We all remember spending multiple weeks caught in the Animal Crossing: New Horizons spell because there wasn't much else to do during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. That game intentionally plays itself out across several real-time days, giving players reasons to return to their island every day of the week (with ease of play helped by its portability on Nintendo Switch). Although it was enthralling at first, I got burnt out on New Horizons quickly. After not playing for a few weeks, I returned to an island with missing residents, a lot of landscaping to be done, and substantial amounts of lost currency in the stalk market. I never really wanted to play Animal Crossing again after that.

That daily structure, which once made the game so captivating, quickly became a........

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