Nintendo‘s consoles may not be the most powerful on the market, but their exclusive games are good enough for all of us to put power aside and focus on quality. Unlike Zelda, Animal Crossing and Pokémon are two of the great Nintendo franchises that take a while to wait when a new console comes out . Luckily, New Horizons came just in time to smooth out the pandemic for us a bit. In this post we will tell you everything you need to know about the title, from its development to its differences from previous installments.
When was it released?
Animal Crossing: New Horizons came to Nintendo Switch on March 20, 2020 . This life simulator had already proven itself on previous occasions to be a real “console seller”, as Pokémon titles have been all their lives. The release, according to many fans, came quite late; 3 years passed since Switch went on sale until we were able to play this new installment .
The video game had the difficult task of surpassing Animal Crossing: New Leaf, which came out in 2013 and is the previous title in the main saga of the franchise. In between are other games like Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer and Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival on consoles and Pocket Camp on smartphones . Over time, New Horizons has not only surpassed its 3DS predecessor, but has also integrated the mechanics of the spin-offs into the main game, as we will see later.
Game development
On this occasion, our character will move to live on a requested island . It will do so through the Deserted Islands Settlement Program , an initiative by Tom Nook to bring remote and lost places to life. As in the 3DS game, we will be able to influence to a certain extent the map of the island on which our adventure will take place. After a while, we will land on the island by plane, courtesy of Dodo Airlines.
The beginning of New Horizons can be somewhat shocking for those who have already enjoyed previous Animal Crossing games, as we will arrive on an island where there is no town hall, no shops, and no museum . Only two neighbors will accompany us at the dawn of what will become our paradise island. The days will advance, and Nook’s lineage will entrust us with different missions . We will found the town hall, Cinnamon will come to lend us a hand, we will help Tendo and Nendo to build their business and we will decide where to place the houses of the future animals that come to live with us on our island.
Once the base of the island is formed, we will continue to fulfill assignments until we reach a key objective , which is to attract attention so that Totakeke comes to our island to play live. Once you achieve that goal, the game’s story is complete — the game’s story is more of a tutorial, don’t be scared when the credits roll. From this moment on, we will be able to walk freely around our island , modify it as we please and dedicate our time to whatever you most want.
Differences between New Horizons and its predecessors
This edition of Animal Crossing has quite a few differences compared to the previous games , which followed a very continuous line. Some of the more interesting changes are as follows:
Crafting of objects
Animal Crossing: New Horizons drinks a lot from Minecraft and other games that have been successful thanks to their mechanics. However, the evolution of the franchise indicated that, at some point, we would end up with this mechanic implemented in the game. In New Leaf we were already able to customize our objects. In Pocket Camp , crafting in Animal Crossing is introduced for the first time. And this mechanic is the basis of New Horizons . For the first time, tools can be crafted . And they also break with use – until now, this only happened with the axe. We will also be able to make furniture, and all kinds of objects using the recipes that our neighbors will give us and that we will receive as a message in a bottle on the beaches of our island.
terraforming
Also in New Horizons we will be able to change the environment as we please. This novel function allows us to change the course of rivers, create mountains and make valleys wherever we please. However, it is not available from the beginning of the game , but we will obtain this ability when our island gets the approval of the visitors.
Miles Nook
The game includes a huge list of small missions that we must complete. In return, we will be given Nook Miles, which are still redeemable points . We can exchange them for a multitude of objects in the town hall of our island.
wild islands
Using Nook Miles, you can hire Dodo Airlines to drop you off on a desert island. The islands are procedurally generated , so you will never be able to return to a specific one once you leave. There are islands of all types. Most of the islands will be extremely boring, but on the other hand, in others you will find exotic species of fish or insects, minerals with which to produce quality tools or even the dreaded scorpion island, which is the terror of many players of this title .
