News Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 Free Update + Happy Home Paradise (€/$ 24.99) announced | Coming Nov. 5th

[Ryosuke]

So eurogamer confirmed that if you unsub from the expansion you will lose access to the Happy Home Paradise archipelago. The new furniture, partitions and whatnot will still be available in the core game to you.

That's really good, thank god.

Though imagine ending your NSO sub, logging in and finding Resetti as a Repo Man taking all your stuff away.

 

[E.Gadd]

I really like how the DLC has a map that we will fill up over time, I was worried it'd be like the random islands where it just feels a little too disjointed and game-y.

On that note, my biggest disappointment was Kap'n.... I wish his boat went to a minigame island or even the shop center that Harv is getting. As it stands, I think I'm not really getting the point. It's basically just a better version of the existing random island plane rides, right? In that case, why does the boat bring you to better places than the plane, and why would you bother using the plane one anymore? I must be missing something

100% they didn't want to hear about "Where's Kap'n?!" "Bring back Kap'n!!" for the next five years and so this is what he got for it lol

 

[Magic-Man]

Aren't though already built in to work with the system clock/calendar? I don't see why those would be removed.

Huh, I thought holidays were unlocked via updates.

 

[totofogo]

Huh, I thought holidays were unlocked via updates.

Initially yeah, now they're all unlocked and can be time traveled to

 

[Aleh]

Has it been confirmed if the DLC is permanently yours if you get it through NSO+?

 

[Ryosuke]

Has it been confirmed if the DLC is permanently yours if you get it through NSO+?

There's a post about that on the last page, eurogamer source apparently.

The new island will be gone, the furniture you brought back no.

 

[Polynaut]

The new first person mode is cool, but it looks pretty limited. As far as I could tell, you can’t rotate the camera for instance. Just move forward, back, left and right.

It will still be really neat to see my island from a new perspective tho! Excited to play with it

 

[totofogo]

So eurogamer confirmed that if you unsub from the expansion you will lose access to the Happy Home Paradise archipelago. The new furniture, partitions and whatnot will still be available in the core game to you.

so if you don't pay union fees you lose your job

 

[Thorakai]

I really like how the DLC has a map that we will fill up over time, I was worried it'd be like the random islands where it just feels a little too disjointed and game-y.

On that note, my biggest disappointment was Kap'n.... I wish his boat went to a minigame island or even the shop center that Harv is getting. As it stands, I think I'm not really getting the point. It's basically just a better version of the existing random island plane rides, right? In that case, why does the boat bring you to better places than the plane, and why would you bother using the plane one anymore? I must be missing something

I think random villagers might just be a plane thing only? Thats the only thing I can think of

 

[Saturday]

I am overwhelmed with information but it is all excellent. I am 5 minutes in, lol.

 

[Barely Able]

I really like how the DLC has a map that we will fill up over time, I was worried it'd be like the random islands where it just feels a little too disjointed and game-y.

On that note, my biggest disappointment was Kap'n.... I wish his boat went to a minigame island or even the shop center that Harv is getting. As it stands, I think I'm not really getting the point. It's basically just a better version of the existing random island plane rides, right? In that case, why does the boat bring you to better places than the plane, and why would you bother using the plane one anymore? I must be missing something

I guess the nook miles islands will be for recruiting villagers if you have an empty plot. Essentially no reason to go to them otherwise (not that there was to begin with other than resource/fish/bug farming). I do agree it seems pointless but at least Dodo Airlines has more reasons to use it now.

 

[TheCongressman]

Pretty much everything they showed I think should have been there at launch, which would be fine if they were planning more free updates. But my heart sank when they said this would be the last update.

The paid stuff is interesting, I liked happy home ok, but always wished it had been an expansion for new leaf. So with this being integrated with the main game it's much more compelling.

Oh, and I guess we're still stuck crafting one item at a time....

 

[Clix]

Nintendo told IGN that this is the last major update, both paid and free. So I doubt it.

