Review – Animal Crossing: New Horizons

arrived to bring even more fluidity and beauty to our islands. The paradisiacal and charming atmosphere has received improvements and new features that take advantage of the capabilities of the new console, including even its mouse functions. And the best thing is that this arrives in parallel with the flood of new features in version 3.0 of the game, which is available for both consoles for free.

Let’s face it, there’s nothing stupid about Tom Nook and, to show that he’s far from comfortable with the island, he found new ways of doing business to make huge profits. This time, bringing a Hotel that will leave your island in the center of attention of any Airbnb. But, to receive so many visitors, the place needs to be touristy, so don’t leave that pile of objects lying on the beach. Now, if a job is what you want, the Hotel is already hiring and, look on the bright side: it’s close to home.

An island that has become touristy

At the beginning, he proposed an escape, isolation on an island, a proposal that surprised all fans of the franchise with so many new features. And, despite some setbacks, the beginning of life on this small island was truly wonderful: little by little, seasonal events, brand partnerships and other franchises enriched and gave unique characteristics to every corner of this place, and the isolation gave way to a true online and local meeting point.

The research contributed to enriching our museum and we even managed to dive in to expand our encyclopedia. Over time, visits brought famous sculptures and paintings from the outside world, although some may be fake. We made time for a nice coffee and even got into a work routine with Happy Home Paradise. But it is the island community that continues to give life and many reasons to take great care of this place.

The time when the game was released helped with engagement, it’s a fact, but from then on the community continued to grow and, thanks to the possibility of creating designs, there are no limits to the villagers’ creativity. This gave rise to so many ideas for constructions, games, competitions (even a June festival takes place within the game). So what else could be added? The answer comes in this 3.0 update and, of course, in the exclusive addenda for the Nintendo Switch 2.

See, it’s impossible to talk about the features present in the Switch 2 version without mentioning these updates, as they are huge. Additionally, the Hotel itself and all other features benefit from the new console’s capabilities. It is worth noting that, to unlock this new Hotel venture, you will need to progress your island until you receive a visit from the famous KK Slider. Here, you’ll act as an interior designer, meaning it’s a little more isolated than what we saw at HHP, and the focus is on preparing the rooms for future guests.

The rooms can have specific themes, such as beach, Japan, technology, among many others. To give that little boost, you will have some of the new decorative items at your disposal, but you can also use any personal objects you have. The task is not that complicated after all, by now everyone is more than accustomed to the tools and options, right?

The new feature is mouse mode on the Nintendo Switch 2. With it, you can use the cursor to move around the space and organize items to your liking; You can select multiple things by clicking and dragging. Experience in this mode not only makes movement easier but also makes the dynamics more fluid, and it’s impressive how well it works when supported by the leg. All that’s left to do is unleash your creativity and imagine scenarios worthy of hosting.

Turistando em Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

With well-decorated rooms, there will obviously be no shortage of visitors, so be prepared to see different faces almost every day. And they won’t be limited to bedrooms: you might find them roaming around. With more rooms, more people appear, which helps keep the island alive and busy. If it was already charming to see our neighbors exploring, imagine having different characters walking through everything you built. Seriously, it’s very satisfying and takes away one of the biggest pains I had.

Here’s a chance to see the museum’s café shine, since, for those who don’t go online often, the place is practically at a standstill. Who knows, maybe we’ll see more movement there and in all other spaces. In fact, you can also customize two mannequins in the hotel lobby with clothing suggestions for guests and online friends, so you can personalize this community of tourists.

Now, guests that we will want as neighbors, without a doubt, come from The Legend of Zelda series and Splatoon. Through Amiibos, you have the chance to have them as new residents, which is pretty cool. Seriously, Mineru is too cute! The collaboration also features amazing decorative items! In this case, there are also items from the LEGO line, which can change the entire look of your island.

The room decorations will reward you with tickets that can be exchanged for items in the Hotel’s souvenir shop (in other words, once again, no bells for your hard work). One way to speed up your earnings is to produce objects for Kapp’n in front of the Hotel, he also offers boat trips to random islands. The ticket gives you the chance to buy new decoration collections and, in the special category, you will find very nostalgic items: classic Nintendo consoles that, get this, work and allow you to play some selected titles.

