Animal Crossing: New Horizons lets players celebrate their birthmarks

As society continues to self-isolate and live under lockdown, people have been turning to very wholesome activities to pass the time – doing puzzles, knitting, baking, masturbating, and playing Animal Crossing.

The latest version of Animal Crossing, ‘New Horizons’ was released last week and has been a record-breaking success, becoming the fastest-selling Switch game ever in Japan and the UK. The game involves roaming around idyllic rural landscapes filled with gentle animals and spending your time doing peaceful activities like fossil hunting and bug collecting.

This new version, which transports players to a deserted island, also allows for gender neutral characters and a greater variety of customisations for your avatar than ever before and it is giving people the opportunity to really see themselves in a game for the first time. Players who have birthmarks, for example, have been able to use a new tool to recreate their own birthmarks and it’s bringing delight and joy. 

“Thank you animal crossing being the first game I’ve played that I can actually have my birthmark!!!” tweeted user @Adrastah alongside pictures of himself and his Animal Crossing character. “First game where I actually feel like myself while playing!!! I’m So happy”

@Randolious wrote: “I’ve always been insecure about my birthmark because there are usually no options that look similar to it, but bless Animal Crossing for it’s amazing customization tools,” while @letstrydrawing said: “GUYS! I finally have my birthmark in a videogame... I'm not crying, you're crying!”

And it’s not just birthmarks that users can create. Because the tool allows you to create any kind of customised patterns, players have been able to represent everything from moles and freckles to Vitiligo. While for some this may seem a relatively insignificant feature, for others seeing their face represented on screen makes all the difference. So props to Animal Crossing, we hope other games will follow in your footsteps. 

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