Today’s Animal Crossing Direct was massive. Not only did it reveal the next free update for the adorable life simulator, Nintendo also announced a new paid expansion in the form of Happy Home Paradise, the release details for Nintendo 64 and Mega Drive emulation, and exactly how much all of those things will cost. Oh, and they’re all dropping on November 5.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons took the world by storm in 2020, selling millions of copies alongside plentiful consoles as we were all being rocked by a global pandemic. While it sounds cliched, it came around at the perfect time. As society was falling apart, we could sink into this idyllic island paradise where we were free to befriend adorable animals, build our dream home, and create a place that felt endlessly comfortable. I lost countless hours to New Horizons, but like many others, I eventually fell out of love with it as the content dried up. I’d filled the museum, paid off my loans, and had little reason to play.
Regular updates and seasonal events did little to alleviate this unless you were super passionate about detailed island customisation and cosmetic items, which I wasn’t especially smitten with. My enjoyment came through daily progression, checking in each and every day to say hello to my neighbours, check my mail, and progress through what I suppose you could call the single-player campaign. The online play was charming, but so convoluted and annoying to set up that I stopped trying to bother after playing the turnip market, it just didn’t feel worth the fuss. With this new update, I’m finally jumping back in.
I didn’t expect it to be so comprehensive, and that’s without even mentioning the additions that are coming as part of Happy Home Paradise. Chief among the new features is Brewster’s Coffee House. The caffeinated bird’s cafe is coming to the island and will be bigger than ever before, acting as a major location for you to visit alongside friends and villagers. It also finally gives me a use for my mountain of Animal Crossing amiibo, even if it’s just to summon them to a coffee shop to watch them chug a frappuccino.
Visiting islands is no longer limited to a few generic biomes, now you will have a selection of seasons to explore each with their own distinct loot and resources to uncover, while Harv’s Island has grown massively with new hairstyles, shops, and amenities that will make a trip there far more appealing. It feels like Nintendo decided to evaluate everything about New Horizons and improve upon all that was lacking, and that’s without touching upon the new features I’ll be getting to in a second.
Stretching in the town square with all of your mates might be weird if you did such a thing in Newcastle or Swansea, but in smaller Japanese towns it’s still a relatively common thing to do small morning exercises with instructions from the radio. It’s an adorable nod to the country’s culture and works perfectly within the confines of Animal Crossing. The update also introduces Gyroids, new ladder types, hairstyles, a first-person camera, enhancements to the Nookphone, and so much more. It’s massive, and is enough to bring me back to Animal Crossing: New Horizons even if it means starting a new island on my Switch OLED.
Despite all of this, it’s a shame that the final free update feels like the only one to really make a substantial impact, like Nintendo was saving the best for last only to turn things against us and say “Oh by the way this is it, but we do have paid expansion if you fancy that?” It’s not anti-consumer by any stretch of the imagination, and with the paid content being rolled into the Nintendo Switch Online service alongside being a standalone product makes it a very easy thing to pick up, but it still feels disappointing that Nintendo waited right until the end to deliver a package this good.
I can’t help but feel the unparalleled momentum once held by New Horizons was squandered. It could have been unlike any other game on the planet, providing distinct content updates that kept the beloved core intact while expanding upon it in meaningful ways. Instead we received bland seasonal events that some players began to loathe, wishing they’d be replaced by something else so long after launch. That wasn’t the case, at least until now, so I can’t help but ruminate about what could have been.
Yet the future looks bright, especially with the relative affordability of Happy Home Paradise and how it incorporates the 3DS spin-off title into an expansion that compliments the base game in so many ways. It will still rely on your love for customisation, but being able to focus on specific villagers with nuanced construction projects and the tools to execute them sounds amazing, even more so when you factor in additional mechanics like cooking, partitions, and missions that reward you for investing time in certain villagers. We all have our favourites, and I will spend several hours designing a penthouse for Raymond just so he gives me the time of day.
While New Horizon’s final free update is almost upon us, it doesn’t signify the final nail in its coffin, it’s instead the culmination of its original vision, a vision that Nintendo is now ready to expand upon with paid offerings that fold into its growing online ecosystem. This could become exploitative, but I have faith the wholesome Animal Crossing experience won’t fall victim to Tom Nook’s capitalism, at least not without ample backlash. Now take me down to Brester’s Coffee House so I can drink my sorrows away, and make sure Isabelle gets an invite.