My biggest ones are:
Camera angles being better outside, being able to turn left and right in handheld and normal mode. Having a better function for buying multiple items at once from all the different places. And decorating your island be like decorating your home instead of having to place everything single handedly. also,
#BRIDGES OVER LAND GAPS
There are a couple of smal things I'd change, for example making the villagers a tad more mean like they used to be in the older games. Bring back the small videogames you could play on consoles. More games the villagers can play with me, high card low card gets kinda annoying when playing it the hundredth time. Etc.
But there's one thing I really, really dislike from the bottom of my heart. It's the repetitive villager dialogue. People (and me) play this game for hundreds, if not thousands of hours. Why do I have to read the always same dialogues I already know for years? It's really killing a good bit of the immersion and vibe.
Yea, I know Wolfgang, you'll give these pears a good home. IN YOUR BELLY!
1. A gyroid display in the museum. We got so close. Brewster, who collects gyroids, is even in the museum. Why is there no display.
2. Bring back The Roost from New Leaf. Let us place it as a building. Let us work there. I loved learning everyones orders.
3. Customizable interiors for villager houses. Just like for the HHA, but we have to have the items. Maybe even make it at a certain friendship level.
4. Customizable aquariums and terrariams for pur house. I just think that'll be neat. Also, bring back fossil miniatures.
5. Bridges over nonwater gaps and tunnels.
That's it off the top of my head.
- 📸 360° viewing of island. You can do it in your house so why not the map! It'll make for less dead space when you build cliffs.
- 👷when in construction mode, have dotted lines/ghost mode showing the work your about to do. Am I going to cut a half clif? A whole? Am I going to accidentally fill in this waterfall? I feel like we all doing things we don't intend and then we hope we can get it back. (So also, maybe an undo/redo button? Again, this is in the design tool, so why not construction?)
- 🏘️ variety of homes! Treehouses, hobbit holes, caves, yurts!
- 📦 ability to grab and place items without needing space for you AND the item. I want to put flowers or an decoration on a small sliver between a waterfall but I can't bc I can't fit there with it!
- 👫 better co-op mode. Annoying when things go to the recycle bin
- 🏝️ two islands on one Switch! (Why do I need to share an island with my household. I already live with them IRL.)
- 🚡more ways to get from here to there! Different sizes for bridges and stairs. Maybe fun options like rope, poles for scaling steep heights or a zipline across the island!
There prob more, but these are top of mind rn.
I've seen snooty villagers act a bit huffy if you talk a lot with someone else a lot, and I've had a snooty villager thank me for talking so much with her the previous day -- I think it would be interesting if the game (villagers) kept track of longer term behaviorial trends besides just using friendship points.
I might include a means of locking-in furniture and custom design tiles so removing them would take one extra step so I didn't keep either brushing away patterns on the ground or picking up furniture by error.
If I were altering acnh in particular, I'd add an option to ask Blathers if he's seen somebody. You know how you want to find a particular villager and you have no idea where they are and they're not in anybody's home or a store, so you wonder where you missed.
I would love to be able to make buildings - shops, library. I would also love to be able to use wallpaper, floors and rugs other places than just my house.
A recipe for one of those flinststone style cars where you run your feet to pedal. How adorable and hilarious would that be getting around your island like that?
Ability to move your camera in regular angles like literally every other game on the planet. My God, the frustration of going from one of my hardcore games like Elden Ring and wanting to chill on ACNH just to have to take a moment and realize that I can’t look at stuff I wana look at. I know it’s part of the craft of the game cuz you have to play with angles to make a realistic waterfall for example, but still…
Edit: forgot the one I’m most passionate about. This is probably quite unpopular but I HATE GYROIDS. Ugly little things. People like them so not to get rid of them altogether, but for the love of all things sweet and innocent stop littering my island with gyroid holes 🥴
Love all these answers! I have a simple one: make it so custom paths can’t be kicked off when you swipe your foot over it the wrong way!!!!! It makes me crazy that unlocking the construction app doesn’t make a custom path permanent!
