Nintendo hosted their Animal Crossing New Horizon live stream yesterday, unveiling bucket loads of new features for the upcoming Switch exclusive. They touched on everything from your first steps on the island, to even late game mechanics. It was a great direct that certainly got me hyped to abandon my life and become a castaway. Here’s what to expect, when the games launches on 20th March 2020:
On the island, life is as peaceful and relaxing as it gets. Since the island is deserted, everyone can create a new life from the very beginning. Time flows as naturally as in the real world, including seasons and day and night cycles that mirror real time.
By collecting specific materials around the island, residents can craft a wide variety of things, including tools and furniture. DIY workshops teach you how to enrich your life by crafting DIY recipes. As you become more familiar with DIY, you can even learn special skills like changing the colour of your DIY furniture or decorating them with custom designs.
Up to eight people can live on one island. In Party Play, residents can call up to three other players to explore the island at the same time. Whoever calls the others will be the Leader, making the others the Followers. It’s easy to change out the Leader, letting others quickly take charge. Any creatures or items found by Followers will be stored in a recycle box at the Resident Services building.
With NookLink, which is part of the Nintendo Switch Online app, players can scan a Custom Design QR Code pattern from previous games Animal Crossing: New Leaf or Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer with a real-life smartphone and then download them to Animal Crossing: New Horizons. When connected online, it’s also possible to talk with friends who also have Animal Crossing: New Horizons with the Nintendo Switch Online smartphone app, using the smartphone as a keyboard or for voice chat. NookLink will launch in March.
Free updates will be added after the game launches, with free seasonal events continually added throughout the year. The first free update will be on launch day, 20th March. By installing this update, you can celebrate Bunny Day with a special event in April.
A feature not announced in the Direct, was Nintendo’s plans to introduce the ability to transfer your savefile to other Switch devices. There has been no release date for this, but it is expected to land later this year.
For a full breakdown of all the new features in the announcement, go here. If you fancy watching the Direct instead, I have you covered:
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