There’s nothing like sitting down to a game you believe will be relaxing and enjoyable, pouring in the hours, and then accidentally drowning because you’re too dumb to swim AND stay out of the water. I know, unreasonable expectations. Animal Crossing hit the gaming community by storm for those who love Stardew Valley type games and are fans of the long running Animal Crossing series.
The game is undeniably cute, relaxing, but after the first time you pass out, you might be concerned. Can you actually die in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?
No, there is no permanent death in Animal Crossing. At this point the closest to dying in Animal Crossing you can get is to be stung or poisoned by dangerous insects, resulting in you passing out and returning to your home. At this point there is no permanent death in Animal Crossing: New Horizons with the gravestone in the Nintendo Direct store appearing decorative versus a hint of things to come.
This doesn’t mean that some bees or tarantulas can’t ruin your day – because they very much can. But they’re not going to wipe out months or (in the future) years of gaming.
Read on to learn more the mechanics around passing out, and why perma-death probably is not going to end up coming to this game short of maybe an independent (mod) project.
Why Is There No Death In Animal Crossing
Honestly, that mechanic just doesn’t fit. Like in past Animal Crossing games or in games like Harvest Moon, My Time At Portia, and Stardew Valley, the idea of passing out and resetting to a new day makes sense. It keeps mechanics simple, it gives a penalty to pushing too far (with the exception of Portia), but it doesn’t ruin the relaxed chill vibe that each of these games are going for.
You don’t play Animal Crossing to stress out about how a scorpion or hive of bees can murder the heck out of you when you just want to play the game, enjoy it, and relax.
So you can faint if you find yourself assaulted by bees, scorpions, or spiders (or all of the above). But you just return to your home, looking a bit worse for wear in the short term.
There is no death. No loss of character, no loss of game.
And even the bruised face and swollen eye from bee stings is somehow cute on these character figures.
Not having death in this game is a good move. Although the troll by some of the developers of showing an early access video before release where the character passes out and the screen goes black…then ending the presentation there BEFORE showing waking up at home – that was really, really funny.
It’s also unfortunately why there are a bunch of articles saying “Dying in Animal Crossing might be possible” when new players are looking for the answer to this question. However the answer is a firm NO! You can pass out from insect bites and stings. You can not, repeat can NOT die in the new Animal Crossing game.
Dangerous Insects in Animal Crossing
So how do you avoid getting stung, bit, or otherwise poisoned? Fortunately most of the animals are harmless but there are a few to be wary of.
There are 5 insects in Animal Crossing that can cause your character harm in some way, shape, or form including causing you to faint and reappear the next morning in your house.
Those animals in New Horizons that can hurt you include:
- Fleas
- Mosquitoes
- Scorpions
- Tarantulas
- Wasps
Some of these insects are only found at night, and tarantulas love chasing you down so be wary of that. A little sprint might not be enough to clear you completely out of harm’s way.
I can tell you from experience those little bastards are pretty persistent.
Can You Drown in Animal Crossing New Horizons?
This is a really oddly specific question when it comes to trying to figure out how to die in Animal Crossing. No, you can’t drown. Swimming was added after the initial release and while some YouTubers have found creative ways to block themselves into the Ocean to see what happens (“The City” sends a rescue crew to “dig you out”), you’re not going to drown in this game.
Can Villagers Die in Animal Crossing?
No, villagers can’t die, but you can replace one out and get a new NPC villager coming in to take his/her place. That way you can replace a villager NPC you don’t care as much about to get one in whom you do.
What Happens When You Faint in Animal Crossing?
When you “die” in the game of Animal Crossing, aka faint, not much happens. You fall, get a blackout screen, and you wake up back at your house.
That’s it. Depending on how you fainted you may have the appearance of a swollen face and look like a bunch of insects beat you up, which is a nice touch from the graphics team, but otherwise you’re just back home.
In Conclusion
You can’t die in Animal Crossing. Which is completely the right move. Fainting and being transported from where you traveled and worked is punishment enough and gives a degree of concern when you come across these scary little buggers.
I wouldn’t expect this to change anytime soon as the types of games that fall into the same genre as Animal Crossing are all about the relaxation and adding a death mechanic…well that just wouldn’t make much sense, would it?
Other Video Game Articles You May Love
- Can My Animals Die in Stardew Valley?
- 17 Tips to Play My Time at Portia
- How to Finish Mei’s Photo Mission My Time at Portia
- Where Are All the Stardrop Fruit in Stardew Valley?
Proud to embrace the locally created moniker of “Corrupt Overlord” from one of the all time great Lords of Waterdeep runs, Shane is one member of the Assorted Meeples crew and will be hard at work creating awesome content for the website. He is a long-time player of board games, one time semi-professional poker player, and tends to run to the quirky or RPG side of things when it comes to playing video games. He loves tabletop roleplaying systems like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Werewolf, Fate, and others, and not only has been a player but has run games as DM for years. You can find his other work in publications like Level Skip or Hobby Lark.