Since version 2.0, we can also visit the Captain’s Islands , paying the same amount of Miles to the turtle to take us rowing. This character, Captain, is known in previous installments for having great skill with vehicles, since we have seen him driving taxis, boats and even a bus.
there is no mayor
Tortimer had always been the mayor of Animal Crossing . At the time, it was rumored that the old man had passed away. However, Nintendo wanted to clear up the doubts by making it clear that the poor man is still among us, only that he is enjoying a well-deserved retirement . In his place, we will have the ‘ Insular Manager’ , who will be the first player who moved to the island. He will have the power to move real estate and make important decisions on the island . The rest of the human players will also be considered ‘Original Insulans’, but they will not have as much decision-making power.
home customization
Taking example of Happy Home Designer , the player can now organize his house in a very comfortable way from a top view, with access to the entire object drawer.
Rearrangement of buildings
In New Leaf you could do public works —which you paid for yourself out of your own pocket—, and this time, in addition to this, you can change the site of any building. Thanks to this, you can create streets with neighbors, make your own commercial area or practically whatever comes to mind.
nook store
There is a negative point in all these changes. Tendo and Nendo had already shown some expertise in the business world. But they don’t even reach the sole of his father’s shoes. Whereas in the previous game we were able to unlock a three-story store, with an integrated luxury goods store, this time around, we have to make do with a slightly more humble shop. However, players are still waiting for Nintendo to update the game and make a new expansion of the title.
Multiplayer game in New Horizons
As was the case in all previous versions of Animal Crossing, New Horizons allows local and online play between multiple players.
Local multiplayer with a single match
Two to four islanders living together in the same game can play at the same time using a Joy-Con or a separate controller each. This cooperative mode will have a main player (who has access to his backpack) and one or more secondary players. Roles can be swapped at any time. This co-op mode is very useful for farming or making money during the first hours of the game.
Local multiplayer between consoles
Using the wireless connection of the Nintendo Switch , you can visit your friends’ islands as long as you stay with them and their consoles. This mode does not require a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
Online Multiplayer
Dodo Airlines can take us to the island of any friend or family member as long as both of you have an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription . Thus, you can live all kinds of adventures as a couple or in a group. The New Horizons multiplayer is complemented by the Nintendo Switch Online mobile app , which integrates its own text chat, voice chat and also allows us to manage our list of best friends (who will have permission to come to our island without asking permission). express, or even cut down and take some of our objects that we have lying around the island).
New Horizons Bonus Content
The content of Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been evolving especially during the first year of the game’s life. The improvements were gradually introduced. This allowed players to ration the game to a certain extent, balancing the online game and preventing a few players from taking too much advantage and spoiling the rest of the players during the first few weeks. Apparently, Nintendo had no plans to continue expanding the game past the first year, but we’ve recently seen new updates to the base game , which makes us think that the game could receive some more improvements in the future. A new paid DLC was also added, as we will see in the following lines.
Nook Link
Only if you have Nintendo Switch Online , you can link your game with the Nooklink app , integrated within the Nintendo Switch Online app for mobile devices . From here you can consult data on the island, such as the price of turnips, manage your friends or even see the catalog of objects that we have been unlocking.
Happy Home Paradise . The first DLC for Animal Crossing: New Horizons
The previous version, New Leaf was the first Animal Crossing to have a DLC. New Horizons has followed the same path . On November 3, 2021, the base game had a free update to version 2.0 . New objects, new characters and some extra mechanics were added. A couple of days later Happy Home Paradise arrived, a paid DLC that brings the mechanics of Happy Home Designer to this new title on Nintendo Switch.
The DLC introduces us to a vacation agency called Archipiélago Paraíso . Its manager, Nuria, will invite us to work with her to build houses for clients . As a general rule, the clients are usually characters that we already know from the base game, and here they will tell us their intimacies, which we will have to understand and decipher to find the perfect house for said tenants. The assignments in Happy Home Paradise are really simple, and we can get more or less complicated depending on how inspired we are. Part of the beauty of the DLC is taking photos and sharing your designs with other players, so you can get feedback and always find new fun and creative ideas.
Mind you, the DLC isn’t entirely separate from the base game . It blends very well, and, in fact, you can keep some of the recipes you get in Paradise Archipelagos and use them on the island or inside your house.
Finally, this addition can be obtained in two different ways . You can purchase the DLC directly from the Nintendo eShop , where this extra content will be tied to your account forever. And, on the other hand, you can purchase a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership , which includes the DLC for free for one year , where you can also access Nintendo 64 and SEGA Megadrive games.