Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition - Review
Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the perfect game for its time. Coming to the world during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it offered players a superb way to play together and stay connected in an isolated world.
Moving forward six-years now, and Animal Crossing is back, but rather than offering a brand-new game in a new setting, Nintendo has updated the title for the Nintendo Switch 2, alongside a free 3.0 update for all users.
The game shines brightly when working on the Nintendo Switch 2. The original game looked wonderful on the Nintendo Switch, and the update to 4K resolution makes the game look even better. It is worth noting that it is still capped out at 30 frames per second, which seems like a missed opportunity, even if there’s technical aspects at play in the background.
Further taking advantage of the Switch 2 capabilities is the inclusion of Joy-Con 2 Mouse controls. Being able to use the mouse in various situations has made some aspects of Animal Crossing easier to navigate. Rearranging furniture around your rooms when in design mode feels like second nature. This stands out when playing the Happy Home Designer DLC and the new hotel mode that comes with the 3.0 update.
Similarly, using mouse controls to create designs does feel really natural, as long as you are good with drawing with a mouse. I ended up sticking with using the pixel perfect design controls with the buttons as that was my preference, but I am sure that many will find success using the mouse controls here.
I do however have a minor gripe, I wish that there was a way to use the mouse to group items in your inventory so that you could drop up to nine items in one go, rather than selecting them one by one. Perhaps there will be further updates beyond 3.0 for the Switch 2 version, but at the moment there are parts of the game’s tedium that remains.
The Switch 2 also allows up to twelve people to play together on the one island. I do not recommend this at any point in time. If you have played Animal Crossing before and have joined in a multiplayer session, you would know that each player takes anywhere between 45 seconds to a minute and a half to load the visiting island onto their console and begin play. Add another ten people to visit your island, and not only is this incredibly tedious for the host, but it also becomes tedious for the first few visitors who have to go through the same experience waiting for the last players to come in. Expect to be sitting around anywhere between six to fifteen minutes waiting for everyone to join.
Ultimately, the Switch 2 Edition is not super different to the original console’s version, and its main selling points fall entirely on whether you want faster loading times, higher resolution, and mouse controls. Owners of the original only have to pay a small fee for an upgrade, and the Switch 2 Edition is only a small amount more to purchase than the original. If it were a more expensive upgrade, I would find it hard to recommend, however at such a small price point, there is no reason not to splurge.
Those who have not played Animal Crossing: New Horizons might be wondering if the 3.0 update adds enough content to finally take a chance on the game. Arguably, this update adds a lot more to New Horizons than the Switch 2 update does and is free.
First up, we have new and returning villagers to the game. Mineru and Tulin, villagers based on their namesakes join island life from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Two villagers inspired by Splatoon make their return in Cece and Viché, who are now dressed like Shiver and Frye from Splatoon 3. Tulin is my favourite, purely because he has the jock personality. These can all be accessed by a variety of existing amiibo and add a nice touch to the game overall.
The first big part of the 3.0 update is in the Resort Hotel. Kapp’n’s family is back and running a hotel service on the island. Anyone currently deep into New Horizons will have this unlocked from the get-go, but new islands will be around for a while before the hotel opens its doors. The function of the hotel is, for the most part, a way to design hotel rooms for guests arriving at the island. At the beginning, you are given themes to go with, and then you can go and design a room for an upcoming guest. As you progress, you can choose the theme you want (or just not go with a theme) and get as creative as possible.
If it were not for hotel rewards being attached to this mode, I think I would have tired of it a lot sooner. By the time I got to designing my 15th room, I just started spamming furniture that fit the theme, with no rhyme or reason regarding feng shui, and Leilani was just as happy with the room as she would be had I spent a longer time carefully planning the layout of the room.
You will receive many new visitors to your islands, and if you dress up the mannequins in the lobby, the visitors will don these outfits as they explore your island. Sadly, you cannot convince hotel visitors to come live on your island, but I was excited to see a villager that used to live with me and was even more tickled to find out he remembered me!
Rewards that come from the Resort Hotel include merch from the hotel itself, and new furniture ranges. Most of these new furniture items look right at home in New Horizons and will add some more variety for those who like to design their houses and islands.
Eventually, you will unlock old-school Nintendo consoles, similarly to the GameCube game that allowed you to play a variety of NES games. What I found lacking here, was that the consoles only contained the US and Japan versions of the NES and SNES, as well as a Game Boy.
Each of these consoles only allows you to play a pre-installed game, most of which are throwaway titles. If these connected to the Nintendo Classics from Switch Online, these would have been so much more worthwhile. Considering that the NES was 18 years old when Animal Crossing came out on the GameCube, it is a touch annoying that we can only play games that are over 30 years old now. The absence of the Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and even the GameCube can be felt strongly here.
The other big addition to 3.0 are the Slumber Islands. The best way I could describe these would be if you took the creative mode in Minecraft and applied it to Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Being able to lay down as much furniture from your catalogue as you want to, while terraforming an island and adding as many elements as you can think of can be a lot of fun. It was an enjoyable way to experiment with how things look before I ended up ordering them from the catalogue on my main island.
You can also invite friends to come to your slumber island and help get creative as well. It is a nice feature for those that want to get creative without the restrictions of money and time on your main island.
In some wonderful news, Mr. Resetti has been given employment once again! Rather than berate you for resetting your game without saving, he is now able to reset your island in a manner of different ways.
If you have a particularly clunky area of your island that you want to have removed, you can ask Resetti to come and clean it all up for you, putting your items back in your house storage. You are also able to reset your entire island, which is the nuclear option I chose. Resetti does not change the layout of your island, or remove trees and weeds, instead focussing on items and furniture you have laying around. The first day of cleaning up is free, however subsequent visits to Mr. Resetti comes at a cost of bells. Resetti is even so nice, that he will not remove your flowers unless you specifically tell him you want them removed as well. It is a splendid feature, and one I wish we had years ago.
Finally, the 3.0 update comes with its own new catalogue items. As we well know, Animal Crossing has a strong presence in the world of LEGO, so to return favour, we can now order LEGO themed furniture and decorations for our homes in New Horizons. On top of the Mario items we could get, there are also items from The Legend of Zelda available to order from the catalogue now.
The LEGO items look as bright and gaudy as traditional LEGO pieces look, and The Legend of Zelda items look like they fit right into the game. I am sure lots of people will find cool ways to integrate these worlds within their islands.
Overall, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is still a game worth playing. However, this review is solely based on what is new in the world of Animal Crossing. We all know the original game is brilliant. I can only see the new features and Switch 2 upgrades keeping me entertained for a couple of months at most. If Nintendo are not making a new Animal Crossing for the Switch 2 from scratch, I can only hope we see further support to keep fresh players entertained in this latest version.
The Score
7.0
Review code provided by Nintendo
The Pros
Slumber Islands are a terrific addition.
New items fit right into the Animal Crossing world
Mr. Resetti is useful!
The Cons
Inviting any more than four people to your island.
The classic consoles are a missed opportunity.
The hotel actually is not that fun.
