Could HoYoverse’s next game be an Animal Crossing clone?
Rumors have been swirling for quite some time that HoYoverse’s (Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail) next game could be a casual life sim, and new leaks seem to support that. It appears that the game is going to bear a remarkable resemblance to Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
A leaker has posted several short videos and some details about the supposed game on X, along with some concept art.
— PantaloneExpediens (@PantaloneExp) June 9, 2024
According to the posts, it will be a free-to-play game in the style of HoYoverse’s other games, with gacha elements. There will be multiplayer options (the gameplay footage shows two characters running around together) and NPC neighbors.
Apparently, there will be huge amounts of character and environment customization with thousands of options for players to choose from.
As well as these things, there will be “events and lore” (translated from Spanish), though it is unclear whether this will be on the scale of the bug and fishing competitions in Animal Crossing or epic seasonal plotlines with character plots and tons of lore to follow like Genshin or Honkai.
Also according to the leaks, the game will be available on PC, Android, and PlayStation 5.
Mas Gameplay pic.twitter.com/aNTkc9rENL
— PantaloneExpediens (@PantaloneExp) June 9, 2024
The videos of gameplay show two chibi-style characters with very Genshin vibes running around a world that is extremely reminiscent of Animal Crossing: New Horizon. We see trees that the characters shake for wood, a beach, and rivers in which the characters fish (though the exact nature of the fishing minigame is unclear). There are also raised areas of terrain. It is truly astonishing how similar it is to Animal Crossing.
A key difference between Animal Crossing and whatever this game ends up being is the camera – in Animal Crossing the camera is fixed at one angle and distance, though you can tilt it up and down slightly, but the videos of this leaked game seem to include a camera angle with free movement.
As a caveat to the videos, the leaker has stated in a post on X (translated from Spanish by Google) that “the gameplay is a very early alpha, obviously it will look much better once the official beta is released and they start promoting the game.”
HoYoverse is still making content for both Genshin Impact (recently announcing that players on older devices would see a graphical downgrade) and Honkai Star Rail and doesn’t seem to be gearing up for any large announcements, but the response to these leaks suggests that people are very ready for a new casual life sim to get stuck into – fingers crossed there’s some truth to these leaks.
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