Damn, No Wonder Animal Crossing’s Big November Patch Took So Long

It’s been a long time coming, but Animal Crossing: New Horizons is finally getting a major update, and it’s way bigger than anything ACNH has gotten so far. Nintendo detailed forthcoming additions in an ACNH-theme Nintendo Direct today.

First, the big stuff, planned for a November 5 rollout: fan-favourite Brewster will make an appearance, as will his venerable café, The Roost, which is also probably the name of the hippest coffee shop in your town. Kapp’n, a turtle who’s allowed to pilot a boat for some reason, is also coming to the game. Harv, the photographer who may or may not be running a cult, is turning his island into a bona fide shopping paradise, too.

But at the end of the day, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is about stuff, so fans should be pleased to hear it’s getting a lot of that, too:

• Morning yoga.
• Island ordinances, which controls the behaviour of NPCs, including the times of day they’re awake.
• A bunch of new exterior options that make your house look like a log cabin, a house in an 18th-century German village, and more.
• An expansion of storage expansion — from 2,400 items to, depending on what you’re willing to splurge on, 3,200, 4,000, or 5,000 items.
• A ton of new items you can get with Nook Miles, including a lot of furniture, which can be placed in a new storage shed.
• Cooking is coming to the DIY Recipes app. (Today’s stream showed off Minestrone Soup. Yum?)
• You can now add lighting and ceiling decorations thanks to something called a Pro Decorating Licence, which also increases the number of inclines you can install on your island, from 8 to 10.
• New fence types! Park fencing, block fencing, log fencing, bamboo fencing, and more.
• An update to the camera mode allows you to take pictures from a first-person perspective, just like every other photo mode ever.
• You’ll officially be able to wear patterns that were restricted to custom items. You can also use them for floor paper and wallpaper.
• 11 new hairstyles (including a bowl cut)! 11 new reactions (like stretching and listening to music)!
• The new Island Life 101 phone app is coming to the in-game smartphone, and looks to basically be a tutorial section.
• Stayed tuned, as K.K. Slider will release more tunes.
• Gyroids are coming. If you find gyroid fragments and plant them, they’ll grow into a gyroid overnight.

So, yeah, no wonder it took one metric eternity for Nintendo to get all this stuff (the core of Animal Crossing, remember?) out the door. If you thought Animal Crossing: New Horizons was heading toward the sunset on the horizon, well, next month’s update is any indication, the game’s only getting started.