When I first received an email about Animula Nook, I immediately sent it to CGM’s Dayna Eileen—as is our protocol for anything cute. But it wasn’t simply its cuteness that caught my attention, but a genuine sense of imagination running underneath it. It’s kind of an accepted truth that if a game is Animal Crossing adjacent, chances are I’m going to want to play it. However, so many games that I’ve tried recently have been good, but have faltered for being a little too close to their inspiration.
For my money, any Animal Crossing-like game is going to not only stand out but succeed in the all-important field of creativity. It’s one thing to have your own unique environments or biomes, but if you give me the same axe, watering can and bug net, and make all my neighbours anthropomorphic animals, I’m gonna wonder why I’m not just playing the best version of that which already exists.
Which is exactly why Animula Nook interested me, since it was pitched as a “Lilliput Fantasy Life Simulator” (for those unaware, Lilliputians were the tiny people from Gulliver’s Travels). Such a small change affects the way the game is played in a big way because it fundamentally changes everything about how a game like this is experienced. It forces the creators to think of fun and unique ways to change things like tools and building materials into things a tiny human might need to use.
It also opens up the world in a lot more unique ways than several Animal Crossing-like games, which usually just give players a fairly standard town and field combo. Instead, Animula Nook evokes the feeling of being a kid using their entire living room as a world to play with their little toys—turning mundane objects like desks, bookshelves or drawers into vast canvases for creative design.
It evoked the same feeling in me that I felt when I got to the Hero’s Hideaway in Pikmin 4. There’s a warmth that permeates through the entire experience and a sense of wonder that just feels inherent to seeing familiar household objects blown up to building-sized proportions. At the same time, being surrounded by familiar objects, despite their size, invokes a sense of comfort that makes Animula Nook’s world feel both alien and regular.
When players finally do step outside, the world feels so much more wild and fantastic because little things that would be used for detailing or potential material collecting in other games, become the backdrop for player creativity—similar to how Grounded made its world so much more unique and interesting. Blades of grass become huge monoliths; giant fungi make areas feel ethereal and magical, and simple structures like birdhouses or cat towers become small refuges.
“Animula Nook’s Alpha Playtest has given me a lot of hope about what a fully polished version of this game could be.”
And as I alluded to above, this changes how Animula Nook approaches its game design in both the micro and macro sense. Players use a big lollipop to smash harder objects in order to collect resources, or use a big bottle to collect both sunshine and water for growing plants. When building their homestead, they can create little furniture that either resembles normal things, or is creatively crafted from large objects—like those little matchbox beds you’d make.
In addition to this, large objects can be shrunk and collected and placed alongside your smaller homes, giving areas a feeling of being both big and small, which gives the game a lot of potential for creative variety. It’s just some of the myriad ways Animula Nook is utilizing its core concept to give players a truly unique experience. On top of this, the Alpha Playtest showcases that the game has a strong grasp of the fundamentals of gameplay, implementing a lot of QoL features for building and crafting that make the game really easy to play.
Animula Nook’s Alpha Playtest has given me a lot of hope about what a fully polished version of this game could be. There’s a lot I like about it, from its aesthetic to its variety of minigames—ranging from cooking, to dancing and even playing instruments—to just its laid-back and mellow vibe. While it’s still a bit rough around the edges, all the pieces are in place for an Animal Crossing-like that I’m genuinely excited for.
No release date has been set for Animula Nook, but players can follow future playtests on the official website.
