Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is Nintendo's life simulation for an island you design yourself. After starting with Nook's Island Getaway Package, a largely uninhabited island gradually becomes your own home town with houses, paths, bridges, shops, a museum and animal neighbors.

The game runs in real time: time of day, weekdays and seasons follow the real clock. Collecting, fishing, bug catching, fossils, crafting, decorating and developing the island form the lasting core.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released on Mar 20, 2020 for Nintendo Switch. The paid add-on Happy Home Paradise followed on Nov 5, 2021.

On Jan 15, 2026, Nintendo released the native Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. On the same day, the original Switch version also received the free 3.0 update with long-term new content and quality-of-life features.

The base game was released natively for Nintendo Switch. Since January 2026, a standalone Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is also available. Among other things, it offers up to 4K resolution in TV mode, mouse controls with Joy-Con 2, the microphone megaphone, CameraPlay and online sessions with up to twelve players if everyone uses the Switch 2 Edition.

A native PC version does not exist.

Resources are gathered and tools are crafted at the start. As development progresses, new buildings, villagers and design options are added. Paths, bridges, stairs and even river courses can be changed, while furniture can be placed both indoors and outdoors.

Game progress is deliberately open-ended. Instead of a linear campaign, everyday life consists of collecting goals, museum progress, house and island design, seasonal events and relationships with villagers.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Happy Home Paradise is the paid expansion content for the game. As part of Karlotta's holiday home agency, the player designs holiday homes and furnishings on a separate island group. The DLC introduces additional interior design techniques and its own work and design progression.

Happy Home Paradise was released on Nov 5, 2021 and requires the base game.

On Nintendo Switch, islanders can play together on the same console, and local and online visits between islands are possible. The Switch 2 Edition extends online sessions to up to twelve participants, provided all players use this edition, and supports CameraPlay with a compatible USB camera.

The free Update 3.0 from Jan 15, 2026 permanently adds a hotel run by Captain's family, additional collaboration items and new quality-of-life features to both versions. Nintendo also expanded crafting: several copies of an item can be made in one step, and materials from storage can be used directly.

Nintendo Switch Online members also gained Slumber Isles as an additional shared design space.