Animal Crossing: New Horizonsis now nine months old, and the game has received a plethora of updates in its lifetime. With the news that thesefrequent updates would continue toAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsin 2021, players might want to look back at all the changes that occurred throughout 2020.
Animal Crossing, like many modern games, had a day 1 patch that players were required to download to play. The Day 1 update added in the Bunny Day information forNewHorizons, including all of theBunny DayAC:NH’s recipesin order to get ready for April. It also added things that many fans would see as integral to the gameplay, such as visiting other islands, NookLink connectivity, Best Friends, and more.
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Update - April 23rd, 2020
About a month into the game, there had been three small updates that included minor bug fixes, but the April 23rd update was the first big patch. It added NPCs like Redd and Leif as well as some events like Nature Day, May Day, International Museum Day, andJune’sAC:NHWedding Season. Several items were also added to the game, including the bell-bag rug, homemade cape and crown, the wedding items, and the Thank-You Mom and Thank-You Dad mugs.
Summer Update 1 - July 3rd, 2020
This massive update introduced swimming to both hemispheres (in spite of howcold swimming in theAnimal Crossingsouthern hemisphere’s winter waterswould be). This includes the large new collection of underwater creatures that players can catch year-round and add to the collection at the museum. Gullivarrr and his pirate items and Pascal and his mermaid items were also added in this July update, altering the times and ways that NPCs show up on the island. Leif, Saharah, and Kicks were no longer guaranteed to show up every week, giving the other NPCs that had flocked to this new island a chance to visit, too.
Summer Update 2 - July 30th, 2020
Summertime isn’t summer without fireworks shows, andAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsadded a fireworks special summer event for the month of August. Also, Luna was added to players' dreams, allowing them to upload and visit dream islands. The dream islands were great for players who wanted to show off their islands without worrying about actually having visitors.
This update wasn’t all fun though, as it also added some functionality to the game. Players could now create list of favorite creators andNew Horizonscustom designs were easier to search for. There was also an added save function that allows players to back up their save data.
Fall Update - September 30th, 2020
The fall update brought ineverything to do with Halloween toNew Horizons. There were newly added pumpkins to grow and make Halloween decorations from to impress Jack, who showed up for All Hallow’s Eve. This update also included the new skin- and eye-color update, so now players could have green, purple, or even white skin if they chose. Two new spooky reactions appeared in the game as well: Haunt and Scare.
This update had a few bug fixes and quality-of-life additions, such as the ability to revisit dream islands by selecting from a list of previously visited locations. Also, posters were no longer added to the Nook Shopping app, and are now only available at Harv’s island.
Winter Update - November 19th, 2020
Two new seasonal events were added withAnimal Crossing: New Horizons’s newest winter update: Turkey Day and Toy Day, coinciding with the American Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. It also added Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Years' 2021 items that players could make, buy, or snatch out of the sky from a balloon. The NPCs for these holidays, Franklin and Jingle, as were both added, bringing the joy of the holidays to islands in both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere.
In dream land, Luna got an option for “Surprise me!” to bring players to a random dream island, allowing them explore different designs from people they didn’t know. This motivated players to ensure that even thedream versions of theirAC:NHislands were interactableand fun. This was great for furnishing ideas of how to redecorate and connect without needing to do the whole Dodo Code and flight thing. Home storage was also expanded and new Nook Miles items, nine new reactions, and six new hairstyles were added.
Future Updates
All these updates are part of the reason thatAnimal Crossing: New Horizonswas voted one of the best simulations games of 2020. And going into 2021, players may expect more of the same. Since January and February have yet to have an update, players can expect that Nintendo will be including a New Year event as well as a possible Valentine’s Day event. Considering this is a Japanese game, players may also get White Day as well, a celebration of new gifts in return Valentine’s Day gifts that happens in March.
Based on some ofAnimal Crossing: Pocket Camp’s updated events, players might also have a special, one-year anniversary event to look forward to the week of March 20th, 2021. There have been some rumors that everything after the one-year mark will be paid DLC only, but only time will tell.
Animal Crossing: New Horizonsis available for Nintendo Switch.
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