Animal Crossing (series)



The Animal Crossing (どうぶつの森, Dōbutsu no Mori, lit. Animal Forest) video game series is a series of communication adventure games exclusively for Nintendo consoles. The game progresses in real time in a nonlinear format. It is non-violent and is rated 'E' for Everyone by the ESRB and 3+ by PEGI. The player takes the role of a human in a village of animals and may take on tasks from villagers, pay off their mortgage, garden, fish, catch insects, and more.

Objectives
As an open-ended life simulation game, the does not have a set objective. As such, after an introductory sequence at the beginning of the games, players are free to do as they like. The only 'objective' in the game, if any, is to pay off the mortgage placed upon the player's house—but, like most activities within the game, this is entirely optional and does not incur any consequences, other than having less space to store items.

Villagers
In every town in the, the village itself is populated entirely by animals (excluding the player, who is the only human shown in the entire series). Villagers are anthropomorphic, and as such, are able to speak, walk in a humanoid manner, use tools, and wear clothes. They serve as interactive characters who are assigned personalities and traits, and this affects the way they communicate with you and among themselves. Villagers are capable of conversation, have unique interests and catchphrases, and live in their own domains within the town.

Villagers will often ask the player to perform tasks for them (ranging from delivering presents to sending messages to another human player). Players can incur a reward if tasks are executed in the set time. In later games, they are also capable of playing games with the player, such as hide-and-seek. Villagers move in and out of the town regularly due to certain factors (e.g. because the player has exchanged animals with another village over Wi-Fi), or simply because they are not satisfied with their current life). It is said that they enjoy receiving letters, and if sent a gift, they will usually send one in return.

Customization
Although earlier games offered few options in terms of customization, more recent games feature the ability to not only customize appearance, but also wallpapers, carpets and furniture in their home, as well as the home's exterior. It is also possible to decorate the ground outdoors with designs.

Activities
Despite being an open-ended game, Animal Crossing does provide some activities to pass the time and help "complete" certain aspects of the gameplay (such as completing exhibits within the museum). Some of these activities include bug-catching, fishing, fossil-hunting, and even item-collecting (the latter an objective to complete the player's catalog). Players can also interact in games of hide-and-seek with villagers, participate in festivals and town events, and generally do as they like within the game.