The 3.0 update and Switch 2 version breathed new life into Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but it still suffers from lackluster multiplayer functionality—a longstanding issue with the exceedingly popular cozy game. Most tragic is its local co-op shortcomings, where the second person to play on a system’s island is given a severely stripped back experience. To its credit, Animal Crossing has made strides recently with its online multiplayer by implementing its new Slumber Islands, but these have a particular downside that Pokémon Pokopia proves can be mitigated.
Pokémon Pokopia is set to enter the cozy game arena on March 5. The unexpected life sim was revealed last September and stars an unlikely protagonist, a Ditto imitating a human, who builds and decorates an island to attract fellow Pokémon. Pokopia is more in line with the well-crafted Dragon Quest Builders 2, which co-developer Omega Force (with Game Freak) first released in 2018, but it’s nonetheless going toe-to-toe with ACNH, which has been Nintendo’s predominant first-party cozy game since it came out in 2020.
Pokémon Pokopia Multiplayer Works Even When The Host Is Offline
Similar to Animal Crossing‘s Slumber Islands, Pokémon Pokopia gives you a multiplayer space that’s separate from your main island. It’s a blank canvas for you and your friends to terraform and decorate. Speaking to Famitsu (via Eurogamer), Pokopia game director Takuto Edagawa explained how these initially “blank” islands can still be visited “even if the host isn’t playing.”
In other words, the person who creates the multiplayer island doesn’t have to be present for other players to engage with it. The Pokémon Pokopia developers are referring to these as “Cloud Islands,” and, as Eurogamer notes, they’ll work like private Minecraft servers—players who have been invited can play on a Cloud Island whenever they want. Edagawa told Famitsu that the driving factor behind this implementation was the difficulty in getting a friend group’s schedules aligned to let everyone play at the same time.
The Next Animal Crossing Game Needs To Adopt This
Animal Crossing‘s Slumber Islands do not work in the same way Pokopia‘s so-called Cloud Islands do. A host is required for Slumber Islands to operate; the person that created the Slumber Island must be present in order for others to decorate and terraform. For some, it may not be a big deal, but it makes Slumber Islands feel more like an extension of one person’s game, rather than a shared, cooperative level. All it takes is one person being unavailable to scuttle gaming plans.
Multiplayer is perhaps the broad area where Animal Crossing can most improve as a series. Slumber Islands is a great idea, but like New Horizons‘ multiplayer and online components generally, it’s held back by small facets of its implementation. A new Animal Crossing is bound to come to the Switch 2 at some point, and it could learn a valuable lesson from Pokémon Pokopia by including shared multiplayer spaces that don’t require a host.
- Released
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March 20, 2020
- ESRB
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Everyone / Comic Mischief, Mild Fantasy Violence, Users Interact, In-Game Purchases
- Developer(s)
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Nintendo EPD
- Publisher(s)
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Nintendo
- Engine
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Havok
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Local Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
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no
- Cross Save
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no
- Expansions
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Animal Crossing: New Horizons — Happy Home Paradise
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