The final Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Direct before launch has given us an outline of what our deserted island getaway looks like.
When the game arrives on March 20, we'll be able to do all the usual Animal Crossing things of outfiting a new island with our own decorations, crafted from trees and bugs and rocks. But some quality of life improvements and a number of new features will make our castaway life even better. You can craft furniture as before, but you can also eventually learn to add patterns and colors to your furtniture, customizing the way they look.
On top of choosing exactly what sort of island you want to be deserted on, one of the biggest additions shown in the video was land development, where you can acquire permits to let you change the layout and terrain on your island. Permits for anything from paving paths to moving rivers and cliffs can be applied for and let you turn impassable cliffs into slopes or change the course of the rivers across your island.
The achievement system, known as Nook Miles, will reward you for certain milestones. Some of those rewards include tickets on mystery island tours, which will let you head off to unknown lands and find exotic bugs or flowers and other resources. You can even find other villagers on these islands to bring back with you.
Nintendo will also be launching NookLink, a section of the Nintendo Switch Online app on your smartphone that lets you interact with the game. Shortly after New Horizons comes out, the NookLink will let you scan QR codes of custom clothing and pattern designs from Animal Crossing: New Leaf or Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer and import them into New Horizons.
The app also lets you voice and text chat with people in multiplayer as you visit each other's islands. You can invite people to see your island with a one-time code, if they aren't your best friend, and they won't be able to use the axe or shovel and cause severe damage to your lovely home landscape. You can appoint people to be Best Friends and they will be able to use the tools.
Are you excited to play Animal Crossing: New Horizons on March 20 when it releases? Will you be heading off to your friends' islands or chilling out on your own?
