The Long-Awaited Animal Crossing 2.0

After a long wait, Nintendo is finally releasing the 2.0 update that Animal Crossing: New Horizons fans have been dreaming of. This past Friday, October 15, Nintendo held an Animal Crossing Direct, a 20-minute live video presentation, detailing all of the material in the update. They announced both a free downloadable update and paid downloadable content (DLC), both available staring on November 5, 2021.

The first piece of content was one that had been announced in a past Nintendo Direct. The Roost, a café owned by a pigeon named Brewster, will be added to the museum. Nintendo confirmed that not only will players be able to visit the Roost, but you might find non-playable characters (NPCs) hanging out there as well! The update will also include gyroids, which have in past games been associated with Brewster, but have not been confirmed to have any relation with him in New Horizons.

Another beloved character that many fans were hoping would be added to the game is Kapp’n, a turtle with a love for the sea. He’ll be added to the game, accessible by each island’s pier, and after singing a sea shanty to your character, he’ll sail you to islands similar to the ones you can access with Nook Miles Tickets. However, these will be special islands, with special terrain, plants, times of day, and even seasons. 

There are several islands other than your own that you can access in the game currently, one of which is Harv’s island. Harv’s island will be updated to include multiple new shops, owned by many NPCs that fans of previous Animal Crossing games have been able to enjoy in the past. Players have been begging Nintendo to include these NPCs in New Horizons for quite a while, and it seems that with the new update, all of the NPCs excluded from this game but present in others will now be added. 

A few more miscellaneous additions to the game will include group-stretching in the plaza, island ordinances that will change things on your island such as resident wake-up times, more player home exterior options, and a larger storage. One of the most surprising additions that not many fans expected or asked for is cooking with DIY recipes, but most people seem to be excited about it. This also introduces a farming aspect to the game, plus new food items that can actually be eaten. The update also includes new home decorating items, including lighting, ceiling decor, and accent walls. More fencing types, along with fence customization, will be added as well.

New camera angles, including a handheld mode and a tripod mode, will be added to the camera app. Patterns that players receive from Sable can now be worn as clothing and used as flooring and wallpaper. Eleven new hairstyles and eleven new reactions will also be included in the November 5th update. Newcomers to the game who want more tips for gameplay can look to the “Island Life 101” app on the Nook Phone. A portable storage shed and ABD (automatic bell dispenser) will be super helpful for decorating and shopping. 

Twelve new K.K. Slider songs, new items, A ladder set-up kit will allow players to add permanent ladders to their island, which pair with an increase in the maximum number of bridges and inclines (from eight each to ten each) to make it easier to climb cliffs and cross rivers in the game. The update will allow players to navigate tight spaces more evenly, adding further to the increased ease at which they can roam around their islands. With the addition of the ability to be invited over to villagers houses, and the opportunity for villagers to visit players at theirs, it will be easier to keep up relationships with villagers.

All of these additions to the game will be available with the free update, launching on November 5, 2021. Though Nintendo announced that “this will be the last major free content update” for the game, they seem to have no intentions of discontinuing updates altogether, hinting that we may get more content in smaller (less major) updates in the future. However, Nintendo is not limiting us to only free content. They also announced paid DLC, releasing on the same day as the free update. 

At the end of the Animal Crossing Direct, “Happy Home Paradise,” paid DLC for Animal Crossing: New Horizons was announced. It will allow players to create vacation homes and “dream lifestyles” for different characters, either randomly or with amiibo™ (and later, with your own residents). Each character will request specific furniture items for their vacation homes, but after those are placed, the rest of the home can be designed however the player would like. The outside of the homes can be decorated in a similar fashion to the inside, plus the season, time of day, and weather can be changed to create the right atmosphere. Design techniques like partition walls, pillars, colored lighting, and soundscapes will be unlocked through the paid DLC to use in residents homes on their own island. Furniture particular to the paid DLC will also be available to buy with “Poki,” the currency players will receive after designing vacation homes. To include other fun ways to design buildings on the island, players can invite two characters to room together, along with designing other buildings like schools, hospitals, and restaurants, that are scattered throughout the Happy Home Paradise island. A new Nook Phone app will allow you to share your designs with others and view others’ (with a paid Nintendo Switch Online membership). After remodeling enough vacation homes, players will even be able to remodel residents’ homes on their own island as well. Happy Home Paradise will be available on November 5, 2021, for $24.99 USD, along with 28 new amiibo™ cards.