‘Dinkum’ Takes What Makes ‘Animal Crossing’ Great and Improves on It in So Many Ways, I May Never Go Back

Wɐu’ ʍǝ loʌǝ ∀nsʇɹɐlᴉɐ˙ Whoa, I don’t know what happened there, sorry about that. Guess I just had to get my head back on straight after visiting the land down under with Katie in Dinkum. The Animal Crossing series is one of those franchises that I hold incredibly near and dear to my heart. New Leaf, in particular, is one of my favorite games of all time. So much so that I got a tattoo dedicated to the game once I hit around 2,000 hours of playtime. Yes, I loved it that much. Imagine my shock when I discovered that this silly little Australian life-sim was going to make an even bigger splash in our lives than the latest Nintendo offering.

Sure, ‘Animal Crossing’ May Be Cuter, but You Can’t Make a Ute or a Jetski

I first played Dinkum about 2 years ago, and sadly refunded it because controller support, at the time, was abysmal. After waiting for the game to leave Early Access and hit version 1.0, I decided now was a better time than ever to give it a shot. Boy howdy, am I glad that I did. After both of us finished our first day on the island, we booted into multiplayer. Over the years, both Katie and I have grown to love multiplayer cozy games like this, but Dinkum is built differently. For example, in something like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, what players could do while playing in multiplayer was rather limited. Here? Everything, and I mean everything, is available. We could progress through the story together, go on little adventures, or just mess around.

The world was our oyster, and it was that way from the beginning. Everything we did together benefited both of us. We could share our resources, pooling them together to craft storage boxes, or trade items that matched with our licenses. Freedom is what it’s all about in Dinkum, and the multiplayer experience runs circles around New Horizons. Within a week of in-game time, we had crafted a shop, a boat, and plenty of other little kitchy trash that we could scatter around our home base. We were having the time of our lives, and Dinkum knows how to keep the party going.

Being Able To Play Through ‘Dinkum’ Together Makes the Adventure So Much More Fun

But, what about those couples that don’t just want to craft and capture butterflies together? What if you’ve got that hunting/gathering gene in your system, and you just need to shank a kangaroo? Well, you can also do that. Dinkum has in-depth fishing mechanics, as well as hunting, mining, crafting, tree cutting, survival gameplay, and just about anything in between. The variety of things you can do while playing Dinkum is nothing short of astounding, to be honest. The fact that Dinkum is developed by one person is insane to me, especially considering the amount of polish the game has.

There are even a few things that took both of us by surprise. Dinkum has native voice chat, and if you turn it on and speak to your multiplayer partner, your character’s mouth moves. I thought I was seeing things because we were sitting next to one another, and my little Dink’s mouth looked like it was moving when we were talking. Well, after Katie noticed my voice coming out of her speakers, we discovered why that was happening. There are so many wonderful little details throughout the world of Dinkum, and it’s so much fun finding everything together.

We’ve Been Playing Every Night Since We Got ‘Dinkum’, and I Can Tell We’ve Barely Scratched the Surface

Dinkum is a game that’s all about quality and quantity. There’s so much stuff to do here. You can tell that James Bendon genuinely cares about crafting the best experience he possibly can. Dinkum is a labor of love in the greatest sense of the word. You can tell James was tired of cozy games telling him what he could and couldn’t do, and he decided to take things into his own hands. Something that I’m incredibly glad that he did. Dinkum can be incredibly cozy, incredibly stressful, or a combination of anything in between. Forming relationships and friendships with people visiting your islands, then going out to collect Roo Poo and fight Aligators is something you can’t do anywhere else.

Dinkum is also a massive game. There’s plenty of landmass to explore already, but I can tell we’re only scratching the surface so far. Checking the Steam screenshots, I’m seeing caves, gliders, and so much more that we haven’t even unlocked yet. I know this is one of those games that is going to keep Katie and me occupied for hundreds, if not thousands, of hours. At this point, I’m ready to pack up and move to Australia myself if it’s anything like Dinkum.

Oh, wait, I forgot about Huntsman Spiders. Never mind. I’m sticking with Dinkum.