Did I think I would be re-reviewing Animal Crossing: New Horizons in 2026? No, but here we are, and I am happy to say that nearly six years after its original release date, Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition holds up better than ever, with hours of new content, all for about the cost of a pretentious coffee if you’re upgrading from the original game.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons just hit update 3.0, which was a free update for anyone who owns the game, regardless of which console version they are playing. With that free update, you will find Kappn’s family’s hotel, max storage upgrades, Slumber Islands, plus new items, including amiibos and partnerships with LEGO and The Legend of Zelda. A big part of the update also includes quality-of-life features like Resetti to help clean up your island, or Leif helping to clear weeds. You can read more about the changes on Nintendo’s official website if you’re curious.
The Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition costs a small fee of about $7 CAD to bring even more content to the game. First, they brought enhanced resolution. Personally, this visual update didn’t really speak to me. I find it a bit more vibrant, but if you didn’t tell me, I never would have noticed. Load times are said to be slightly faster as well, but again, had you not told me…
Something exclusive to the Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is the addition of mouse controls to decorating and designing. Personally, I have not found the Nintendo Switch 2 mouse controls comfortable in any game, so this isn’t a feature I will use. With that, though, I tested it ou,t and I can see it being useful to some. Being able to click and drag to move multiple items at once is a great option, and sometimes a point and click with a mouse is a lot easier than controllers. I’m a console girl at heart, though, so I am a bit biased.
Interestingly enough, I randomly decided to restart Animal Crossing: New Horizons a few weeks ago, regardless of the new content that was on the way. Now that my daughter is six, I thought it would be a good time to introduce her to the world of Animal Crossing, much like I did with my niece during COVID when the original released. I’m really glad I did, though, because I had time to get my game ready for the new content that came to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, and I pretty much always have something to do in-game now, since my island isn’t complete like my OLED version was.
In terms of multiplayer, Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition now allows up to eight players to live on one island, with space for 12 players on one island at one time via online play—but all 12 players have to be playing the Switch 2 Edition. Personally, I am a one or two players at a time kinda girl, but I know a lot of Animal Crossing groups that are going to love that more people can come play at a time. The game also offers CameraPlay, which I find a bit creepy, personally, with little faces over everyone’s heads, but to each their own.
One of the bigger additions to Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 is the introduction of Slumber Islands. This is in both game versions, but it is a bigger part of the update. Essentially, this is like a take on Luna’s dream islands, except now you get to interact with the world around you a bit more. To me, Luna’s islands were a way to draw on other players’ designs for inspiration. Slumber Islands, however, are more like a staging area, where you can decorate and explore, experimenting with new design ideas in the dream, rather than mucking up your island in real-life.
Here you can choose the size of your island and the map layout before jumping in, and then it’s off to the races. You can also play with up to 12 people, and invite them to your Slumber Island or go to theirs. On this island, you have access to anything you have on your regular island, including villagers, construction capabilities, and your catalogue of items. I am not much of a planner; if I want to build or decorate, I don’t want to do it twice. However, this would be a great way to let my daughter’s imagination run wild without having to sacrifice my island to do it.
The other major change to the Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 update is the new hotel that will appear on your docks. In order to trigger this, your island must have a 3-star rating, and you can’t be living in a tent still. Lucky for me, I was ready! Once you log in, run over to your pier, and you’ll notice it is significantly bigger than it used to be, with a giant building taking up the extra space. Sure enough, Kapp’n, the lovely dude who takes you to mystery islands, has brought his family to the island, and they are opening a hotel!
From here, this part of the update works very similarly to the Happy Home Paradise DLC. They enlist your help in decorating the rooms of the hotel, and want each one to have a different theme. You get to pick between two themes for each room, and then what you do with it is up to you. You earn Hotel Tickets for each room you design, which can only be spent at the hotel for special items to add to your catalogue.
With the hotel comes a lot of new visitors as well. Again, I am in a few Animal Crossing groups—yes, I am a nerd—and people’s opinions on this are pretty hit or miss. Basically, the hotel brings villagers from far and wide to your island, but this means they roam freely, wandering all corners of your little paradise. Some people hate that there are so many people wandering around, and others are upset that their dream villagers are right there, but out of reach.
You see, they did not add the ability to invite them to stay, like you can with the campsite, which has been heartbreaking to some. I really don’t love all the people wandering around either, if I am honest, but they did try to differentiate them from your other villagers by adding hotel outfits that you can design and customize, having your visitors parade around in little matching outfits so you don’t mix them up.
Basically, Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 is all about decorating and designing, and that really is the core of the franchise. If this is something you love, then the update is for you. If you own a Switch 2, for $5-$7, I don’t see any reason NOT to grab the upgrade pack—even if it is only to use the megaphone to bother your villagers (but really, being able to find them finally is an awesome addition!).
Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 is really what brought the bulk of the changes to the game—and it was free, so how can I complain? The Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition just offers some quality-of-life enhancements to make living on your island a little bit better. Jordan Biordi gave the original game a perfect score, and after six years, even with lockdowns over, Animal Crossing is still thriving and finding ways to keep players hooked. His score has stood the test of time; who am I to argue?
The Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is now live. You can grab it for $89.99 CAD or $6.99 CAD for the upgrade, or $64.99 USD/$4.99 USD.
- Nintendo Switch 2 Edition features Includes: Enhanced resolution Mouse controls support New item: Megaphone Enhanced multiplayer features Nintendo Switch game: Animal Crossing: New Horizons Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is playable only on Nintendo Switch 2. If the game card is inserted into a Nintendo Switch console, you can play the Nintendo Switch version of the game without any of the additional features exclusive to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. If you already own Animal Crossing: New Horizons for Nintendo Switch, you can purchase the upgrade pack to play the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition.
- Welcome to the Deserted Island Getaway Package! A carefree new life is just beyond the horizon! Step off the plane and onto your very own deserted island where new friends, discoveries and opportunities are waiting for you. New ways to play The Nintendo Switch 2 Edition of Animal Crossing: New Horizons uses the unique features of the console to offer even more ways to enjoy your island paradise!
