It’s been well over a year since Animal Crossing: New Horizons became the most important game of 2020. With everyone quarantining inside amid the COVID-19 pandemic and looking for something to do, we were all blessed to have a new Animal Crossing hit the Nintendo Switch. Of course, with a sense of normalcy returning to everyday life thanks to the vaccines that have offered up protection against the virus, many people have left their towns behind.
A big part of what made people stop playing Animal Crossing, though, was the lack of stuff to do after playing it as much as we all did. The game started to feel very scarce in content, especially compared to previous games in the series. However, after Friday’s Animal Crossing-focused Nintendo Direct, we now know that it won’t be that way for much longer. A whole host of free content is being added to the game on Nov. 5, and on top of that, some paid DLC is on the way as well to give players even more to do.
Now that we have a date for when new content is coming to the game, many of us are going to go back to our towns so we can get it back into shape before the big update. With so much coming that it might feel overwhelming, here are the parts of the update and DLC that we’re the most excited about.
A shopping district
After introducing a shopping district in City Folk and New Leaf, the lack of a place to go get all the items we need in New Horizons was honestly a bummer. Sure, it was nice when we found out that Leif or Kicks was in town, but the lack of consistency was always really frustrating.
With the new update, everyone is going to be available at one central location on Harv’s Island. Having a singular location that you can go and get our shopping done will be wonderful, because it will allow them to be a little more impulsive. There’s nothing more frustrating than deciding you want to do some landscaping only to find out that Leif isn’t in town, or you’re making changes to our home and need new carpets from Saharah. Now, that’s no longer a problem.
Brewster and The Roost
Maybe some people aren’t going to care that now they can go to a coffee shop and hang out, but personally, that has always been one of the best parts of the series. It’s always fun to go down, grab a cup, and hang out with Brewster at his coffee shop The Roost. They even had other Animals on the island come in to grab some coffee in later games, which sometimes led to unique interactions. It adds something that’s always been very important to the series: charm. The charm of The Roost adds so much to the island even if you don’t spend every day there.
More villager interactions
The best part of Animal Crossing is interacting with the villagers. Getting to hear the quirky things they say, witnessing how they talk to each other, and listening to them gossip is an essential part of the experience. Unfortunately, the villagers in New Horizons felt extremely flat at times, with most of them getting tired of talking to you after only a few discussions. Conversations felt repetitive and it started to feel like the villagers were more there to be seen than interacted with. Thankfully, this update is adding more interactions with those villagers, such as the ability to take photos with them and the option to invite villagers over to your home. This little bit of interactivity has been sorely missing in New Horizons and it’s nice to see it coming back in the update.
Happy Home Paradise
While the first half of the Direct was about the free update, the latter half was about new paid DLC coming called Happy Home Paradise. This DLC is cool because it’s essentially a sequel to Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer. The player will be able to go design a dream vacation home for villagers that are not only on their own island, but across the entire series. They can even use Amiibo cards/figures to design the homes for specific characters of our choosing. Then, after playing long enough, they can redesign the homes of their own villagers on their own islands. While the DLC is $25, it seems like a lot of content for what is essentially its own game by itself. That’s a steal.
New islands to explore
For anyone that’s gotten tired of the randomized islands that they can fly to, there is now a new set of randomized islands that Kapp’n can take them to. These islands are unique because they can be in different seasons, times of day, and seem more unique than the typical ones they visit. This is great, because some people put down New Horizons for a bit and missed out on the chance to experience alternative seasons. With these new islands, players can experience the different times of the year in New Horizons without having to mess with the clock.