Okay, so, listen up! I’m gonna walk you through how I put together my Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH) villager tier list for 2023. It was a whole thing, trust me.
First things first, I started by playing… a LOT. I mean, hours and hours. I wanted to actually know the villagers, not just look at pictures online. I talked to them, gave them gifts, watched their personalities shine (or, you know, not shine). This was the groundwork. No way I was gonna make a tier list based on some random internet opinion. I needed my own real-world, in-game experience.
Then I made a list of all the villagers I encountered. Seriously, every single one. All 391. Yeah, it was a long list! I used the ACNH Guide app. I installed it on my phone, created a checklist and marked each one as I met them on different islands.
Next up, the categorization began. This was tricky. I considered a few things:
- Personality: Were they always grumpy? Super peppy? Did they give good advice or just repeat the same lines over and over? I really paid attention to how they made me feel when I interacted with them.
- Design: Okay, let’s be honest, some villagers are just objectively cuter than others! I looked at their color palettes, their clothing styles, and just overall how visually appealing they were.
- House Interior: Did they have a cool, themed house? Or was it just a jumbled mess of random furniture? I like those that fit well in my island.
I started rough, making broad categories, really broad at first. I used a simple text editor on my pc. One document per tier.
Then, the agonizing began. It was all about the fine details. Was this villager really better than that one? Did their personality outweigh their design flaws? I moved villagers around between tiers constantly.
This is where it got messy (and real). I consulted some online resources. Not to copy, but to see if my impressions aligned with the general consensus. I cross-referenced my list with several popular tier lists that I found with a quick search. I wasn’t looking to be told what to think. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t completely off-base on anything.
Finally, after much deliberation, I had my list. I broke it down into tiers, from S (the absolute best) to F (the… less desirable). It was tough, but I stood by my choices. I transferred from my text editor to an excel file that I printed, just for the sake of having it physically!
This whole process took me like 2 weeks, but I think it was worth it. I now have a villager tier list that I truly believe in, and it’s based on my own personal experience in the game. So, yeah, that’s how I made my ACNH villager tier list for 2023!
