Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been review bombed since its release, resulting in a user score of 5.1 on Metacritic (via Nintendo Life).

If you don’t play Animal Crossing, I’m sure you’re still well-versed in the concepts of the turnip economy, terraforming, and tarantula islands. The game has been a runaway success, and though Nintendo felt disheartened about releasing the game during a global crisis, it’s raking in the real-world Bells. New Horizons is the king of the castle in the retail charts in the UK, but the game has been weathering a flurry of negative user reviews on Metacritic since its release in March. 

A handful of these reviews describe valid criticisms, like the fact that island progression is determined by the first player to become a resident in the game, and that there is only one island to one console. However, to imply that the game deserves a score of 0 for these aspects, is slightly extreme. Here’s a snippet of those especially critical reviews:

  • “Locked to a single island per console in a disgusting money grabbing attempt from Nintendo. Also a stupid game in general- who likes doing chores to get out of debt from a raccoon? Plebians.”
  • “I really enjoy the game but the decision to make player two practically useless was a big mistake. I hope nintendo makes an update so each profile can have different islands”
  • “Absolutely infuriating. You put out a solid game and give it GARBAGE RESTRICTIONS!!!! One island per CONSOLE? How GREEDY ARE YOU?? As if your popular system and popular game aren’t enough?! You need FORCE people who want their own island in a household to have their own system? What kind of COMMUNISM IS THIS?! Trash. Upset that I purchased and already opened it.”

There are almost 2,000 negative user reviews of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a stark contrast to the critic score which is 91. In more cheerful Animal Crossing news, actor Elijah Wood visited a player’s island to sell his turnips. He was polite and admirable, exemplifying the game’s etiquette by asking for fruit before picking it from the trees.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is out now, for the Nintendo Switch.