They said last major update. Does that mean we can still get small minor updates like special items or seasonal event?

Either way, this is a fantastic update not counting the DLC.

As for the DLC, Happy Home Designer was great. My daughter spent hours and hours with that game.

 

[Hentz]

The new first person mode is cool, but it looks pretty limited. As far as I could tell, you can’t rotate the camera for instance. Just move forward, back, left and right.

It will still be really neat to see my island from a new perspective tho! Excited to play with it

It’s not really a first person mode, just another angle to take photos. If they let you turn around it would break the game as I’m pretty sure you would see a black void lol

 

[Robin64]

It’s not really a first person mode, just another angle to take photos. If they let you turn around it would break the game as I’m pretty sure you would see a black void lol

There's a lot of fakery with New Horizons, too. Most buildings are a strange size that you don't really notice from the fixed view, trees don't even have backs, that sort of thing.

 

[TheCongressman]

There's a lot of fakery with New Horizons, too. Most buildings are a strange size that you don't really notice from the fixed view, trees don't even have backs, that sort of thing.

360 camera control has to be in the next game. Even with all those gaps in models and stuff, it looks so amazing to be able to see your island from any angle.

 

[Waluijob]

Well, I may have accidentally my Island during the transition to the SWOLED. At the mercy of my microSD card backup/Island Reset by Nintendo now.

Hoping for some real content boost here, though. I put somewhere between 60 and 80 hours in and I’d like to get back into it.

Update: I got my island back! It was just the game itself that was deleted on the old Switch, not the save file. Transferred and ready for DLC.

 

[refusi0n1]

Great additions for everyone that enjoys decorating and such. I'm a little bummed they didn't focus on info regarding the variety and amount of new items along with how often new stuff shows up. Hoping there's a lot.

 

[Psycho Lurantis]

That direct surpassed my expectations and then some.

Brewster and gyroids returning already has me satisfied, the rest is icing on the cake. The amusement park rides are going on my island for sure, as well.

 

[maniacmaison]

I hope we can put these in our islands. Almost half of my island is japanese themed, so this would fit incredibly well:

Im so hyped <3

 

[Nisaba]

I'm going to have soooo much fun in November with the free update yay! They announced more than I expected. ^^

Finally time to clean up all the weeds on my island lol

 

[lexony]

Lol. The DLC costs 38$ over here. NSO Expansion is 56$, so I‘ll probably just get that.

 

[Hentz]

I saw that the Paradise Archipelago has a desert island, does it mean we are getting desert islands in the Kap’ boat ride? Are we also getting the cactus? Hope so, it looks great, hope it’s not stuck to just that.

 

[totofogo]

I wish facilities could be brought to your main island too...

 

[Hocot8]

That archipelago has 49 spaces to build houses(and facilities???). That's a lot for people who design every nook and cranny to look perfect I feel. Like I'm trying to think how much time I spent on my first main room and outside area and guess how long 49 builds would take and oh my.

 

[GJ]

They said last major update. Does that mean we can still get small minor updates like special items or seasonal event?

Either way, this is a fantastic update not counting the DLC.

As for the DLC, Happy Home Designer was great. My daughter spent hours and hours with that game.

To be even more specific; they said last major free update. They could still add more paid expansions after this if it sells enough. But free updates are pretty much over outside of maybe a new item or updated event every now and then.

Lol. The DLC costs 38$ over here. NSO Expansion is 56$, so I‘ll probably just get that.

Keep in mind that it’s $56 a year. If you don’t really care about N64/Sega and you’re planning on playing this expansion for longer than a year it might be worth it to just go for the standalone DLC expansion.

 

[lexony]

To be even more specific; they said last major free update. They could still add more paid expansions after this if it sells enough. But free updates are pretty much over outside of maybe a new item or updated event every now and then.



Keep in mind that it’s $56 a year. If you don’t really care about N64/Sega and you’re planning on playing this expansion for longer than a year it might be worth it to just go for the standalone DLC expansion.