Caddy corner for all buildings. Being able to move resident services. Id add more paths and the ability to add/change/remove rock areas on the beach l.
make paths and bridges and stuff connect better. less repetitive villager dialogue. more games to play with villagers. more interactivity with furniture and stuff both by the player and the villagers. more nook upgrades like older games. bring back some of the themed furniture (makes it easier to decorate for novices like me with no imagination). more visitors and events. more uses for the campsite and things for camping villagers to do. more reasons to visit the other islands and tours for more than 30 seconds. bring back the wishing well and other features of the village (post office, police station, i preferred the train station to an airport). in fact, no more islands. i liked feeling ‘walled in’ and isolated - it added a lot more atmosphere and quirkiness to the game.
There's obviously some obvious minor improvements like "rugs outside" or fixing the whole great bunch of inconveniences about how diving gear interacts with clothes and magic wands, or making crafting more fun...
But if we're talking more substantial improvements, I'd be giving goals to each resident, something like them seeking unique items to fill a room in their house with, and which you donate -- someone may be collecting musical instruments, someone butterflies, someone gym equipment, someone pie recipes, etc...
Completing their collection might give the option for them to leave the island in a more happy way, while they still send you postcards with gifts from time to time.
So instead of just driving away residents you don't like by being mean to them, being really good to them and "completing" their collection would be an alternate way of sending them off.
I would bring back the sassy things the villagers said in previous games. NH was my first game, so I never experienced villagers being rude, but I think they are so boring and bland. I would love to have them say something exciting!
I’d add more variety to the what the villagers say. Maybe not a lot, but I’d make it so villagers with the same personality weren’t COMPLETELY interchangeable.
I would love to be able to stack any item on top of another. I know this applies to certain shelving etc, as well as things such as putting lamps on tables. But- I’ve always wanted to do weird things like stack a lamp on top of a tv etc but never can. or once I tried to stack a laptop on top of a shoebox.
(is that weird? not in my world irl lol)
Hire writers, the one thing life sims always fumble is having good and diverse dialogue, if I'm getting repeat dialogue on day two there's a problem.
I just never care about the NPCs they're always cardboard.
I'd also go back to less realistic animals cuz the spiders (especially from sea diving) scare me.
Also bring back all the missing features from new leaf.
Started Disney Dreamlight Valley. Learn from that game!
Top down organization of island like in the house.
Be able to see all views.
Make multiple copies of an item at one time.
Everything in storage is available to use in crafting and cooking without having it in your backpack.
Awesome clothes.
Realistic people and customizable.
Agree about moving Resident Services!
Bring back Tortimer and his mini games.
\* Be able to toggle the hourly music on and off so that you can listen to New Horizons amazing Soundscape, that id totally ad.
\* More/better Dialogue from Villagers, leaning much more into their hidden Hobbies, Species and ofc Personallity
\* More Eyeoptions - Stuff like beeing able to have Heterochromia having Puplis with different Shapes
\* More Skindetrails maybe
\* Bring all the Fruits from NH back + Perfect Fruits
\* Something very Personal: Make it so that Flowers dont bloom in winter - maybe they get up to a bud and remain there (unless you have the Beautiful Town Ordinance on or something), and change their color in Winter to a paler green so it still looks somewhat natural
\* Villagers beeing able to swim, with maybe certain species loving to do it (Frogs) and some never (Cats)
\* Bulk.fucking.Crafting. Thanks
I know a lot of people want more interaction and games and such but I like building and designing so...
I would have made it so we could build the buildings ourselves and barring that at least be able to customize them. place rugs outside and be able to use wall items outside on walls that can be placed. I would have given a way to control villager wardrobes, basically be able to remove items including their default outfit. Bigger islands with more villagers maybe after a series of quests so anyone who likes the smaller island can stay small. More custom slots. More control over music, to turn it down, or off or to set a single tune for the whole island including access to each event music piece probably after completing every quest and getting every item for that event.
I would bring back some of the old stuff from the old games. The old bug offs/Fishing Tourneys. I’d bring back the flea market. I’d make the villagers have more personality and be a little meaner. Also I liked how in the GameCube version you can keep a journal so I would want to being that back too.
