Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct: Every big announcement

Nintendo dropped an Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct this week that was well beyond anything I expected. It goes into 20 minutes of new features, items and events that will be introduced to the game on November 5th. It introduced so many new things that I almost needed to buy a new Moleskin so let’s get into this.

The Roost!

The heavily requested Brewster returns, adding his coffee shop to the museum. You’ll be able to witness other characters visiting as you drink your coffee. You can Invite characters over via Amiibo cards, and there’s also a multiplayer function so you and your friends can get coffee together.

Kapp’n Returns!

The old sea captain has finally come back to the island. He’s hanging out on the docks of your island, he’s ready to get you out to sea. His signature sea shanties return.

He will take you to new islands with new flora and elements previously never seen in Animal Crossing before including vines that allow you to climb walls that can be brought back with you.

Harv’s Island Gets Bigger

Harv’s Island is expanding with a new area that allows for you to fund stands for various characters to set up shop all the time. Characters that normally only show up randomly like Redd and Kicks can get shops there.

Long missing characters finally return as well like Katrina the Fortune Teller, Harriet who can teach you new hair styles, Reese and Cyrus who can customize the furniture you normally couldn’t, and even Tortimer who, well I have no idea what’s going to happen with Tortimer because I thought he had died.

Other big announcements!

• Group Stretching
  • This one is completely unexpected but group stretching allows you to get a bunch of characters from the island together to do a big morning stretch like many places in Japan do every day.
  • You can also use motion controls to do this along with the other villagers.
• Ordinances Return!
  • Now you can talk to Isabelle and set town ordinances like in previous games. These are particularly useful for people with different schedules as it allows you to tell it you want the stores open and villagers up earlier in the day or later. Night owls can finally experience the game!
• New Exterior Home Options!
  • You will be able to customize the look of your house to better match the theme of your island.
  • Everything from Japanese minkas to castle-inspired themes and shapes was shown.
• Increase Your Storage
  • Additional upgrades will be sold by Tom Nook allowing you to hold up to 5,000 items in your home storage.
• New Items Redeemable with Miles
  • The Miles store is going to be getting a LOT more items including new fountain types, furniture, and decor for around the island.
• Farming and Cooking?!
  • Not only are you going to be able to finally grow more than just pumpkins, you’re going to be able to grow wheat, tomatoes, potatoes, sugar cane and so much more.
  • Those ingredients will be able to be used in the kitchen to cook up and discover new recipes which you’ll store in a recipe book.
  • These cooked items can be used as peaceable items, eaten for 5 energy or gifted to other characters to improve relationships.
• Pro Decorating License
  • New options for decorating the interior of your home will be available.
  • Add ceiling lights and other ceiling decors to add some depth and lighting to your home.
  • Accent walls will allow you to place a design on one wall instead of all of them to really make the look pop. As someone who once lived in a condo where I painted an accent wall in every room but the bathroom I will be abusing this.
• The Ability to Have More Bridges and Stairs
  • Up to 10 bridges and up to 10 stairs will be allowed now on the island allowing for more traversal options.
• New Fencing Will Be Added
  • In addition, some of these new designs can be customized as well to allow for a more thematic look.
• Upgraded Camera Mode
  • You’ll now be able to go into a POV mode where you get down on ground level to take better pictures of characters and events.
  • You can also put the camera on a tripod so you can get into the shot.
• Custom Design Patterns+ Can Be Used on More Things
  • Now the Custom Design Patterns you unlock can be worn, used on walls and pretty much anything else that allows for patterns.
• New Hair and Reactions
  • There will be 11 new hair styles added, including the ones that Harriet can teach you.
  • New Reactions will be available including a really cute one that bobs to the music.
• Island Life 101 App
  • A social media-looking app will be added to the Nook Phone to give players ideas and recommendations on what they should do around the island.
  • Great tool for new players or people that need a push on what to do.
• Cabinets and ATMs
  • Adding cabinets around the island will allow you to access your home storage from elsewhere on the island.
  • ATMs will allow you to place the ability to access bells and miles from anywhere on the island.
• New K.K. Songs!
  • K.K. Slider is adding a full album of new songs to his library.
• Music Box Item
  • There’s going to be a new item that’s a tinny music box. Playing any of your songs on it will turn it into a simplistic music box rendition.
• Gyroids Return!
  • We all knew it was going to happen and here it is.
  • The Gyroids have really interesting new looks.
  • Finding fragments of the Gyroids and planting them in the ground and watering them allows them to be dug up the following day.
  • There will also be more that show up the day after a rainfall.
  • Gyroids are customizable with different color themes so they don’t stick out in a thematic room.
• Permanently Placed Ladders
  • When announcing that Nook’s Cranny will be getting new items they announced a new tool to craft.
  • This ladder tool will allow you to place a ladder and just keep it there so anyone can climb up smaller spots without needing to take up a giant chunk of land for stairs.
• Villager Invitations
  • Villagers will be able to invite you over to their place to hang out. This will be a really good way to improve relationships with them.
  • Likewise, they’ll sometimes ask to come to visit your place as well. As my home is on an isolated island only accessible via warp pipe I’m curious how this will work out for me.

Okay, so that’s it for the FREE content. They also announced that this was going to be the final free major update to the game. They also announced paid DLC. Now, before you groan, this is a BIG one.