicing self-quarantining and social distancing, not to mention looking for something to do.

I hadn't seen my buddies in over a week once the game finally became available; I had hardly gone outside. The headlines gave me more anxiety with each push alert. But on March 20, I emerged on a desert island, where the beach is all animal crossing items new horizons right there, animal friends are always close by, small stores are open for business. My friends were as excited as I was to play, staying up until midnight on release day to delve in at exactly the same time. It was a brand new conversation topic, a point of unity within our own lives we could coalesce around, bridging the social gap that has been made by a global health crisis.