5 years after Animal Crossing: New Horizons, fans of the cozy sim want more – so naturally they're using a literal "summoning circle" to make it happen at today's Nintendo Direct

Animal Crossing: New Horizons arrived in a COVID-ridden 2020, taking the world by storm with its cozy charms and comforting gameplay loop – but now that the recent Nintendo Direct rumors were officially confirmed, fans are ready for a new entry in the wholesome series.

It's that time of year again, folks. The Nintendo Direct is going live today at 2pm BST / 9am ET / 6am PT, which means that we desperate fans are doing our best to manifest titles we'd love to see finally come to fruition – which, of course, must include a new Animal Crossing game. Five years have passed since New Horizons, after all, with major content updates coming to a halt in 2021 with 2.0 (not counting bug fixes and more minor patches).

How will we make it happen, though? While I'm not sure myself, some fans are taking more *ahem* drastic measures to conjure up a new Animal Crossing entry. As seen on Reddit, user Woodz0123 is one such fan, going as far as jokingly making a little summoning circle to prompt an announcement from Nintendo – and it's not the first time they've done so, either, apparently. Talk about dedication…

Tomorrow 🤞 from r/AnimalCrossing

"Please work… this is the second summoning circle I've made," writes the hopeful fan. The attached image shows a Nintendo Switch 2 surrounded by four Animal Crossing games: New Horizons, Wild World, City Folk, and the original GameCube title. The comments under Woodz0123's thread are almost as hilarious as their original post itself, with one pointing out that the so-called "summoning circle" isn't exactly up to snuff.

"I do not want to disappoint you," writes the responder, "but that's a Summoning Square. You may get Dragon Quest Builder 3 out of it, though." Woodz0123 replies, "Just imagine there is a circle that crosses the games." I, for one, wouldn't mind seeing either announcement – both Animal Crossing and Dragon Quest Builders fit the cozy, creative niche I so crave to see new games come out of.

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for today's Nintendo Direct showcase – although I'm not sure I'll set my own summoning circle up myself, as tempting as it seems. Here's hoping that Woodz0123's is powerful enough to channel all of our Animal Crossing-shaped desires.

Looking for new games to play while waiting for an announcement from Nintendo? Here are great games like Animal Crossing to check out.