Animal Crossing New Horizons is about to receive a major free update and a hefty chunk of DLC to accompany it in the form of Happy Home Paradise. Combined, there’s a ton of new content coming to your island (and on farther shores) to spend your Bells on and sink your teeth into. However, life catches up with all of us, and if you’ve abandoned your island in recent months, or just want to make sure you’re ready for everything coming your way, we’ve compiled a quick list of ways you can prepare for Animal Crossing New Horizons 2.0 update and Happy Home Paradise excursion.
1. If You’ve Been Gone a While, Do a Quick Tidy
Preparing for AC New Horizons 2.0 Update & Happy Home Paradise
If like me, you’ve not played Animal Crossing New Horizons in a while, there’s a very good chance that you’re going to load the game and find your island overgrown with weeds, cockroaches in your house, villagers having moved away, and everybody mad at you for being gone for so long.
That’s not how anyone should be welcomed back to their island after a bit of time away, but there’s only one way to fix it and that’s to put the graft in to get your island looking perfect once more.
Go about pulling up weeds, digging up fossils and pitfalls, clearing your beaches of shells, and talking to all of your villagers again. Watering your flowers may also be required, too… if you have any left.
Before long, it’ll be like you never left your island and you’ll be all set to take on all of that new content coming your way in Happy Home Paradise and the 2.0 update.
2. Get Rid of Villagers You Don’t Want
Preparing for AC New Horizons 2.0 Update & Happy Home Paradise
This sounds absolutely awful, and not really what the spirit of Animal Crossing is all about, but when there’s 16 new villagers up for grabs, you can bet your bottom Bell we’re going to shift on the likes of Cobb and Jambette.
It is possible to make your villagers leave your island, freeing up a plot on your island for a new villager to move right on in. To do so, you’ll just need to ignore them, hit them with your bug net, and wait for the speech bubble to appear above their head. When you see it, speak to them and they’ll tell you they’re thinking of relocating. Send them on your way with a brief farewell and be ready to invite the likes of Sasha and Tiansheng to your island… if you can find them.
3. Buy amiibo Cards for Inviting Villagers to the Roost or Archipelago
Preparing for AC New Horizons 2.0 Update & Happy Home Paradise
While this isn’t something you’ll have to do in-game, it is something we’d recommend doing sooner rather than later to avoid missing out on getting them all together when the sudden surge in demand hits on Friday.
Buy some of the Animal Crossing amiibo cards. These will feature villagers on the front which, when scanned into your game, can either be used to invite them for a hot cup of java at The Roost, or to the Happy Home Paradise archipelago so you can help design their dream home.
If you’ve got a favorite villager you really want to spend more time with, have a look through the various series of amiibo cards and see if you can still purchase the one you’re after. With a bit of luck, you can grab it before they sell out.
4. Plan Out Your House for the New Interior Decor Options
Preparing for AC New Horizons 2.0 Update & Happy Home Paradise
One of the biggest updates coming as part of the Happy Home Paradise DLC is the vast wealth of new interior decor options available that you’ll learn and can bring back to your main island.
This includes things like ceiling lights, soundscapes, parting walls, counters, and of course, the ability to own a Froggy Chair!
With just a few days until the DLC releases, now’s the perfect time to do a bit of spring cleaning. Throw out any random furniture you’re not really a fan of, and make space for parting walls to help you create the perfect layout for your home. A parting wall and counters to create a separate kitchen area? An entire room of Froggy Chairs? The choice is yours.
We just hope there’s a ribbit soundscape for our Froggy Chair room.
5. Plot Out Your Farm
Preparing for AC New Horizons 2.0 Update & Happy Home Paradise
If you’ve spent a ton of time landscaping your island with flower patches, an orchard teeming with all the fruit trees, and placing furniture to make nice outdoor park areas, you may need to spend a little bit of time freeing up space so you can create your own little farm.
New Horizons’ 2.0 update adds the ability to plant vegetables and then use them to cook various dishes. It’s all rather cute and we can’t wait to get our hands dirty planting various crops, so spend some time plotting out the perfect spot for your veggies to grow in the sun.
6. Think About What Island Ordinance Might Suit You Best
Preparing for AC New Horizons 2.0 Update & Happy Home Paradise
Ordinances have finally returned, and these can allow you to change all manner of things around your island. Find yourself falling off Animal Crossing New Horizons for months at a time and not visiting your island? Then you may want to choose the ordinance that slows the rate that weeds grow on your island.
Or perhaps you check in every day but early in the morning or late at night when Nook’s store isn’t open. Well, there are ordinances to shift the opening hours of Nook’s store, too, meaning you’ll be able to get the most out of each day you check-in.
There are four ordinances we know of so far, these are:
- Beautiful Island: Cockroaches won’t appear in houses, weeds appear less often, hybrid flowers are more likely to spawn and you won’t catch trash when you’re fishing.
- Early Bird: All stores open and villagers wake up earlier, but they close and go to bed earlier.
- Night Owl: All stores open and villagers wake up later, but close and got to bed later.
- Bell Boom: Shops sell and buy items for higher prices.
Spend a bit of time to figure out which ordinance might be best for the way you play New Horizons. There may be even more that we don’t know of yet, though, so don’t get your heart too set on one just yet.
7. Stock Up on Nook Miles & DIY Materials
Preparing for AC New Horizons 2.0 Update & Happy Home Paradise
While there’s a good chance you’ve got a good amount of Nook Miles stocked up and ready to spend, there’s no harm in making sure you’ve got plenty for purchasing all of those new DIY+ recipes, bits of furniture, hairstyles, and of course, the ability to embark on Kapp’n’s boat tours which will cost 1,000 Nook Miles each time.
With opportunities to farm crops, new furniture to obtain, and plenty of renovation opportunities to further spruce up your island, you’ll also want to make sure you’ve got plenty of DIY materials needed to craft it all. Make sure you’ve stockpiled plenty of wood, stone, flowers, and anything else you might need to ensure you’re not left looking at your DIY Recipes, thinking about what could have been.
8. Preorder & Preload the Happy Home Paradise DLC
Preparing for AC New Horizons 2.0 Update & Happy Home Paradise
If you haven’t already and want to be able to jump into the Happy Home Paradise DLC as soon as it goes live in your timezone, then go ahead and preorder it from the Nintendo eShop. We’ve got a detailed guide on how you can do that here.
Once you’ve preordered it, you’ll be able to preload the content straight onto your Nintendo Switch. This means that you’ll be able to immediately start playing this Friday (Nov. 5) without having to wait for any pesky downloads to complete. It’s a minor step, but one that’s particularly useful if you’ve got a slow or unstable internet connection.
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