Last week’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Nintendo Direct was an avalanche of info about new items, gameplay, and characters coming to the game in both its free update and paid Happy Home Paradise DLC on November 5. Read on for some neat little details about everything that’s coming that you might not have noticed the first time around.
The big Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 update adds everything from Brewster’s café to new haircut styles, while the $US25 ($34) DLC will let players get to work customising new vacation homes for their favourite villagers. The 23-minute October 15 Direct also showed off a lot of other cool stuff that was easy to miss if you weren’t paying close attention, like bubble machines, ferris wheels, and PC gaming battlestations. Here are 11 more observations of interest.
You can do Yoga with Brewster.
You can play a tape in the main plaza to do morning stretches. The mini-game will have you use the Joy-Cons’ motion controls to move your character’s limbs around. Your neighbours will all join in, too, even the bad-arse barista himself, Brewster. It’s nice to know he won’t be locked behind his café counter all day.
Weed ordinances are in.
Nintendo announced new ordinances that will augment how your island operates. One example mentioned in the Direct was the ability to make all your villagers wake up and start their days earlier. You know what else you can apparently do? Reduce the number of weeds that constantly sprout up, via the “Beautiful Island” ordinance. Finally, a little less yard work.
At long last: white picket fences.
Animal Crossing players have been desperate for more robust fencing options since the game’s initial release 37 years ago (or rather, last March). They even tried hacking them in. A year and a half later, Nintendo is finally saving them the trouble. Players won’t just have the option to pick from different colour fences either: Log, bamboo, metal, and other materials will also be options. Even ice, in case you need to keep out some White Walkers.
Can I interest you in some K.K. Chillwave?
You might have heard that K.K. Slider is dropping some new tunes when the free update hits. What you might not have realised is that some of that music includes Chillwave tracks. Is the remixed hipster genre pioneered by Toro y Moi’s Chaz Bundick and others completely made up? Animal Crossing’s spotted troubadour says no.
The Rococo furniture set is back.
The beloved European decor from Animal Crossing: New Leaf will be back in stock. Inspired by the late-Baroque period, it’s full of dark woods and ornate designs, and in the year 2021 is a sure-fire way to make your home look ‘gramable-as-hell. Based on the Direct, the fancy lamp, sofa, chair, and a few other pieces are confirmed. It looks like the Ranch set and some other styles will be returning as well.
You can hold your own Great British Bake Off.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ 2.0 update is adding a ton of new ingredients and recipes. In addition to a bunch of savoury dishes, there’s also a whole dessert section. You can also adorn your baking space with precious little jam jars and other knickknacks. The Happy Home Paradise DLC will let you design your own restaurant, so it seems like it’s only a matter of time before players start reenacting their favourite kitchen nightmares in multiplayer co-op.
Pitcher plants, pitcher plants, and more pitcher plants.
Nintendo also revealed light fixtures, hanging shelves, and a ton of other new custom furniture options. This includes carnivorous pitcher plants, as seen in the above screenshot’s white pot hanging near the corner. They drink water and eat bugs. Will they keep your home pest-free? Time will tell. In either case, the addition of a bunch of other plants, including hanging vines and glowing weeds, will let you go full Poison Ivy.
Prepare to polish.
The Happy Home Paradise DLC will let you polish anything and everything for the villagers whose homes you’re designing. Applying polish will make the objects briefly sparkle, and hopefully bring the simple pleasure of a job well done.
Improve your villagers’ homes.
While the Happy Home Paradise DLC is about designing vacation homes on other islands, Nintendo also said you’ll be able to take your skills, knowledge, and experience back to retool your neighbours’ existing homes. Improve some, resign others to squalor. You can’t fix the interior design taste of your friends, but maybe you can finally help Raymond turn his office into an actual home.
Brewster and Kapp’n aren’t the only new additions.
The DLC also introduces new villagers. There’s Niko, a tiny monkey in an even tinier straw hat. He’s already far and away the internet’s new favourite, but he’ll be working alongside his colleagues, Wardell and Lottie. Easier to miss were Shino and Sasha, who will also be included in the upcoming Series 5 Animal Crossing Amiibo Cards.
Villagers can break into your house.
The Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct only mentioned it for a second in passing, but players aren’t the only ones getting new items and abilities next month: villagers are getting upgraded as well. They’ll now be able to drop in on you, in your home, unannounced. “Rare is the video game door that seeks to actively frighten,” wrote former Kotaku editor, Kirk Hamilton, back in 2017. It just got a little bit less rare.
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