Animal Crossing: New Horizons/Doom Eternal crossover celebrates their shared release day

Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Doom Eternal are coming out on the same day, March 20. That simple fact has steadily morphed into the two games being best friends, and now it's spurred the creation of this adorably strange crossover.

The animation by pixel artist Inx imagines a day in the life of the Doom Slayer and Isabelle if they traded places: the hulking form of the Doom Slayer engages in cozy island activities like fetching fruit for friendly neighbors and going fishing, and Isabelle vaporizes hordes of demons. That last closeup of Isabelle's demon-killing face is so good.

This is only the latest manifestation of the unlikely friendship of the two release date buddies. The official Doom Eternal Twitter account has been low-key crushing on Animal Crossing for months. While the Animal Crossing Twitter account hasn't directly returned the affection, the fan community has gladly taken up the cause. I especially enjoy this adorable rendering of Isabelle's plans for March 20, as drawn by fan artist Trinket.

Typically I'd expect two games that share the same release date to nurse at least a friendly rivalry, since people only have so much money and attention. On the other hand, big video game releases don't get much more different than the chilled-out domestic bliss of Animal Crossing: New Horizons and the hypnotic flow-state fragfest of Doom Eternal.

It's hard to imagine somebody saying "Well, I was going to rip and tear in the new Doom, but then I realized Animal Crossing's coming out that day too." Thus an unlikely friendship was born. We can only hope it persists long after their shared release date arrives next month.

It's hard to believe, but other video games are coming out too - check out our guide to the best upcoming games of 2020 and beyond.