Animal Crossing: New Horizons Abroad. It is the first console game with five million digital sales in its first month and is the best-selling game of March 2021. Of course, some people are curious if there is a similar game on Android. We will shatter those hopes from the start. There is no game like Animal Crossing on any other platform. It is in a class on its own. However, there are some games with some similarities and somewhat close in some parts of their implementation. After all, at its core, it’s a social simulator and my life with crafting, exploring, and lots of cool animals. Those interested can check out the best games like Animal Crossing for Android below.
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
Price: Free to play
Nintendo already has Animal Crossing on mobile. The official game isn’t as open or as big as the Nintendo Switch version, but it does have a lot of the same elements. You start out with a campsite and then add to it a bunch of things that you discover while playing. The game includes more than 1000 pieces of furniture, 300 pieces of clothing, and a variety of mini games that can be played a lot. It’s almost as close to a real Animal Crossing experience on mobile because it’s an actual Animal Crossing game.
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Don’t Starve: Shipwrecked
Price: $4.99
Do not go hungry: The shipwreck does not have the pleasant and comfortable nature of crossing animals. However, it contains a lot of the same ideas. You start on a deserted island and start collecting and crafting things to make them yours. The main difference is the survival component, so you have to survive long enough to do all the activities. The game is a little buggy at times and the console support could be better. Other than that, it is a decent survival game about repairing a deserted island to make it your own.
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Emulators
Price: Free / $4.99
There are many Animal Crossing games on old consoles. Unfortunately, some of them are not available without emulation and so we recommend using an emulator. The three that we think are best for this are the DraStic DS Emulator (button-linked), the M64Plus FZ (Nintendo 64), and the Dolphin Emulator. With these three, you can play the original Animal Crossing (Nintendo 64 or GameCube, of your choice) and Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo DS). We do not condone piracy so please keep original copies of the game so that it is not illegal. Emulators are the best way to experience Animal Crossing on mobile as long as you do so legally.
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Harvest Moon: Light of Hope
Price: $14.99
Harvest Moon is a reasonably decent competitor to Animal Crossing. Players start out on a journey and instead crash near the port city. From there, they set up a farm and live their new life. The game includes quests from the villagers, various events to play through, and a bunch of other things to do. It’s not a direct competitor to one of Animal Crossing’s competitors, although nothing really exists. But still, the same kind of cold experience.
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Happy Street
Price: Free to play
Happy Street is a 2D mix of city building simulation, farming and social segments. You build a city for the benefit of its citizens, collect various resources, farm purposes, customize your character, and explore the surroundings. It’s not quite as in depth as the real Animal Crossing game, but there is definitely enough to scratch that proverbial itch. It’s a reasonably fun game that you can play at your own pace. The only downside is that it looks like you really want to use the Facebook account.
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Minecraft (or Terraria)
Price: $6.99 with in-app purchases
Minecraft is a classic game. It is a decent substitute for the same reason why No Starvation works as a substitute. You can grow things, craft things, explore, build your own buildings, and do whatever you want. That’s right, Animal Crossing doesn’t feel relaxed and there are no cute talking animals. However, every other part of the game is here in some form. You can go hunting, although admittedly it’s not as fun in Minecraft as it is in Animal Crossing. Terraria is clearly a great alternative to Minecraft. You can go with either of them
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Poom Games
Price: Free to play
Poom Games is a developer on Google Play with some games like Animal Crossing. The first is Cat Forest. You start out in the camp, gather visitors, and do a bunch of other things. Players can collect objects, build objects, grow objects, and more. The second option is Animal Camp which is a building around an island resort. It plays a lot like the Cat Forest except there are more animals than cats and it is on an island rather than a forest. Both are decent options as time killers.
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Seabeard
Price: Free to play
Seabeard is one of the oldest platform games like Animal Crossing. You start out as a hacker and from there you can basically do whatever you want. Some of the things you can do include exploring nearby islands, cooking, meeting characters and merchandise, and even rescuing other shipwrecked people. The free-to-play elements are a little less desirable, but the game doesn’t really require all of them. This has been around for about six years and has six years of maturity to build its content.
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Stardew Valley
Price: $6.99
Stardew Valley is an excellent alternative to Animal Crossing for the same reason that Harvest Moon serves as a substitute. You can’t get cute animals or feeling super cold, but everything else is there. You build your abandoned farm, do things for and with local townspeople, go fishing, make things, grow plants, and much more. To be honest, we recommend this first on Harvest Moon because it is in active development and seems to have fewer bugs. Plus, this is free if you use Google Play Pass and $ 6.99 without it (no in-app purchases).
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