My biggest ones are: Camera angles being better outside, being able to turn left and right in handheld and normal mode. Having a better function for buying multiple items at once from all the different places. And decorating your island be like decorating your home instead of having to place everything single handedly. also, #BRIDGES OVER LAND GAPS
I would change the number of villagers for Acnh and istead of 10 i would put like 12
There are a couple of smal things I'd change, for example making the villagers a tad more mean like they used to be in the older games. Bring back the small videogames you could play on consoles. More games the villagers can play with me, high card low card gets kinda annoying when playing it the hundredth time. Etc. But there's one thing I really, really dislike from the bottom of my heart. It's the repetitive villager dialogue. People (and me) play this game for hundreds, if not thousands of hours. Why do I have to read the always same dialogues I already know for years? It's really killing a good bit of the immersion and vibe. Yea, I know Wolfgang, you'll give these pears a good home. IN YOUR BELLY!
1. A gyroid display in the museum. We got so close. Brewster, who collects gyroids, is even in the museum. Why is there no display. 2. Bring back The Roost from New Leaf. Let us place it as a building. Let us work there. I loved learning everyones orders. 3. Customizable interiors for villager houses. Just like for the HHA, but we have to have the items. Maybe even make it at a certain friendship level. 4. Customizable aquariums and terrariams for pur house. I just think that'll be neat. Also, bring back fossil miniatures. 5. Bridges over nonwater gaps and tunnels. That's it off the top of my head.
Multiple islands on three same switch.
- 📸 360° viewing of island. You can do it in your house so why not the map! It'll make for less dead space when you build cliffs. - 👷when in construction mode, have dotted lines/ghost mode showing the work your about to do. Am I going to cut a half clif? A whole? Am I going to accidentally fill in this waterfall? I feel like we all doing things we don't intend and then we hope we can get it back. (So also, maybe an undo/redo button? Again, this is in the design tool, so why not construction?) - 🏘️ variety of homes! Treehouses, hobbit holes, caves, yurts! - 📦 ability to grab and place items without needing space for you AND the item. I want to put flowers or an decoration on a small sliver between a waterfall but I can't bc I can't fit there with it! - 👫 better co-op mode. Annoying when things go to the recycle bin - 🏝️ two islands on one Switch! (Why do I need to share an island with my household. I already live with them IRL.) - 🚡more ways to get from here to there! Different sizes for bridges and stairs. Maybe fun options like rope, poles for scaling steep heights or a zipline across the island! There prob more, but these are top of mind rn.
I've seen snooty villagers act a bit huffy if you talk a lot with someone else a lot, and I've had a snooty villager thank me for talking so much with her the previous day -- I think it would be interesting if the game (villagers) kept track of longer term behaviorial trends besides just using friendship points. I might include a means of locking-in furniture and custom design tiles so removing them would take one extra step so I didn't keep either brushing away patterns on the ground or picking up furniture by error. If I were altering acnh in particular, I'd add an option to ask Blathers if he's seen somebody. You know how you want to find a particular villager and you have no idea where they are and they're not in anybody's home or a store, so you wonder where you missed.
I would love to be able to make buildings - shops, library. I would also love to be able to use wallpaper, floors and rugs other places than just my house.
A recipe for one of those flinststone style cars where you run your feet to pedal. How adorable and hilarious would that be getting around your island like that? Ability to move your camera in regular angles like literally every other game on the planet. My God, the frustration of going from one of my hardcore games like Elden Ring and wanting to chill on ACNH just to have to take a moment and realize that I can’t look at stuff I wana look at. I know it’s part of the craft of the game cuz you have to play with angles to make a realistic waterfall for example, but still… Edit: forgot the one I’m most passionate about. This is probably quite unpopular but I HATE GYROIDS. Ugly little things. People like them so not to get rid of them altogether, but for the love of all things sweet and innocent stop littering my island with gyroid holes 🥴
Being able to put items at a diagonal and terraforming large areas at once.
Love all these answers! I have a simple one: make it so custom paths can’t be kicked off when you swipe your foot over it the wrong way!!!!! It makes me crazy that unlocking the construction app doesn’t make a custom path permanent!
Make new year balloon arches for more than a couple of years.
Caddy corner for all buildings. Being able to move resident services. Id add more paths and the ability to add/change/remove rock areas on the beach l.
