Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Review

Animal Crossing is at its best when shared with others. By that, I mean connecting with other players, sharing delightful in-game memories, and leaning into individuality by way of connectivity. Yeah, I know that previous sentence is repetitious, but I need to emphasize just how delightful Animal Crossing: New Horizons is in bringing players on disparate parts of the world together into a place that feels warm, welcoming, and fun. On the Nintendo Switch 2, New Horizons is better than ever before.

It’s even more surprising that the DLC’s pricing is more pro-consumer than ever before, a stark departure from Nintendo’s previous Switch 2 upgrade packages that have ranged anywhere from $10-$20. The same can be said about PS5 upgrades from PS4. I’m just not used to seeing upgrade prices being so “smol” while the novel features take advantage of the new hardware.

Let’s step back for a moment.

Animal Crossing: New Horizon’s original release was during a harrowing part of recent memory. Players across the world were isolated from each other during a global pandemic. It offered players a semblance of their daily lives…albeit far more cute yet far less physically rewarding (we still had to, you know, eat actual food). It was the perfect distraction from the harrowing reality. Beyond the lightning in a bottle release that was early 2020, however, New Horizons greatly elevated the Animal Crossing gameplay loop to new heights. From the real-time progression of time-gated achievements, deep well of fun customization for those with a flair for decorating, seemingly endless pool of collectibles, a massive crafting overhaul, to the island hopping, New Horizons treads further into the cozy village life simulator than its predecessors. For the uninitiated and the unfamiliar, the gameplay loop can be simply summed up as an endless loop of chores; for the longtime Animal Crossing fan, the gameplay loop is freer than ever before.

The biggest hurdle for New Horizons, unfortunately, is its first few hours. The new player experience is sluggish and vague, requiring players to figure out how to build things and stress test the boundaries of their island before things become lively, fun, and full of Animal Crossing’s cast of characters. Unlike Stardew Valley’s onboarding approach with small yet achievable main actions, New Horizons opts to leave the world up to the player’s imagination with very little distractions. The start of one’s island experience involves a small handful of animal villagers and resources, isolated from the hustle and bustle of mainland frivolity. As the game mirrors the player’s realtime weather and environment, progression can feel slower than expected.

I’ll admit that getting past those first 20 hours is difficult while feeling like double the time. The moment my island began getting new visitors, New Horizons felt like I was surrounded by friends who were capable of appreciating my attempts at terraforming a custom island.

The chores of the daily gameplay loop can feel repetitious, especially for players who haven’t played earlier Animal Crossing titles, Stardew Valley, or anything else in the life sim category. Here, I spent my days digging up fossils, catching a fish or two, talking with villagers, and building items I have been asked to build. Tom Nook, the island’s resident tanuki leader, awarded me with Nook Miles when I completed any of the activities that happened to align with his daily requests.

Since its original release, Nintendo pushed out 13 free content updates that incorporated seasonal decorations/events, new villagers, Nintendo-related décor, and so much more. After the Happy Home Paradise paid update of November 2021, it seemed like New Horizons was done receiving updates…until the start of 2026 when it was announced that New Horizons was getting a Switch 2 update along with a suite of new free features (for existing owners) as a part of “Update 3.0.”

Update 3.0 brings NPCs from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Splatoon, a hotel that brings in tourists, a Reset Service with Mr. Resetti who can clean up chunks of one’s island, Slumber Islands, a ton of additional furniture (along with Super NES/Famicom consoles that can be added to my home!), and quality-of-life improvements galore. I especially love how the maximum storage capacity has been pushed up to 9,000 slots and bulk crafting. Put simply, 3.0 brings in content from Nintendo’s history along with QoL improvements that are more player-friendly than ever before.

This review is supposed to be about the Nintendo Switch 2 edition, so let’s pivot to that.

The Nintendo Switch 2 version of New Horizons features new mechanics that utilize the Switch 2’s hardware. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is not the most graphically impressive game, but the Switch 2 update smooths things out thanks to 1080p rendering in handheld mode and 4K in TV mode. Even when the game zooms in on NPCs and my little villager, there was no jagged edge to be found. The heavily reduced loading screens meant that gameplay was more seamless than ever.

