If you have a severe case of wanderlust after being confined to your house in lockdown for almost four weeks, escape into Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
The latest in the long-running Nintendo franchise is packed with all the charm and addictive gameplay you'd expect from the home of Mario, Donkey
Kong and Wii Sports. But where those titles are competitive, Animal Crossing is a different beast entirely.
It puts you on an idyllic deserted island and tasks you with, well, not much. Instead you're encouraged to live your best life among the anthropomorphic inhabitants of the island. If you keep the weeds cleared, the animal citizens happy and create a desirable tropical paradise, more animals will visit and plant roots. If you don't you'll wake up one day to find everyone has moved on.
On paper, it sounds incredibly boring. The game sees you weeding, gardening harvesting, fishing, catching bugs and digging for fossils. None of which is particularly demanding. You can talk to your fellow islanders, who may or may not task you with something to do. And you craft items to decorate your house or sell for cold hard bells, the game's currency.
You need bells to pay off your house. However, unlike in real life, the game's mortgage broker Tom Nook offers interest-free terms. The only reason to pay him off is to access bigger and better homes. You don't need to do this. But you will want to do this.
