Island Time in Lockdown: Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Slow Culture and Its Shinto Source

Abstract

This article argues that Animal Crossing: New Horizons embodies the culture of Slowness discovered by many during the covid-19 lockdown in 2020, and that its acclaim points to a future for Slowness in games and, perhaps, in lifestyle more generally. The title will be considered within the context of Radde-Antweiler et al.’s framework of gamevironments, which considers the cultural landscape of a given game based on its technical aspects and its reception among audiences. Through this, the Slowness in the game can be identified. It will subsequently be argued that this Slowness is the result of Shinto presence in the game, as the tradition is largely concerned with the natural environment and mindfulness, contrasting with the values promoted by capitalism and globalisation. Animal Crossing: New Horizons and its popularity point to a growing discontent with the status quo of ‘fast’ living.