This game it not just an Animal Crossing rip off. Someone really dug into it and found out it's totally bonkers

Some games are so iconic, you can recognize them instantly with just one look. So, if you saw artwork for a new game coming in 2026 announced on the PlayStation Store, your first thought might be, ‘Hold on, isn’t that Animal Crossing?!’. But the truth is more complex (and honestly, completely absurd) than a simple AC New Horizons copy.

There's more to it than just copying Animal Crossing

It’s common for games to take inspiration from others, sometimes closely resembling them. But there's a huge difference between that and just straight-up cloning a famous title. Take Harvest Moon games – the farming, the town life, the whole vibe – and put his own spin on it, basically reinventing the farming sim genre. But with Animal Life Sim, which just popped up on the PlayStation Store, that’s not the case.

The developer of Animal Life Sim, Maksym Vysochanskyy, hasn't shown any official footage, but Good Vibes Gaming uncovered a gameplay video on YouTube under a totally different name. Turns out, Vysochanskyy simply used a pre-made Unreal Engine template called CozyLife by Pepe and Maroulle, available on FAB.

The creators of CozyLife describe it as a foundation for building your own social simulation game, not a finished product. While the assets strongly resemble Animal Crossing (even the dialogue bubbles!), this is still just a template, not an actual game.

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So, that’s what it is – not something created by AI, as some people on Chained Together rip off, an indie title that has gained a massive player base on its launch.

As we all know, Nintendo doesn’t forgive easily. Sure, it took a while for them to sue the creators of Palworld, but with a 1:1 replica like this, Animal Life Sim will probably never see the light of day.

• PS Store / PlayStation Store
• Animal Crossing (franchise)
• simulators