The local supermarket is out of lentils and kitchen roll, but in Nook’s Cranny, the fictional shop in Nintendo’s new videogame Animal Crossing: New Horizons, shelves overflow with seeds and spades, oranges and rice cookers, exercise balls and bright yellow rain boots – everything you need to build a new life in a distant, tropical land.
The game’s island paradise, inhabited by cuddly anthropomorphic animals and surrounded by seas you can never overfish, has hooked players wanting to escape self-isolation and the boredom that comes with it. Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out three days before the UK’s lockdown started, and it’s become the fastest-selling digital game of all time, according to analysts at SuperData. At launch, it sold more copies at launch than the previous four Animal Crossing games and their three spin-offs combined.
Content from our partners
