Animal CrossingNPCs are all about filling a role, but one of the best characters has lost her perfect position in recent years. MostAnimal CrossingNPCs fit one of two categories — either they’re busy at their usual jobs, likeBlathers running the museum, Isabelle handling village affairs, and the Able sisters delivering stylish fits, or they’ve largely been left behind, like Resetti, Joann, and Chip.
Celeste, on the other hand, currently occupies a gray zone. She hasn’t been replaced by a successor as a night sky expert, but she still appears a lot less frequently than inAnimal Crossing: Wild World, City Folk,andNew Horizons. Rather than having a dedicated role,Celeste simply shows up during meteor showers, and the next game should pay her some respect by changing course.
Celeste Deserves A Home In Animal Crossing
A Stargazer Cursed To Roam
In all fairness, Celeste’s role inNew Horizonsmakes reasonable sense.Animal Crossingis all about chance occurrences, and it’s nice to see Celeste when the firmament calls her. It also means she gets a lot less screen time, though, and there’s no reason for such an iconic character to spend another game out of the spotlight.
I spent plenty of nighttime hours playingNew Horizonswhen it first came out, and even if it was just my own bad luck,it took me quite a long time before I ever encountered Celeste. It’s a stark contrast to theexperience I had withWild Worldgrowing up, where Celeste and one of the game’s coolest activities were always at hand.
The Observatory Is The Perfect Museum Add-On
Animal Crossing Abandoned An Awesome Feature
Celeste’s debut inWild Worldand her subsequent appearance inCity Folktasked her withrunning the museum’s observatory, where players could chart their own constellations in the stars. While simple, it was one of the coolest small features in the games, allowing for a sense of self-expression to be written across the night sky itself.
New Leafremoved the observatory and sent Celeste to the gift shop instead, a relatively substantial role that didn’t quite play to her strengths.HerNew Horizonsrole re-focuses on her love for the stars, but it’s still a bit underwhelming compared to both preceding ideas.
New Horizonsdidn’t fully flesh out its museum until later updates, but it’s a shame that theobservatory didn’t arrivewith them. Getting the museum right from the start should be a priority for the nextAnimal Crossinggame, and as for my two cents, bringing Celeste back to the observatory should be the number one priority.
