Animal Crossing is one of the most fondly mentioned names in the gaming community. Garnering a very positive reputation for its wholesome and comfortable vibe, the series started off back in 2001 with the original game simply titled “Animal Crossing”. Since then the series has had tons of new entries in the series as both spin-offs and mainline games, the latest one being Animal Crossing New Horizons back on March 20, 2020 which happened to coincide with the launch of DOOM Eternal, leading to one of the most wholesome and hilarious fan collaborations you will ever see.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out a time when people were at a rough, more vulnerable spot. The game served as a break from everything that was upsetting about the world and focused on giving players a more relaxed, and comfortable place to just chill out in. Animal Crossing feels like a special game that way and while I myself haven’t played Animal Crossing (I did just get a Switch earlier this week so I’m going to eventually get to that), there’s a lot of appreciation I have for the games and what they do.
Since its inception, both its fans and people who are unfamiliar with Nintendo have been wondering if the game is or will ever be on PC, so lets get into that.
Is Animal Crossing on PC?
No.
Will it ever b-
No.
Animal Crossing is not on PC and we can reasonably predict that the series will stay exclusive to Nintendo consoles for the future. Nintendo is infamous for never putting its own first party games on any other consoles other than their own leading players to resort to either alternatives or emulation.
Discussing emulation, that is one way players can play Animal Crossing New Horizons on their PC and even on their Steam Deck. Emulators like Ryujinx or Yuzu have been doing a great job in emulating Switch titles on the PC with some of them being able to run even better on the PC than they do on the Switch with tiles like Shin Megami Tensei V.
We also have to clarify that we are not promoting piracy, we hope that everyone who’s going to be trying out emulation of Nintendo Switch titles will have an owned copy of the game.
Alternatives to Animal Crossing:
For those who don’t have a powerful enough PC or just don’t want to dabble into the world of emulation, there are a handful of other alternatives players can try out if they want something similar to the experience of Animal Crossing. We will discuss some of them here to give players a decent idea on what else they can play.
Stardew Valley:
The most obvious entry we can mention. Stardew Valley is about your character who wants to escape the hustle and stress of their daily desk job in a sprawling city and instead moving away to their grandfather’s farm left to them on his deathbed. Despite the set-up, Stardew Valley is a largely very wholesome, comfortable experience that delivers on the fantasy of being able to run a farm and much much more.
There are unique and interesting social mechanics akin to something you’ll see in the Persona series and even a mine you could go down to for some combat against monsters. Its a very varied game and one of the best alternatives you can find to Animal Crossing, even if the focus is on farming instead of building an entire village.
My Time at Portia:
For players who dislike the top-down 16-bit graphics of Stardew Valley, we have My Time at Portia which is a 3D farming game where you build your own workshop. Players can direct their home as much as they like with various furniture. Explore and fight various unique enemies, or just hang back and chill as they slowly build their farm to be the best that it can be.
Slime Rancher:
A farming game where you run a farm of cute, squishy slimes. Slime Rancher has a similarly comfy and wholesome vibe akin to what you’d find in Animal Crossing. Its a solid recommendation and its among the highest recommended games on Steam.
And these are some of the alternatives you can try out in order to get started if you don’t want to cash in for a Switch. (Although we highly recommend it, its a great console!)
We hope you found this guide helpful, for more guides on all the recent games, we hope you check out our Guides Section for more!
