Animal Crossing is an odd franchise. Compared to the other games that have a specific objective, Animal Crossing is an interesting social simulation game where the enjoyment is in the journey and not so much the destination. In this sense, you’ll be walking around talking to NPCs, decorating your living spaces, inviting villagers to your campsite, and crafting new and exciting clothing and furniture to give the area your own personal touch.

However, seeing that there’s no real urgency nor specific objectives in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, aside from the Time Goals, and since there are many, many things to do, it’s easy to lose track of what to prioritize. If you’re just starting out, then you’ll probably benefit a lot from taking a look at this beginner’s guide, where we’ll be talking about the basic aspects of the game, as well as give some guidance of the things you should be focusing on.

First Off, Have Fun!

This might come off as a bit conceited but bear with us for a bit.

Animal Crossing, as a series, is quite a different experience than other games. Instead of having something to work towards, or unlocking stuff that will allow you to access other gameplay elements or game modes, these games often introduce you to everything that you can do in the first few hours and then leave it up to you to decide the best course of action. In other words, YOU make your own fun in Pocket Camp.

Shortly after beginning, you’ll be introduced to some of the basic elements such as fishing and bug catching. Moreover, you’re also presented with the villager system and how you can complete requests for these cute characters in order to befriend and, if you so desire, have them move into your campsite. Additionally, you also learn how to customize your campsite with different pieces of furniture.

While you definitely have lots of stuff to do, most of the fun in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, comes from simply walking around the world, fishing in rivers, catching insects with your bug nets, and occasionally talking to and running errands for villagers. Despite all there is to do here, there is no one actually forcing you to do any of these. In this sense, if you enjoy fishing a lot, you can travel to Lost Lure Creek or Saltwater Shore and fish the day away. If you like catching insects and other critters, you can travel to Sunburst Island and spend some time swinging the ol’ net and snagging some bugs.

All of the things you catch can be then either sold on the market for some extra bells or delivered to villagers to fulfill their requests, among others. Regardless, don’t forget to have some fun!

Villagers and Friendship Levels

There are hundreds upon hundreds of animal villagers that you can meet and interact with in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. It’s possible to befriend each and every one of these by helping them with their villager requests. These tasks can consist of simple things like giving them certain fish or bugs, or other similar tasks like finding and bringing them certain fruits, among others. After completing each request, you will receive friendship experience, which will contribute towards befriending that specific villager.

Increasing your friendship level with any villager is quite important in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp as it’s the main method through which you will level up your character. Every time you can gain friendship levels, you will also receive player experience, which contributes towards increasing your character’s level. Moreover, every time you complete a request, you will receive valuable crafting materials that you can take to Cyrus and have him craft pretty furniture and clothing for you.

Increasing a villager’s friendship level also unlocks exclusive furniture and clothing items, and also allows other types of interactions with them, such as changing their outfit—it’s always worth it to interact with every villager that you meet!

Villagers in Pocket Camp can be found every single day walking around the recreational areas. They rotate every few hours so make sure to drop by and talk to them before they leave as it may be a little while before you see them again randomly.

If you like a villager, in particular, you can have them move into your campsite by increasing their friendship level up to a specific point, and then collecting and placing their favorite furniture items in your campsite. It might take a bit of time to increase their friendship level, so you will probably need several interactions with the same character. Luckily, if the character is nowhere to be found, you can summon them to any location for 3 hours by using a Calling Card. When you call them, they will also have 3 new requests for you, giving you ample opportunities for increasing their level.

You can find Calling Cards sometimes as rewards for logging into Pocket Camp, as well as by completing a villager’s special craft request.

Fishing, Catching Bugs, and Other Activities

Some of the staple activities you can do in any Animal Crossing game are fishing and catching insects. In Pocket Camp, instead of having dedicated tools in your inventory to do so, you must travel to specific recreational areas that are meant for this purpose. Once you arrive in any of these, your character will already have either the fishing rod or bug net equipped, ready for use.

The different recreational zones for fishing and bug catching in Pocket Camp include the following:

• Lost Lure Creek: River Fishing.
• Saltwater Shores: Ocean Fishing.
• Sunburst Island: Bug Catching.
• Breezy Hollow: Fruit Collecting.
• Shovelstrike Quarry: Special game mode where you can use your shovel to collect many crafting materials. Requires either 20 Leaf Tickets or help from 5 friends in order to access it.

The bugs and fish you can catch in Pocket Camp are used for villager requests mostly, though you can also sell them on the marketplace, which is like an auction house where you can set your own prices and other players can view your listings and buy them. Alternatively, you can sell it directly to the store for a set price, which is usually lower than the marketplace.

The other materials that you receive from these activities, especially from Shovelstrike Quarry, can also be used for crafting new furniture and other items.

Completing Your Goals

While you really can’t go wrong by focusing on any task when playing Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, there are certain goals that you can work to complete during your time in the game. These goals are divided into Stretch Goals, and Timed Goals.

The first category is objectives that never change and that can be completed at any time. They usually consist of lengthy tasks that could take a while to complete and are the closest things to a “main story” that this game has. The latter, on the other hand, consists of objectives that change through time. These Timed Goals include your daily quests, events, and other special timed quests. You can always go to the marketplace and speak with Isabelle to take a look at your Goals. If you’re at a loss of what to do, feel free to swing by and chat with her.

Alternatively, one of the other fixed goals in Pocket Camp is repaying your Camper loans in OK Motors. We’ll talk about your Camper at another moment, but for now, all you need to know is that you should always save your excess bells to repay the loans from upgrading your Camper, in order to upgrade it even further in the future.

There’s really no “wrong” way to play Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp; just do whatever comes to mind and remember to have fun! Nevertheless, feel free to use the tips we shared here and start leveling up those friendships in order to unlock more crafting recipes and gain access to more furniture and clothing!