After seven years, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp shut down and left a bittersweet feeling for many, myself included as AC:PC was my very first foray into Animal Crossing. On the plus side, Nintendo has released an offline, paid version of the mobile app called Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete, which was released on December 2nd.
I’ve been continuously playing it since it launched, and if you’re still on the fence about purchasing AC:PCC or would like to know more about what it offers outside the original game, here are my thoughts so far. All screenshots are my own.
The Good
The transfer time for my save data didn’t take too long, and after the game loaded up, I was greeted by Isabelle & K.K. Slider and welcomed to a new area called Whistle Pass. My friends from Pocket Camp who have since transferred to Complete could be found here.
I needed to speak to each friend individually and ask them for help to enter the quarry—they almost always say yes, but on the off chance that they refuse I could easily ask them again. I liked how there was a little bit more of an interactive feeling since there were reactions added when speaking to them. K.K. also usually holds concerts at Whistle Pass daily, where you can listen & sing along.
I also got to create and customize my own cute camper card, which is Complete’s new way of adding friends. The official website provides some usable cards for you to scan and add—feel free to add mine below as well.
Plus, I got the following rewards right off the bat, which was really neat:
- Some seasonal and planner rewards for the month of December
- 5 Complete Tickets which can be used to exchange for an item or cookie of your choice from the Complete Catalogs
- 300+(!) Leaf Tokens for Beginner’s Goals I’d already completed in the original Pocket Camp
What also adds to the experience is that the app can be played while offline, so you only need to connect to the ‘net sparingly, such as for app updates or custom designs—yes, you can download almost any kind of custom design from New Horizons. Will talk more about this as well as the Complete tickets in the next section, as these are just a couple of my favorite parts in the game!
The Great
Add-on benefits from the previous game, such as warehouse use, saved layouts, saved outfits, and a camp caretaker already come with Complete, which is a godsend. It’s especially useful if you have a lot of design & outfit ideas and enjoy having your favorite character following you. I, for one, was super happy to see my last caretaker, Pekoe.
I love being able to save custom design codes from New Horizons—I can even dress up my favorite animals using said codes. I also like the accessibility it provides in that you don’t need to have New Horizons to be able to try out the custom codes in Complete, as you only need a Nintendo account as well as the creator and design codes themselves. You can read all my Animal Crossing Custom Designs posts with design codes for various events, holidays and seasons.
I donned my character and Pekoe in a Pusheen pocket dress and chocolate strawberry cake hat—it was quite serendipitous that Pekoe decided to stop by when I turned on my Switch as well. Here are some side-by-side screenshots:
- Solos of my character in my gaming room (in my New Horizons house & Complete camper)
- Together with Pekoe (including my cute little catchphrase for her, care of my partner, haha!)
Complete Tickets are another godsend. If you’re in an immense need of a certain item that isn’t in the current limited-time rotation or are lacking materials/Bells/Leaf Tokens to craft it, a Complete Ticket can easily sort this out. I was able to finish my gaming room and purchase the dragon plushie using said tickets since I didn’t have the required number of Bells to shell out at the time.
Leaf Tokens also don’t cost as much as Leaf Tickets—for context, a cookie that used to cost 25 Leaf Tickets is now worth 5 Leaf Tokens. Plus, you get to trade a maximum of 100 Leaf Tokens for 50,000 Bells per month, and you get a good amount of Complete Tickets and Leaf Tokens from seasonal event and planner rewards.
I also recommend using Complete Tickets for event items that cost a lot so that you get the most out of the ticket—it’s not as worth it when exchanged for a cookie given that you only get to pick out the cookie from the catalog and not one of the items from the cookie itself.
The Not-So-Good
I actually don’t have much to say about this part, as most of my experience has been really good so far. But looking through the entire catalogs can be incredibly overwhelming, and the organization for the Complete Item Catalog could be improved. I’d really appreciate it if Nintendo added a search function for the catalogs like what they did with inventory items. On the plus side, I’ve already made a note of certain event items I missed that I’m looking forward to exchanging Complete Tickets for…
This was also a bit of a letdown, as I was expecting K.K. to sing a variety of songs like what he does in New Horizons. But at Whistle Pass, he sings the same song repeatedly in the same concert, and only changes his song for the following day. I hope they adjust this and at least have K.K. rotate between three or more songs, and not have the same song in a loop for hours.
Price and Overall Thoughts
While AC:PC was technically free to download, it more or less fell into the “freemium” category as it offered multiple in-game transactions to enhance your playing experience.
On the other hand, AC:PCC only requires a one-time payment before downloading the app. Its regular price goes for $19.99/£17.99, but I recommend getting the game while it’s on an early bird discounted rate at $9.99/£8.99 until January 31st.
Despite the initial price point, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete is, well, pretty much complete with all the benefits you need to have a great and relaxing time playing. Plus, you only need to pay upfront once instead of having renewing costs or subscriptions every month. I rarely purchased packages from the original game, and I could say that you definitely get more bang for your buck here.
You can get Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete via Google Play (Android) or the App Store (Apple). You can also watch the announcement video to see more.
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