The new Fantasy Life game might just fill that Animal Crossing: New Horizons-shaped void in our lives

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It's giving New Horizons and Zelda vibes

Fantasy Life: The Girl Who Steals Time
(Image credit: Level-5)

The new Fantasy Life game looks like it could be the next best thing for Animal Crossing: New Horizons players.

During the Nintendo Direct yesterday, we were treated to the reveal of Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, the next game in the Fantasy Life series. Not only did Nintendo unveil the game for the first time, but it also gave us a brand new trailer which very quickly received some Animal Crossing: New Horizons comparisons. 

Prior to The Girl Who Steals Time, the  Fantasy Life series was just made up of a 3DS game from 2012 and a mobile spin-off which has since been shut down. The game is an RPG and life sim hybrid that sees players do all the things you'd expect to see in a life sim as well as a range of fantasy elements like slaying dragons and taking on roles. 

For the latest installment of the Fantasy Life series, it looks like developer Level-5 has taken inspiration from another very well-known Nintendo life sim. As you can see from the Fantasy Life: The Girl Who Steals Time trailer, which we've added below, the series has upgraded its visuals for The Nintendo Switch and now features a similar look to Animal Crossing: New Horizons. To be fair, the previous installment of the series had a very similar look - it was just a little more pixelated to make it fit on the Nintendo 3DS' little screen. 

It isn't just how the game looks that's piqued Animal Crossing fans' interest - some of the features in the game are also very reminiscent of the island getaway game. First of all, this Fantasy Life game is set on an island, which players can build up and customize however they want - this includes altering the island's terrain, much in the same way that players can Terraform in New Horizons. There's also the option to chop down trees, cook meals, arrange furniture in your home and customize your character, which is all very Animal Crossing-like.

Since Nintendo seems to be taking a back seat when it comes to new Animal Crossing: New Horizons these days - the 2.0 update was the game's "last free major content update" - Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time could be the next best thing for fans when it releases sometime this year. 

If you need something to play in the meantime, take a look at our games like Animal Crossing list. 

Hope Bellingham
Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.