Very few games have properly utilized the Switch 2’s mouse functionality, but New Horizons is on the right track. I was able to use the right Joy-Con 2 as a mouse to easily move furniture and draw designs. Coming from moving furniture around by hand and being frustrated by the sluggishness of using joysticks, the mouse function made things so much easier. I can understand that many players would have preferred to just use the touchscreen (especially in handheld mode), but having this is a good solution for players playing on TV mode. This is something that solves a major quibble I have with the Joy-Cons and their finicky movement.

The megaphone is a cute novelty addition that only works for those who are playing in handheld mode. Once acquired, I could talk into the Switch 2’s microphone and see villagers react to their names or indicate their location. My days of wandering around the island to look for an NPC were over…so long as I was playing in handheld mode. Is this a gamechanging feature? No, but I greatly appreciate its inclusion as a proof of concept to test out the capabilities of the Switch 2 and make things slightly easier.

Notice a trend so far? I’ve mentioned “slightly easier” several times in discussing the Switch 2 expansion’s benefits. This is because this update does make gameplay easier and less frustrating, all the while preserving the overarching gameplay loop.

The biggest benefit of the Switch 2 expansion is the Online play function. Now, I can play with up to 12 other players online. The boost to the playercount makes islands feel livelier than before. This is especially true if folks have a camera and/or their microphones enabled. While I would imagine that longtime New Horizons players are salivating at the idea of having more folks to trade with on their screen at any given time, the possibility of having so many more players active on the Switch 2 screen really emphasizes the socialization and communication impacts that emerge during online play. This is all assuming that the online functionality is seamless. Sadly, getting 12 players onto a single island is far from that.

Getting players onto an island takes a while to begin with, let alone finicky thanks to how the Nintendo Switch handles multiplayer sessions. I experienced several crashes when folks attempted to visit my island all at once. Some of my friends would randomly get connectivity errors (despite having stable and fast Internet). Every time a new player would join the island, those of us on the island would get frozen in place while the game attempted to sync up with each new player. After much trial and error, an island of 12 folks was achievable and fun, but I am not 100% sure it’s worth the hassle of dealing with the Switch 2’s connectivity and infrastructure issues.

Remember, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is best enjoyed with other players. Just because something is built does not mean players will enjoy it. For a nearly six year old game, I would have thought that an overhaul to the matchmaking and servers would have been added to make online play easier. At this time, it’s just not worth the trouble to get a ton of folks into a single island and hope that things work as expected. New Horizons is very fun to play with friends, yes, but attempting to utilize a meaningful addition of the Switch 2 upgrade is more of a chore than the core gameplay loop. You’re better off playing on a private Minecraft server if you’re aiming to play with that many friends.

If there’s one thing we should be praising Nintendo for here, it should be their approach to pricing this update. Existing Switch 2 owners who have the Switch 1 edition of New Horizons only need to pay $5 to get access to the Switch 2 benefits. This is far below than any other upgrade pricing from Nintendo or otherwise. The Kirby upgrade costs $20 and added a handful of skinned levels. The Switch 2 upgrade to Super Mario Party Jamboree costs $20, as well, incorporating a handful of new minigames. The approach to charging $5 for better graphics and additional content is pro-consumer and worth it for Animal Crossing fans who want to utilize their new consoles with their older games.

I’m thrilled that Switch 2 owners get a chance to enjoy the OG Switch’s best games, but whether or not the Switch 2 update breathes life into Animal Crossing: New Horizons remains to be seen. The 12-player online play is nice in theory, but it’s far from enjoyable thanks to Nintendo’s archaic approach to online play. The Megaphone and mouse-capability are nice-to-have changes, taking some of the pain out from relying on Joy-Cons for minute adjustments. The biggest benefits of the Switch 2 upgrade are its pro-consumer pricing and its utilization of the console’s processing power.