All The Cores In Animal Crossing New Horizons

Animal Crossing: New Horizons players have tons of great options when it comes to designing their islands, especially because of the different “cores” of aesthetic design themes. In the New Horizons community, choosing a theme or “core” has become a popular starting point for customizing an island, as it helps players figure out which items and ideas they may need to create the village of their dreams. However, since the game came out in 2020, so many cores have been made that it has become difficult to figure out which one to choose.

New Horizons came out at the perfect time for a game that helps people relax and slow life down. However, the isolation of the pandemic has also gotten fans of the Nintendo Switch title posting about their islands online. With this social pressure and the huge leaps New Horizons made in customization options, many have taken to building the most aesthetically pleasing islands possible according to popular trends.

At first, the most coveted islands were categorized as Cottagecore and Goblincore. Fans have branched out more since then, creating lavish designs that likely never could have been anticipated by Nintendo during the game’s development. But with all the themes fans have created, it has been difficult to keep track of which New Horizons trends are the most popular. For those curious about how they want to design their islands, here are the cores the New Horizons community have come up with.

Cottagecore & Goblincore Are The Essential New Horizons Themes

Cottagecore and Goblincore were the first and most popular themes in the Animal Crossing community when New Horizons first came out. The aesthetic essentially tries to replicate the quaint feeling of small villages stowed away in forest. While the theme may not sound suitable for a game set on a tropical island, its cozy vibe is perfect within New Horizons‘s tone.

Cottagecore and Goblincore slightly differ from each other in how they look. Cottagecore islands, like Twitter user carmeowy’s, tend to be lighter with lots of green, brown, and white colors, and they usually have villagers who look like they belong in a log cabin in a forest like Beau and Erik. Goblincore adds a slight gothic twist to Cottagecore that places more emphasis on darker colors and items like mushrooms. Nevertheless, both offer for players a pleasant experience just by looking at them.

Animal Crossing New Horizons Fairycore Islands Look Best At Night

Fairycore islands swap Cottagecore’s coziness with enchantment, bringing something akin to the magic of Harry Potter into Animal Crossing. Fairycore is the natural development of Cottagecore and Goblincore, as it mingles together the mythical qualities of the latter and lightness of the former. The result is an a sparkly wonderland much like Twitter user gamewithvivian’s popular island that uses wonderful pastel colors, vibrant garden spaces, and glowing items as outdoor decorations.

Accomplishing the Fairycore aesthetic comes with a lot of freedom for the player. While Cottagecore requires naturalistic terraforming to replicate the actual wilderness, those who opt for Fairycore can choose to build either a more symmetrical, orderly island or a wild enchanted forest. The only true requirements are that players pick New Horizons‘s cutest villagers and that they collect star fragments and decorations from Celeste. The glowing items really set the tone for a Fairycore island and make them look amazing when seen at night.

Tropicore, Junglecore, & Swampcore Are The Most Natural Themes For New Horizons

Tropicore, Junglecore, and Swampcore are perhaps the most natural of all New Horizons themes in that they closely align to the game’s island setting. The three are among the latest themes to come to the game, showing that players finally appreciate NewHorizons‘s tropical turn in the series. This is perhaps because recent updates have brought items to the game that are perfect for the concept.

Indeed, new features in New Horizons‘s version 2.0 update have made creating jungle-like settings incredibly fun. Namely, the glowing moss and vine items look perfect in densely wooded areas. They can also be used in DIY recipes for items like the Ruined Arch or the Glowing Moss Statue that can make a Tropicore island appear like a long forgotten city overtaken by nature.

Another beloved aspect about Tropicore, Junglecore, and Swampcore themes in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is that they encourage players to use villagers that are often overlooked. Specifically, the monkey, alligator, and hippo species benefit the greatest because of these themes. Their divisive designs are perfect in rainforest and swamp settings, turning them from the most underappreciated Animal Crossing villagers to the most favored.

Citycore And Towncore Are The Hardest To Pull Off In New Horizons

Of all the themes, Citycore and Towncore are the hardest to create in New Horizons. Constructing a flat, concrete jungle on what is supposed to be a rocky, tropical island is a very difficult feat to accomplish, but what is worse is creating the paths. In a city, all of the ground must be paved over with cement and asphalt to create streets and roads. In New Horizons, this must be done one small patch of ground at a time in a torturous game of patience and resilience.

On top of this, the way players must use New Horizons‘s creative terraforming feature to create multi-level structures and cityscapes is perhaps the most complex Animal Crossing ever gets. To build storefronts with upper floors often takes three tiers of terraforming and the meticulous placing of furniture. After that, players will need to find design codes to make simple panels and bookcases look like brick walls and store logos, which can be an arduous task on top of a list of other duties needed to complete a Citycore or Towncore island.

However, the payoff is often worth the price as can be seen in Instagram user colin.crossing’s magnificent wintery Citycore build. This user became popular in the Animal Crossing community because they created and shared the snowy street pavings seen in his city. Between their paved streets and well placed vehicles, the island shows how close to Animal Crossing: New Leaf‘s Main Street New Horizons can get.

The cores of New Horizons offer themes for players to organize their design choices around. This helps tremendously when collecting items and design codes when preparing for a total island makeover. But ultimately, each individual’s island is created by them and thus does not need to fall under a specific core to be appreciated.

Source: carmeowy/Twitter, gamewithvivian/Twitter, BeffInPandora/Twitter, colin.crossing/Instagram,