I’m so glad Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete exists

When mobile games inevitability shut down, we’ve become accustomed to total disappearance. Typically, we get a brief and sombre message, a few weeks to mourn a great loss, and then a game will be sent into the sunset, never to be seen again. With a notable sense of care, Animal Crossing: Pocket Complete has defied these trends, and set a new example for how mobile games should be treated.

I never want to see another good mobile game disappearing, simply because of an always-online server.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete is a siloed version of the original Pocket Camp that can be played offline. While you need a connection for updates, it doesn’t require constant server access. And so, it will last forever. Its tiny, digital villagers will roam freely, and anyone who wants to play Pocket Camp can do so, in perpetuity.

In this offline transition, Nintendo has also made the game much, much better through the removal of microtransactions, and the addition of bright new features.

Previously, Pocket Camp felt lightly predatory in approach. Without paying for the app, you could still have a lovely time – but its prettiest furniture and accessories were locked away behind paid pulls. There was also a range of members-only features that made the game more approachable, and made your time with it more productive. In Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete, these features are now available for everyone. There are no barricades, beyond the purchase of the app (for reference, it’s currently AUD $9.99).

If you tried Pocket Camp while it was free with microtransactions, you’ll now find a wide open world to explore. Not only are you awarded new Leaf Tokens to pull for unique furniture, clothing, and accessories, you can now spend “Complete Tickets” to unlock any Fortune Cookie pulls from the past. You can also appoint a Camp Caretaker who will help out villagers, collect bugs, fish, and earn items in your absence, speeding your progress through quests.

You can now tend to the needs of your villagers more easily. You can catch special fish and bugs with ease. Stretch goals are a breeze. And most importantly, you can earn Leaf Tokens and in-game currency at speed, easing the stress of choosing which fortune cookies to pull from, and without the added pressure of spending your heard-earned real world money.

You can have a beautiful home, and a beautiful town centre, all without frittering away your cash on fortune cookie pulls. All that’s left is a lovely, fun game filled with collectible items, all earned by completing goals that feel achievable.

Read: Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will drop its live service features in November

While it remains slightly more shallow than its console counterpart, Pocket Camp is still a very neat distraction, and novel for being available on mobile. Any time you want, you can simply open your phone, have a chat with your favourite Animal Crossing villagers, open fortune cookies to collect fun items, and decorate your village spaces. I’ve been particularly enjoying opening fortune cookies of past seasons, pulling for gothic furniture with those earned Complete Tickets.

My dream is to establish a Halloween-themed campsite, in time for next October. So when Jack appears for his rotating seasonal event, he’ll be greeted by a raft of spooky trees, star adornments, and pumpkins, all placed in tribute.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete is generous in handing out its rewards, so I expect it won’t be long before I’m able to create my perfect campsite.

With its refreshed, microtransaction-free design, this version of Pocket Camp really is a lovely creation – not only for its cosy, casual gameplay, but also for its very existence. Nintendo could quite easily have pulled the plug on the game entirely, as it’s done for many of its past mobile experiments. But it understood the connection Pocket Camp had with its audience, and the joy that still surrounds Animal Crossing.

In a very rare, and very appreciated move, Nintendo has saved this wholesome game for the future, ensuring it will remain accessible in the years to come, and that players won’t have to say goodbye to their animal friends.

By nature, mobile games with live service elements tend to exist only for a few years – just enough time to make a major impressive – before they’re whisked away into the ether. Shutting them down entirely may be unavoidable in the face of high server costs and always-online functionality, but in future, more games should take the path of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete.