The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild boasts one of the most impressive open worlds of any Zelda or Nintendo game. From sprawling deserts filled with billowing sand dunes to grasslands speckled with lakes, its environments inspire those traversing its lands to keep exploring. Now, these beautiful environments are inspiring Animal Crossing: New Horizons players to remake iconic locations from its world, one region and building at a time.
Recreating these sprawling environments in New Horizons is no small task, and presents serious design challenges, as Breath of the Wild is a giant, open-world adventure. As you walk and climb your way through its world, the landscapes tower over Link — the mountains and giant Hyrule castle make Link feel tiny. But New Horizons players have found unique workarounds to capture the feeling of Breath of the Wild.
Oftentimes, Animal Crossing players focus on specific locales or landmarks to remake. Here we see Naydinfar, whose account is largely dedicated to Breath of the Wild builds in Animal Crossing, recreating the Lost Woods. By playing with the perspective and adding lots of dead trees and grass, she’s able to capture the creepy and empty feeling of the Lost Woods from Breath of the Wild.
My recreation of the Lost Woods Entrance from BOTW…… hoping to get some sequel news at the games awards!!! #acnh #ACNHDesign #botw2 pic.twitter.com/5rYXJnz8Iz
— NaydinfarCrossing (@naydinfar) November 29, 2021
The new 2.0 update brought new castle items, giving players the perfect opportunity to recreate Hyrule castle. Naydinfar posted a time-lapse showing the full process of building the castle.
🎋IMPAS HOUSE 🎋
~My New Kakariko Village~🎋IG NaydinfarCrossing🎋
No Reposts, path by @tobimorieko #acnh #ACNHDesigns #Zelda #animalcrossing #botw #ACNHUpdate pic.twitter.com/574LudxStH— NaydinfarCrossing (@naydinfar) November 6, 2021
And here’s the Noble Canteen in Gerudo town.
I’m a bit shy about making and posting interiors but here’s my attempt at the Cantina from BOTW….. Come get a Noble Pursuit!! #acnh #ACNHDesign pic.twitter.com/MxXErypv24
— NaydinfarCrossing (@naydinfar) November 27, 2021
But it’s not just that Breath of the Wild’s world is large. It’s also filled with unique landmarks. In one region called the Thundra Plateau, towering mushroom-like rock formations sprout up from the land. As a result, creators like Narydinfar have found crafty workarounds to portray the specific landmarks. Here, the creator uses literal mushrooms to recreate the terrain of that region.
🐲Farosh🐲 added some new glowing moss to the Thundra Plateau #acnh #ACNHDesigns pic.twitter.com/dMdzMiGy0Q
— NaydinfarCrossing (@naydinfar) December 1, 2021
For comparison, here’s a screenshot of the area in Breath of the Wild.
Other creators have taken inspiration from the atmosphere of the game’s world on their New Horizons’ island. Breath of the Wild takes place in a version of Hyrule that suffered massive devastation. Because of this, the game has lots of areas filled with crumbling ruins for Link to explore. This build recreates that look.
Mabe Village: Link’s Awakening Recreation! 🛡 #acnh #animalcrossing #AnimalCrossingNewHorizons #acnhinspo #zelda pic.twitter.com/zaTrdCmvdm
— Mel 💜 (@ACNH_Barkenos) October 12, 2021
New Horizons also has the perfect items to recreate the Witch’s Hut in Link’s Awakening.
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Others are capturing an even more retro look, seen here from the top-down perspective as a plane flies overhead.
I’ve had good reactions so far, so I wanted to start sharing my Zelda themed island with others. from
animalcrossingdesign
Official Zelda items came to Animal Crossing: New Leaf. However, New Horizons has yet to get an official collaboration with Zelda (and likely won’t since Nintendo said the 2.0 update would be the game’s last). Still, that hasn’t stopped creators from remaking areas in the game as well as making patterns to recreate Link’s outfit in the game.
Source: Polygon