For those who haven’t played Animal Crossing: New Leaf, there was a feature that is currently exclusive to that title known as the Dream Suite. This building allowed players to access the towns of other players, but without interacting with the other player or being able to permanently affect the town. As visited towns were seen in the player’s dreams, these visits could be compared to an interactive photo of the town, rather than an actual visit.
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Because visitors couldn’t actually affect the town by visiting, some Animal Crossing town creators used the resources available to create a concept known as “story towns.” As the name implies, the towns were crafted around telling visitors a story of some kind. One of the earliest of these towns was Aika Village, but due to the horror nature of this town, visitation isn’t recommended for those who are easily frightened.
What was Aika Village?
Like the pro-design kiosk of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, players could upload codes of their towns for Dream Suite usage. The code for Aika Village in Animal Crossing: New Leaf is 2D00-002A-49A0 for those who want to experience the story for themselves. This code is only compatible with Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the Nintendo 3DS.
Aika Village itself was made by an Animal Crossing player that went under the name of Garakku when interviewed by Japanese gaming magazine, Nintendo Dream. The exact story of the town is meant to be up for interpretation by those who tour it in their dreams. Players should note that the text entered by the creator when visiting will be in Japanese only.
The village is designed in a linear fashion so that players can experience the story pieces in the order that Garakku intended. Players enter the town in the plaza which has been completed covered in custom pattern pathing designed to look like television static. Next to the bed that the player wakes up in is a dolly furniture item, which is one of the main sources of theories and speculation around Aika Village. Before leaving the plaza, players should pick up a shovel from Lloid as there are many spots to dig up.
As players walk around the plaza, they will see numerous fountains build that lie in the middle of the static as well as trees growing perfect golden peaches. Wandering throughout the town is Aika herself, a girl villager wearing a red hat and poofy red clothes. Translated, she will say: “This is inside of my dream.” Animal villagers will also be wearing the same clothes as Aika, as well as have their own dolly items in their homes.
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There is a house near the plaza that serves as the first story location. Inside, there’s a scene of a birthday party for a mannequin that is dressed up in the same clothes as Aika where Hypno K.K. plays in the background of the scene. Turning on the television will only display static similar to the entrance to Aika Village itself. An entrance to a room can be seen in the back, but it is blocked by a dresser and is inaccessible to visiting players. A blue doll is sitting on top of the dresser. Upstairs is a bedroom for a child containing drawings made by a child as well as a dolly dressed similarly to Aika among other toys.
There are many details to the town and players are recommended to search through it on their own. However, if players are a little too fearful or just don’t own a copy of Animal Crossing: New Leaf, there are plenty of videos of Aika Village tours. One of the most popular theories about the village is that Aika was given a killer doll for her birthday that ruined her life. Others speculate that the doll could’ve been an outlet for Aika’s struggles in life and it just existing brought upon a downfall in Aika. Details such as Aika’s shoes found on the beach could possibly mean that the story ended with Aika taking her own life.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons and the Return of Aika Village
With Animal Crossing: New Horizons allowing many more furniture options as well as the ability to place furniture outside, the frightening imagery caused by Aika Village could return if Garakku wishes. Ninji’s recent datamine revealing information about the Dream Suite returning also helps this possibility.
Garakku has been posting what seems to be progress posts for a new Aika Village on Twitter which seems to be a full remake of the village, but not too many details have been posted yet. The above tweet shows a remake of one of the rooms in the original Aika Village, but Garakku noting that the size difference between the Venus and David statues has changed completely from Animal Crossing: New Leaf to Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
According to translations of his tweets, this new Aika Village will be called Aika Island. After it is completed, Garakku will be uploading a video touring the island. However, if Ninji’s theory about the Dream Suite coming back is true, players will be able to experience Aika Village themselves all over again.
The return of the Dream Suite could also mean the possibility of story towns making a comeback. With the amount of new players, plenty of creators are sure to make islands that cause even more nightmare fuel than the original Aika Village. Even in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, there were other horrific story towns such as the grisly and gory Hitokui, which had players tour through a town filled with cannibals.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now for Nintendo Switch.
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