Today was the long awaited Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Direct, and with it came a lot of new information for this game that's releasing surprisingly soon. Since there is so much to cover, I figured I'd give you guys the bullet points to keep this simple. Here's a run down of what's new:
- Choosing an island. When you begin a new game you have multiple islands to choose from. Their layouts will be shown to you just as they were in New Leaf, and you can also choose where your island is located on the globe. This means seasons will be updated to reflect your location, and better match where you live in real life. In the northern hemisphere Summer will occur in months such as June, while the southern hemisphere will be starting it's Winter months instead.
- Small Islands have been added. These small areas can be visited by accessing your air port and serve as a way to gather materials without worry. You can cut down trees, harvest fruit, pick up flowers, etc without having to alter your own island.
- You can now choose where villagers move in. Yes, gone are the days of random villagers moving in over top of your flowers and user created side walks!
- You can physically see where town projects will be built. In Animal Crossing New Leaf you were able to choose where some buildings and town facilities were built, but you didn't have complete control. These projects would be built close to the area you chose, and sometimes they would land somewhere you didn't expect. Like over top of your trees. Now this can no longer happen as you have control over where they will be placed in the world.
- To go along with this point, major buildings will not be unlocked by default. Like in New Leaf the island will be upgraded with new places to visit as you progress through the game.
- Homes now have an editor mode where you can freely drag and drop furniture, and even fine tune what is hanging on your walls. This is similar to what was seen in the Animal Crossing mobile game, as well as the 3DS spin off Happy Room Academy.
- A smart phone app connected to the Nintendo app will also be released to make things smoother. This app will feature a keyboard for in game chat, as well as the ability to scan in user created patterns for use in your game. These patterns can be applied to a wide verity of objects, including clothing and furniture. It also supports QR codes from previous Animal Crossing games so you can bring your old creations over.
- Clothing items now have their own menu and no longer take up space. Similar to other simulation games, you can now open up a character wardrobe and plan your outfits as you see fit.
- Holidays and other events will return to New Horizons but in a new form. The game will receive free updates and have season events pushed through said updates throughout the game's life cycle. This is similar to what we've seen in the mobile release, and is a pretty common practice for games with online features.
- Land development. Yep this is a completely new one! Along with tools to create your own paths, patches of grass, dirt, sand, etc, land development tools can also be unlocked. With these tools you can carve out rivers, ponds, and modify the land below your feet. Cliffs can be built or reshaped, water falls can be formed, and you can follow all of this up with your own ramps and bridges to make getting around the island even easier. You can shape this island however you wish, and put your creativity to the test.
- and much, MUCH, more! This game is huge, and it's something that will continue to expand over it's life time.