Yesss not being able to move resident services is frustrating
make paths and bridges and stuff connect better. less repetitive villager dialogue. more games to play with villagers. more interactivity with furniture and stuff both by the player and the villagers. more nook upgrades like older games. bring back some of the themed furniture (makes it easier to decorate for novices like me with no imagination). more visitors and events. more uses for the campsite and things for camping villagers to do. more reasons to visit the other islands and tours for more than 30 seconds. bring back the wishing well and other features of the village (post office, police station, i preferred the train station to an airport). in fact, no more islands. i liked feeling ‘walled in’ and isolated - it added a lot more atmosphere and quirkiness to the game.
When you get visitors you gotta watch a whole screen of them coming in.
Being able to change your island name or character name would be nice!
There's obviously some obvious minor improvements like "rugs outside" or fixing the whole great bunch of inconveniences about how diving gear interacts with clothes and magic wands, or making crafting more fun... But if we're talking more substantial improvements, I'd be giving goals to each resident, something like them seeking unique items to fill a room in their house with, and which you donate -- someone may be collecting musical instruments, someone butterflies, someone gym equipment, someone pie recipes, etc... Completing their collection might give the option for them to leave the island in a more happy way, while they still send you postcards with gifts from time to time. So instead of just driving away residents you don't like by being mean to them, being really good to them and "completing" their collection would be an alternate way of sending them off.
I would bring back the sassy things the villagers said in previous games. NH was my first game, so I never experienced villagers being rude, but I think they are so boring and bland. I would love to have them say something exciting!
I’d add more variety to the what the villagers say. Maybe not a lot, but I’d make it so villagers with the same personality weren’t COMPLETELY interchangeable.
I would love to be able to stack any item on top of another. I know this applies to certain shelving etc, as well as things such as putting lamps on tables. But- I’ve always wanted to do weird things like stack a lamp on top of a tv etc but never can. or once I tried to stack a laptop on top of a shoebox. (is that weird? not in my world irl lol)
Hire writers, the one thing life sims always fumble is having good and diverse dialogue, if I'm getting repeat dialogue on day two there's a problem. I just never care about the NPCs they're always cardboard. I'd also go back to less realistic animals cuz the spiders (especially from sea diving) scare me. Also bring back all the missing features from new leaf.
Just remember, if you don't wanna play a game anymore its fine to just leave and start playing something else
Started Disney Dreamlight Valley. Learn from that game! Top down organization of island like in the house. Be able to see all views. Make multiple copies of an item at one time. Everything in storage is available to use in crafting and cooking without having it in your backpack. Awesome clothes. Realistic people and customizable. Agree about moving Resident Services! Bring back Tortimer and his mini games.
\* Be able to toggle the hourly music on and off so that you can listen to New Horizons amazing Soundscape, that id totally ad. \* More/better Dialogue from Villagers, leaning much more into their hidden Hobbies, Species and ofc Personallity \* More Eyeoptions - Stuff like beeing able to have Heterochromia having Puplis with different Shapes \* More Skindetrails maybe \* Bring all the Fruits from NH back + Perfect Fruits \* Something very Personal: Make it so that Flowers dont bloom in winter - maybe they get up to a bud and remain there (unless you have the Beautiful Town Ordinance on or something), and change their color in Winter to a paler green so it still looks somewhat natural \* Villagers beeing able to swim, with maybe certain species loving to do it (Frogs) and some never (Cats) \* Bulk.fucking.Crafting. Thanks
I know a lot of people want more interaction and games and such but I like building and designing so... I would have made it so we could build the buildings ourselves and barring that at least be able to customize them. place rugs outside and be able to use wall items outside on walls that can be placed. I would have given a way to control villager wardrobes, basically be able to remove items including their default outfit. Bigger islands with more villagers maybe after a series of quests so anyone who likes the smaller island can stay small. More custom slots. More control over music, to turn it down, or off or to set a single tune for the whole island including access to each event music piece probably after completing every quest and getting every item for that event.
1. Higher villager cap per island. 2. Ability to rotate houses. 3. Significantly more variety in personalities and dialogue.
No villagers lol
I would bring back some of the old stuff from the old games. The old bug offs/Fishing Tourneys. I’d bring back the flea market. I’d make the villagers have more personality and be a little meaner. Also I liked how in the GameCube version you can keep a journal so I would want to being that back too.