Why Animal Crossing Is The Loneliest Game I've Ever Played

Only YOU Have Any Agency - Everyone Else Is A Robot

You ever catch the other villagers doing things on the island? If you're lucky you might see one creeping after a bug. Never catching it, but looking like they're doing something.

And hey I'll admit, the first time two villagers lined up and sang what was playing on a nearby boombox, my heart melted AND grew three sizes simultaneously.

But if we're talking about the things that reinforce that only you have any real agency or sentience in this place, the A.I. is a major component.

Inane, random responses or conversation options are one thing, but you never see them doing anything that would line up with the reality of your living space.

Get told "the whole town" is pitching in for an incline or bridge? Nope, that's actually all on you. You never see anybody plant flowers outside their house, give donations to things that would benefit everybody - or do anything other than leech of your goodwill, all day, every day.

Unless you make a second player account and summon that person in, you're literally the only person living by any set of rules, despite the game being very much governed by strict adherence to overlapping formulae.

The commerce of the land and advancing the island overall is ENTIRELY on you, and while you can argue that's what the game is, to me it only reinforces the notion of being the only person doing anything.

Again, this isn't a community or wholesome village of well-meaning animals, it's lonely and off-putting.

Just let me see another villager drop something off in the item box, just one.