Yeah I’m aware of that but I‘m also interested in play N64 games online and I honestly don‘t know if I keep playing Animal Crossing for that long. Maybe I‘ll just wait and see what else they plan to do with the NSO expansion and decide later.

 

[shoptroll]

That was an awesome set of announcements, although given how much of the new features were originally in New Leaf I can't help wondering if they hit some serious production snags and instead of delaying a 12-18 months they decided to ship an MVP instead and patch the rest of the game in. Because this should ideally put to rest the whole NH vs. NL debate by the looks of it.

Also, reimplementing Happy Home Designer as paid DLC is a smart move. I don't know if I'll pick it up but that makes a lot more sense than as a spin-off title like on the 3DS.

 

[Hocot8]

Oh man I'm so excited to jump back into the game. I have hundreds of hours and I think I can squeak out another 100 hours or so with this new content. Maybe more if I really get into the paid dlc.

 

[Rhisiart]

That was a LOT of content and I immediately logged on to start some preliminary redecorating in my town, for farming specifically. I'm most excited about the food and room partitions, I've wanted both for a long time. They didn't end fixing the stuff I really wanted which was crafting multiple times at once and buying clothes at Sable's in bulk, but that was very impressive and I cannot WAIT until November 5th.

 

[Scrawnton]

I want to start planning a massive island renovation. I don’t want to move my island to an old switch and start a new one. I like the idea of continuing my day one island and evolving it over time.

 

[E.Gadd]

There are some QoL updates we really needed that we are just never gonna see unfortunately for this game. But dang if I'm not still in such a good mood for all the stuff that is coming.

When you remodel the school and hospital... villagers will become doctors and teachers and stuff and they didn't have to go that far. I also noticed a lot of clothes racks and shelves set pieces so you know we're gonna get a department store too.

I do wish you could bring those buildings to your home island. I'd demolish a few villager homes, they can bunk up together.

 

[Hocot8]

I want to start planning a massive island renovation. I don’t want to move my island to an old switch and start a new one. I like the idea of continuing my day one island and evolving it over time.

Same. I've renovated my island twice. The last one was a massive renovation. I think I changed about 75% of the island lol. My next renovation will likely be similar I just don't know how yet.

My one issue is that I have an area for hybrids and moving over 100 flowers seems not fun lol. So I'd have to decorate around that. I do want to make a neighborhood but I can't envision it. The best I got is like 4 villagers on a "street."

 

[Kongo B]

I never played Animal Crossing.

I have no interest in playing Animal Crossing.

But I popped off when I heard that they put Froggy Chair back in the game.

 

[ArcaneStar_]

I'm so damn excited I even opened the game today after 8 months lmao just to check on my island and plan a few things. what a fantastic update it looks like

 

[Wans]

Well they did go out of their way to show winter, and it had snowflakes, so maybe?

Yessss it would make me not timeskip anymore, if true. The whole timeskip thing was already massively annoying if you had any hybrids around anyways!

That archipelago has 49 spaces to build houses(and facilities???). That's a lot for people who design every nook and cranny to look perfect I feel. Like I'm trying to think how much time I spent on my first main room and outside area and guess how long 49 builds would take and oh my.

Oh wow thats bigger than I thought... Its like designing a whole city with all these facility spaces too This is definitely a great way to let players have the space to decorate like crazy without changing the core gameplay on your island and some tools transfer over too so you actually have some incentives to unlock things from your "job".

 

[ladyluthien]

I’m so excited that Kapp’n is back! Hearing him sing made me tear up a bit! I have to say I most excited for the decorating vacation homes and the farming. They mentioned there would be more, so I’m hoping over time we get to plant more veggies. I can’t wait to make a little farm area for all the awesome growing stuff!
Super excited to see all the new furniture as well!

