Animal Crossing: New Horizonshas been keeping gamers busy throughout the pandemic season with nonstop virtual fish, bug, and artwork hunting. As part of the game’s core set of features, players are invited to curate a collection of exhibits for Blathers the owl’s museum.
While Islanders can find a wide variety of fish, sea creatures, and bugs, the selection of artwork inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsis relatively limited. However, that comes with a catch: players must sort through illegitimate copies of authentic artwork to successfully fill their museums, and to boot, some of the counterfeit artworks present more interesting aspect than the real things.
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Islanders can find not only authentic Paintings and Statues, but also Fake Art that’s unable to be gifted to Villagers or sold to the Nook Brothers. To add another layer to this,some of the Fake Art inNew Horizonsis actually haunted, making it a difficult choice between a functionally useless forgery and a legit work that will count towards Blathers' Museum.
Bearing that in mind, though much of the Fake Art is seen as a nuisance that’s tricky to get rid of, some players have started to take note of a series of particularly unique counterfeits, that are honestly more enticing than the originals. The game’s more peculiar counterfeits,all available from Jolly Redd, range from floating statuettes to winking paintings, so be sure to read through the entire list below for a proper overview ofAnimal Crossing: New Horizon’s hottest forgeries:
Haunted Ancient Statue
The Haunted Ancient Statue undeniably takes the cake here for being one of the most glaringly unique forgeries in all ofNew Horizons. At first glance, the only difference one might notice between the fake Ancient Statue and its original counterpart is a set of antennae atop the statue’s head. That said,if encountered at night, the Fake Ancient Statue reveals its true secret: it’s one of the game’s elusive haunted artworks, all of which are forgeries. At night, the Haunted Ancient Statue’s eyes will glow a pale blue, and when interacted with, it will mysteriously float upwards, and then gently descend.
There is no other item inNew Horizonsthat shares this feature, so for that alone, this piece of fake art is worth looking out for. ThoughRedd’s offer of a real paintingor statue may seem enticing, an antenna-bearing Ancient Statue boasts more than meets the eye, and would make for an excellent island attraction.
Haunted Informative Statue
This piece is rather interesting because many players fail to even recognize it as haunted, though it’s obviously fake. The authentic Informative Statue is gray stone-colored, while the Fake Informative Statue, which is actually haunted, is bright blue.
Players speculate the counterfeit is an ice carving, but more importantly, at night, the statue inexplicably glows. Especially when paired with accents like blue flowers and the like, these statues can make for lovely island beacons. If Islanders can manage to get their hands on several,they make for a regal pathway worthy of legendslikePokemon’s Elite Four, even.
Academic Painting (Vitruvian Man)
The Fake Academic Painting is interesting because its keynote feature is incredibly subtle, yet implies several conversations' worth of lore. The Academic Painting, which is basically a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, is already one of the game’s more notable works of art. Fans may not realize that da Vinci is responsible for the piece, or that it’s called the Vitruvian Man, but most are familiar with the image of an anatomically ideal figure spread out atop a circular frame. If players happen upon acounterfeit Academic Painting inNew Horizons, they’ll easily be able to identify it by the coffee rings located near its upper right corner. That being said, if players check the backside of a Fake Academic Painting, they’ll also find a small key taped to it.
This key is likely a casual reference to the series of conspiracy theories and urban legends surrounding Da Vinci’s works, especially those explored in the famous mystery novel,The Da Vinci Code. So, players with their eyes on the big-picture-prize should keep an eye out for Fake Academic Paintings, as it seems they hold a few more secrets than their painted fronts let on.
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All Other Haunted Artwork
Let’s be real -New Horizon’s new Haunted Art is essentially all worth holding onto. Especially given that Fake Art can’t be sold or gifted to Villagers, any sort of function makes for a standout counterfeit. Of course, the Haunted Ancient Statue and Haunted Informative Statue are particularly dazzling, but even the other three less-obviously haunted artworks exhibit noteworthy properties. TheHaunted Scary Painting, Graceful Painting, and Wistful Painting, all share one thing in common. The figures depicted in the paintings will move or change once night falls, and then return to “normal” at dawn.
The Haunted Scary Painting dons a creepy smile at night, while the Haunted Graceful Painting changes the direction it’s facing, andthe Haunted Wistful Painting rests its eyes. In addition to this, the Graceful Painting hosts a grim secret on its back, an ominous body-shaped stain. Players can find multiples of each Fake Artwork, so a room full of menacing paintings with changing faces is absolutely within an island’s realm of possibility.
Tremendous Statue (or Any Statue, Really)
The Fake Tremendous Statue features one subtle but major distinction from its authentic counterpart - a lid. A real Tremendous Statue will essentially be an empty open chest, while the fake version is sealed shut by an elaborate lid. Perhaps it hides a trove ofscallops for Pascal; perhaps nothing at all - the mystery is the point. This small difference arguably makes the Tremendous Statue much more interesting, as the fact that it’s normally visibly empty renders the item rather boring. In contrast, the Fake Tremendous Statue, a spooky, sealed, ancient chest, filled with who-knows-what, is an easy conversation starter.
That being said, all of theFake Statues inNew Horizonsare nearly identical to the originals. Because of that, they make for generally impressive decorations with highly versatile design elements. The Fake Valiant Statue is still an epic angelic bust (albeit with a different foot forward), and the Fake Motherly Statue is a quirky momma wolf with her tongue hanging out. There isn’t a single Fake Statue that wouldn’t make a remarkable island attraction.
Wild Painting Left/Right (Fujin/Raijin Folding Screens)
Last, but not least, are the Fake Wild Paintings. These paintings are essentially large decorative screens, and they consist of the right and left-hand side of one larger piece. The Fake Wild Paintings feature one single distinction from their more legitimate inspirations: a color-swap. The mythological beings depicted on the Fake Wild Painting (Right) and Fake Wild Painting (Left) have the opposite colors seen in the authentic pieces. As somePokemonfans have affectionately pointed out, this makes these paintings likeShiny Versions of the originals
In a similar vein to the Fake Statues, the Fake Wild Paintings stand out for being fairly decent replicas with a minor quirk that’s actually interesting upon closer inspection. They otherwise function aselegantAnimal Crossingartworksthat complement any room with golden, brown, white, or black accents, among others.
Animal Crossing: New Horizonsis available now on Switch.
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