Ranking your favorite Animal Crossing villagers feels like ranking your kids (but I'm doing it anyway)
We're still doing Animal Crossing content, right?
Are you still playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons? Or did you abandon your villagers like a MONSTER? I fall into the former camp, still dutifully logging in every day to the lovely island of Krakoa. I dig up the fossils I already have all of, pick up DIY recipes I probably already have, and tell Redd to fuck off when he’s there with all fake art. I also still make sure to talk to every single villager on my island at least once a day. I invited these ten critters onto an island in the middle of nowhere, the least I can do is say hi to them. That said, of course there are some of them I like more than others. Besides one exception, I don’t deliberately force anyone out though. If someone I want comes through the campsite, I play the dumb card game and then reset until they want to send away an acceptable person (reading that somehow sounds crueler than annoying a villager into leaving). That means sometimes I’m stuck with someone I’m meh about until someone new comes along. Still, I am mostly a fan of all my villagers. Which means I’m going to do the totally chill thing and rank them in order of how much I love each of them. We’re going least to most, let’s go.
10. Cally
Cally is… fine. She’s nice enough, and she lives in a house that looks like a back yard, which is neat. But she’s not particularly memorable. If there’s a villager I forget to talk to, it’s her. Even from a design standpoint, Cally might be the least interesting. She’s the most straight up squirrel villager amongst the squirrels. She’s fine.
9. Reneigh
Reneigh was one of the first two villagers I had when I started my island. I do like her design a lot, with the “piercings” on her ear and under her eye. She is not the brightest villager (that’s going to be a theme on my island, most of them are lovable idiots), but she makes up for it with heart. The biggest thing dragging her down is that as one of the starter villagers, her house is basic and terrible.
8. Winnie
Through no deliberate effort, I have ended up with three different “popstar” personality villagers on my island. I like the personality type, a charming combination of vapidness, determination, and optimism. That said, having three of them is a lot. Winnie is the last of the three to have arrived and is therefore my least favorite of them. The star on her head is a cool design touch, which bumps her up from the bottom.
7. Peanut
Basically a combination of Cally and Winnie. Peanut has the popstar personality with a better squirrel design. I appreciate the overwhelming pink aesthetic in her design and in her home. Her home is in a bit of an annoying spot on the island because I didn’t know any better when I started and I’ve been too lazy to move it.
6. Hornsby
Hornsby is one of the two lazy villagers I have, which in Animal Crossing world means he is weird as hell. He talks about talking to bugs and eating everything on the island constantly. However, he is a very soothing shade of blue and lazy villagers are some of the nicest, so I am a fan of him and talking to him, even with all the bug talk.
5. Ankha
The only thing keeping Ankha this low on the list is that I’ve only had her on the island for about a week. I adore the gimmick design villagers, and Ankha’s is especially great. She has a giant pyramid in her house! She says “me meow!” She is going to climb this ranking as time goes on, I know it.
4. Sprinkle
The original popstar resident of my island. She was one of the first to arrive, which means I have more of an attachment to her than Winnie or Peanut. The round softness of all the penguin villagers is adorable, and that color scheme in the swirl on her head is excellent. Plus she wears great sweaters, so that’s obviously a plus.
3. Apollo
I was not immediately sold on Apollo at first. He’s a grumpy villager, and his whole vibe (bald eagle, birthday of July 4th) had me worried. Turns out he rules! His house is styled after old spaceship stuff, that jacket is stylish as hell, and he almost immediately revealed himself to be a big ole softie with a heart of gold. Plus him holding onto things with his wings will always be funny to me.
2. Lucky
If you know me, you immediately see why I love Lucky. He’s another lazy villager, and we’ve gone over that I love that weirdness. But more than that just look at him. He’s a mummified spooky boy. He lives in a literal graveyard. He talks to bugs. He’s also sweet as can be. I will always protect my spooky son.
1. Whitney
Whitney is incredible. She’s a snooty villager which means she’s only nice on very rare occasions. She’s obsessed with herself. She’s pretty mean, having bullied multiple villagers into changing their catchphrases or adapting hers. Her catchphrase is now “bébé” because I thought it would be hilarious, and I was right. But she’s also one of my closest friends on the island, often telling me she’s so glad she moved to Krakoa and made such a good friend. She is a fickle, iron-fisted tyrant and I can’t help but love her.