 

[Magic-Man]

That archipelago has 49 spaces to build houses(and facilities???). That's a lot for people who design every nook and cranny to look perfect I feel. Like I'm trying to think how much time I spent on my first main room and outside area and guess how long 49 builds would take and oh my.

49?!? Holy shit.

 

[ze_]

I personally dug Happy Home Designer as the interior and town decorating aspect of AC is my favourite element outside of the more amorphous concept of vibes, so I'm happy to see the game return as an expansion to New Horizons. That's an easy cop for me.

edit: Also I can finally fucking rescue my villagers from their basic beginner houses. Muffy you're finally going to flourish as a goth girl again we've made it

 

[Clix]

With this update I really want to do something that I’ve been wanting to do for a while, which is redesign my island and terraform the shit out of it. I just wish I could have several homes be relocated at once, cause fuck, I move one home and then see the spacing is a little off, I’m screwed out of more bells to retry.

 

[carlosfilho]

That was a truckload of new content, i'm very happy with it. Even if you just consider the free content, it's a lot. Then the DLC, wow. There are a lot of games that i'm still going to play this year (OoT, SMTV, Pokémon, Advance Wars), gonna have to fit more ACNH playtime in there somehow.

 

[Mr_No_U]

The rococo set is back. I can't stop crying. We did it kids.

Wait, really? Was it there during the Direct? If so I probably missed it and haven't had a chance to rewatch.

 

[Hocot8]

Yessss it would make me not timeskip anymore, if true. The whole timeskip thing was already massively annoying if you had any hybrids around anyways!

Oh wow thats bigger than I thought... Its like designing a whole city with all these facility spaces too This is definitely a great way to let players have the space to decorate like crazy without changing the core gameplay on your island and some tools transfer over too so you actually have some incentives to unlock things from your "job".

I mean it's possible I'm wrong but it seemed that there was a location in each grid and the map is 7x7.

 

[GJ]

Updated the OP with both videos/announcements and a note that threadmarks are up for great summaries by @tender. I also archived the original OP.

Also, a difference I noticed by watching the US version of the Direct is that for some reason the US logo of Happy Home Paradise looks way different from the European version of the logo.

 

[Thorakai]

Updated the OP with both videos/announcements and a note that threadmarks are up for great summaries by @tender. I also archived the original OP.

Also, a difference I noticed by watching the US version of the Direct is that for some reason the US logo of Happy Home Paradise looks way different from the European version of the logo.

I just looked-up the logos for Happy Home Designer on the 3DS for both regions and it looks like the logos here were just made to match what was used previously. Didn’t realize they were different even then!

 

[GJ]

I just looked-up the logos for Happy Home Designer on the 3DS for both regions and it looks like the logos here were just made to match what was used previously. Didn’t realize they were different even then!

Oh, wow. I didn’t know that either! Looks like we’re in angry Kirby territory here.

 

[Wans]

I mean it's possible I'm wrong but it seemed that there was a location in each grid and the map is 7x7.

Okay I went back and checked the map and yup each villager takes 1 square and each square has a location point for a building. Leaving out the middle planning building, thats 48 locations each with some room for outdoor decors too wow

Also I saw that there's an upstairs in the house for Spike & Static so theres also an option for multiple floor maybe? It will actually take ages to design all that

 

[Hocot8]

Okay I went back and checked the map and yup each villager takes 1 square and each square has a location point for a building. Leaving out the middle planning building, thats 48 locations each with some room for outdoor decors too wow

Also I saw that there's an upstairs in the house for Spike & Static so theres also an option for multiple floor maybe? It will actually take ages to design all that

Okay I was one off because I'm dumb and forgot about the main building haha.

Maybe multiple floors if there are roommates? But yeah there is a lot of content to be had for those who like to decorate.

 

[GJ]

48 buildings and exteriors? That’s gonna take hundreds of hours, lol. I’m excited! I was hoping for a second island to start a new town with new villagers, and while this isn’t that, it comes real close. I love it.

 

[totofogo]

This warrants a whole round of re-reviews and 10s lol