For a number of very obvious reasons, we don’t want to roll back the clock to early 2020. No thank you. But if there was a feel-good lockdown story, it was the perfectly timed arrival of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which allowed friends who could no longer meet up IRL to do so virtually on their carefully pruned islands.
The game will almost certainly never be as popular as it was back then again, but Nintendo is hoping a good chunk of lapsed islanders will return for its latest DLC drop, which has arrived a day earlier than planned. As spotted by Eurogamer, the free Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 update is available to download now and, as previously announced, brings a host of new features to the cozy life sim, including a brand new resort hotel on the pier that you can help decorate.
There are new items and quality-of-life additions too, as well as the ability to build fresh islands with your friends and family in the “Slumber Island” dream world. All you need to do is go to the New Horizons game icon on your Switch’s home screen and download the software update.
Nintendo also announced last year that New Horizons would be coming to Switch 2 on January 15, improving the visuals, unlocking mouse controls and GameChat functionality, and expanding the online multiplayer capacity from eight players to 12. As of now, the Switch 2 edition of the game remains locked, so you’ll be stuck with the standard Switch version until tomorrow. Upgrading costs $5, while first-time players can purchase the Switch 2 version of Animal Crossing: New Horizons for $65.