The consoles and games included are: Clu Clu Land (Famicom), Ice Hockey (Famicom Disk System), Dr. Mario (Game Boy), Ice Climber (NES), F-Zero (Super NES and Super Famicom) and, finally, Panel de Pon (Super Famicom). Ok, it’s a way of remembering something we saw in the first title in the franchise, back on the GameCube. However, here you need to have an online subscription to play. The requirement is boring, but it is still very captivating and makes you want to have more games and consoles included. I wish I had a Nintendo 64, GameCube or Wii, imagine.

If you don’t have an active subscription, the small devices become decorative only. In fact, there are other new features that will also only work with a subscription. Luna’s dream expansion, for example, remains online, obviously, but brings much more news.

Dreams will be true, the future has already begun

Before, when you slept, you could visit islands as if you were really dreaming of beautiful, well-decorated, but untouchable places. Suddenly, you would wake up and return to your only reality: your island. In version 3.0 of Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (which also applies to the Switch 1 version), the dreams of many fans have come true: now we can create new islands from scratch, however we want. And, to make it even better, we can share this dream with friends, where you can work together, modifying the island with buildings and decorations, which turns into a fun mess.

If you share the Switch with a family member, you know that you both live on the same island. With expanded dreams, each resident can now have up to three different islands, set up to their liking, and can even invite real-life residents (who are part of their island) and modify the climate. It’s a good solution for everyone who asked for this independence, even if in a dream format, that is, there is a journey until you actually reach your place.

Whether on the real island or on the Slumber Island islands, on Nintendo Switch 2 you can now invite up to 12 friends online (instead of 8, as on Switch 1) to collaborate and have fun together. You can also use GameChat and camera features, this provides a more lively experience with each player’s reactions. These are features that reinforce online interaction, facilitate communication and make the game even more fun. It’s worth remembering that I tested a generic webcam and it worked very well, here’s a tip.

A new way to find your villagers

Another very fun but challenging object is the megaphone, with it you can locate those neighbors hidden on the map. Using the Nintendo Switch 2’s built-in microphone you can actually call them out and, if your pronunciation is sharp, you’ll find them. However, it was difficult to locate exactly who I wanted, most of the time, one or the other random responded to my call.

Continuing the new features of Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, mouse mode can also be used to draw designs, whether for flags, clothes and even the city hall notice board. But, for a left-handed person like me, the task was not easy at all, since the mouse we can use is the right one. If there is any configuration to use the left Joy-Con, someone please let me know.

The game is full of new features. The new collections, partnerships and characters bring new life to the island and help those who have played since the launch of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but they also captivate new players, who will find an immense universe of things to do within an island. And, for the veterans, we still have Resetti, which helps you clean part of the island you want to renovate, being able to remove plants, decorations and designs. It’s a great way to reinforce this fresh start.

Another simple action, but one that makes a lot of difference, are the fixed jumps and lateral movements when pressing the L button. This helps a lot in routine activities. On Nintendo Switch 2, we still have a renewed look in 4K on TV and 1080p in portable mode. Even though it is at 30 fps, you can see that the enchanting visuals become even more charming, inviting and, without a doubt, eye-catching. Performance has also improved: initial and inter-scene loading has been reduced, but I feel like it could still be faster, especially after seeing the capabilities that the Switch 2 achieves.

Isolating the new features that arrive in the Nintendo Switch 2 version, there are many improvements that do justice to the new capabilities. However, it is really sad that the is not included in the package. In other words, anyone who directly purchases this version, or the improvement package (if they have the Switch 1 version), will still have to pay for the DLC.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition came to show that the series has a lot to offer. Even though it was launched in 2020, almost six years later the support continues and manages to surprise in many ways, responding to fan requests, bringing news for free and, in the end, renewing the community’s attention, in addition to attracting new players. There’s no reason to go back to the city when the island is still a wonderful place to be.