There’s one thing you know for sure when spending money on an ongoing game – eventually, it’ll shut down. No matter how huge it may be, maintaining live operations on a game is expensive in both money and time, and sooner or later the servers will be switched off. Nintendo announced that would be happening for Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp earlier this year – their mobile version of the Animal Crossing series, originally released in 2017. But instead of shrugging their shoulders and moving on, Nintendo has released a new, fully offline version of the game in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete. In doing so, not only have they extended the life of this game for its dedicated fans, but they’ve opened it up to a whole new audience – and made it way, way better.
I briefly dabbled in the original Pocket Camp when it was first released, but bounced off very quickly. Immediately I found myself fraying against the monetisation of the game. It didn’t fit with what drew me to the series in the first place – it’s hard to enjoy the fantasy of living in a little town with no real worries when the game is constantly asking you “wanna spend 10 bucks?”. But the release of Pocket Camp Complete completely removes that pressure, fixing the core issue with the original game. You couldn’t spend any money in-game even if you wanted to.
It doesn’t make an incredible first impression though. The interface still has that familiar, overwhelming feeling of a freemium game. Events and limited-time offers pile up on the side of the screen, and icons jump around and flash at you. The problem is that the standard mobile game playbook (constantly yelling “Hey, you’d better do this thing before you miss out!”) is antithetical to the vibe of the series. Sometimes you just want to walk around your campsite without a giant popup taking half the screen, yelling at you to talk to your animals. It also makes it difficult to find your feet when you’re starting out – there’s so much competing for your attention that it’s hard to focus on any one thing. But as with most of these games, you learn the game’s language as you go along. The popups and notifications start to fade into the background.
Once you get over that hump, Pocket Camp Complete does a pretty good job of capturing the Animal Crossing loop in a mobile-friendly package. Instead of having one large area to roam around, there are a bunch of smaller areas you travel between using a map. Each of them usually has an animal to talk to and complete requests from, some fruit trees to harvest, and an activity like bug catching or fishing. Opening up the game to clear out an island or two makes for a great time-killer in those waiting-for-the-bus moments. Then when you’ve got some more time to spend, you can dive into the customisation aspects.
And there is a whole lot to customise. You can completely design your campsite, your camper van, your outfit, the outfits of all the animals (once you’re good enough friends), your amenities… oh, and you can upgrade almost everything over time as well. There are thousands of furniture items alone, plus all of the clothing, flowers, and event-specific items. There are also minigames like the Happy Homeroom classes, where you’re given interior design challenges based on themes. Plus seasonal fishing events, gardening, becoming a trade mogul with Gulliver’s Ship – you get the picture. It’s a whole lot of content.
It does feel a bit bizarre at times, because the structure of microtransactions is still there. It’s blisteringly clear that Leaf Tokens (previously called Leaf Tickets, the premium currency), are used for all the fun things. There’s a Gacha system (of course) in the form of fortune cookies, another cute mobile take on a slot machine. The vast majority of the best furniture and clothing, especially the seasonal goodies, are locked behind these cookies.
“Where the mainline games fulfil the fantasy of having an interest-free mortgage, Pocket Camp Complete fulfils the fantasy of having an unlimited Google Play budget”
So the question is, what happens when you remove the dollars from behind those purchases? The answer, unsurprisingly, is it feels amazing. The doors to seven years of content have been thrown wide open, and you get to feel a bit like you’re cheating. The game is very generous with doling out leaf tickets to you, and the prices are significantly lower than in the original game, so from day one you have access to some really fun stuff. Yet they still feel special, and deciding what to go for feels meaningful – you’re not so awash with leafy cash that it feels meaningless. I’m still early in my campsite journey, but it feels like they’ve found a sweet spot with the pacing. There are all these fun, cute, unique decorations for me to work towards, and I get to do it without spending another cent.
It’s perhaps a little depressing how exciting this is, but these kinds of microtransactions are here to stay. The ability to get that same rush of excitement from rolling a rare item, knowing that I didn’t just spend my lunch money to get it, is fantastic. Where the mainline games fulfil the fantasy of having an interest-free mortgage, Pocket Camp Complete fulfils the fantasy of having an unlimited Google Play budget.
This standalone release also adds a new currency called Complete Tickets, which can be exchanged for any individual item from any of the limited-time or event collections. These are much harder to come by, but they mean there’s a solid way to get any item in the game. Nintendo have also included new events and fortune cookies which will be slowly released until September 2025 – so there’s still new content coming for a little while.
Because of that, it’s easy to recommend this game to pretty much anyone. It’s overwhelming at the start, but take your time to explore the game slowly and you’ll be rewarded with hours and hours of enjoyment. Pocket Camp Complete has made its way into my daily rotation of gaming, and is the first thing I reach for on the train or in a queue. There’s always something you can jump in and do quickly, and there’s heaps of gorgeous furniture and clothing to unlock.
The game is launching at half-price until January 31st, so if you’re looking to pick it up, sooner might be better. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete is available on iOS and Android.
About the Author
Douglas Rintoul
he/him
Douglas is a writer, comedian, performer, and software developer who enjoys procrastinating any and all responsibilities by playing and replaying games. You can find him performing at the arts festivals around Australia, both solo and with his sketch comedy group Bits Akimbo.
