The Ultimate Animal Crossing: New Horizons Guide for Newbies

Undoubtedly, one of the coolest and most cozy Nintendo Switch games is Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and that’s why hundreds of new players come to enjoy this fantastic title every day. But it can be overwhelming for newbies. There are multiple activities and missions that you must fulfill during your gameplay. That’s why in Gamevolved, we have compiled the most complete Animal Crossing: New Horizons guide for newbies.

What is Animal Crossing: New Horizons?

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is one of the best Nintendo Switch games you should play. It is a life simulation video game that was developed by Nintendo (yes, you can only play it on this gaming console) and was released in 2020.

When playing this cozy game, you will be a resident on a deserted island. Still, after working on it, you can build a community and make friends with the Animal Crossing: New Horizons villagers to create your own island paradise.

This game is not the first one, as there are other Animal Crossing games, but this is the most recent version of this video game. Here, you will find a wide range of new activities or features that make this game really relaxing, enjoyable, and, of course, satisfying.

In this popular Nintendo Switch game, you can have a sense of relaxation and escapism. This is possible as it offers a peaceful and open-ended gameplay that merges perfectly with its colorful and charming visual style. Its immersive experience allows you to disconnect from the routine and completely unwind.

Important features to take into account for this Animal Crossing: New Horizons guide

It is important to notice that Animal Crossing: New Horizons features a real-time clock and calendar. Among the activities you can enjoy are fishing, furniture collecting, and bug catching, which can be performed at different times of the day and year.

Another big plus of this game is its sense of community and social interaction. Animal Crossing: New Horizons encourages you to interact with the island’s villagers. You can trade items and participate in different events by visiting each other’s islands. These are the types of activities that can add a sense of community, social interaction, and fellowship. But that’s not all! If you own a Nintendo Switch Online Subscription, you will be able to visit other players’ islands. Now, it’s time for our Animal Crossing: New Horizons guide!

How to start playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons?

For starters, you must have a Nintendo Switch console, but if you are here, it is because you have one and this video game title. This is how to play Animal Crossing: New Horizons:

• After turning on your Switch, select the Animal Crossing: New Horizons icon from the home screen to start the game.
• As a new player, there will be an introductory tutorial to learn the basics of the game’s mechanics. After that, you will be able to customize your appearance. Tom Nook will give you the instructions.
• Once satisfied with your Animal Crossing: New Horizons character, you will be transported to your deserted island. Now you can start building your community, become besties with the villagers, and, of course, create your unique island.

Always remember, while reading this Animal Crossing: New Horizons guide, that it is a video game that will encourage you to explore and express your creativity, so don’t limit yourself or be afraid to try different things to find out what you like.

What will be your main goal in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?

No Animal Crossing: New Horizons guide will be complete without explaining the main goal of the title and the reason for playing it. The main goal of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is, of course, to create and fully customize your own island to eventually get a 5-star island rating. To achieve this goal, you can participate in a variety of activities, such as:

• Building and decorating your home: the first roof over your head will be a tent but don’t worry, you will upgrade it soon enough and make it bigger. You will add furniture, wallpapers, flooring, and decoration over time.
• Explore and expand the island: As you progress through the game, you will unlock new island areas. Meanwhile, you will also collect resources, such as wood, stone, and iron, to build and decorate your home and the island. This is necessary to make it more habitable and welcoming for you and the villagers.
• Making friends with the villagers: Now it’s time to learn a little more about your game companions, the villagers. You will meet various characters on the island, each with a personality. You can interact with them in multiple ways, such as giving gifts, participating in events, etc.
• Collecting items: There are many things to gather in the game. Among these are the furniture, clothing, and tools that you can use to decorate or craft new items.
• Participating in events: As we mentioned earlier, you can participate in various events. These occur throughout the year. You can enjoy holidays, bug-catching contests, fishing tournaments, and more. When you participate in these events, you will earn rewards and can also interact with other villagers.

So, to put it in a nutshell, your goal is to create a community, make friends, and decorate your island to make it beautiful, but you can take your time and do this at your own rhythm (after all, it is a cozy game).

There’s no need to hurry! You can enjoy this experience at your own pace and create your own goals as well.

Who are the most important Animal Crossing: New Horizons characters?

As a player, you will take the role of a new resident on the selected deserted island. You can also have different users and various residents on the same Nintendo Switch console. But there’s a catch: only the first player can be the Resident Representative.

The villagers and NPCs you will meet are important in the game. These include:

• Tom Nook: He’s a raccoon interested in real estate, which is why he runs “Nook Inc.” and gives you your initial loan to start building your home.
• Isabelle: She is a cute dog who works as Tom Nook’s secretary and sometimes your personal advisor. She can provide you with information and also help you with various tasks.
• Timmy and Tommy: There is a little bit of nepotism here, but they are Tom Nook’s nephews, and that’s why they run the Nook’s Cranny Shop, where you can get items and tools.
• The Able Sisters (Sable and Mabel): They are two sisters who run the island’s clothing shop. You can get new clothes and accessories with them.
• K.K. Slider: He’s a musician dog that visits the island every Saturday.

There are many other NPCs that you will eventually meet as you progress, but these are some of the main in-game characters.

How to travel in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?

This is an essential part of our Animal Crossing: New Horizons guide. Yes! That’s right, you can travel! By traveling, you can visit uncharted islands, and for this, you will need the Nook Miles Ticket. You can get this item by buying it at the Resident Services building.

Here’s the breakthrough on how to travel in Animal Crossing: New Horizons:

1. Purchase a Nook Miles Ticket, which costs 2,000 Nook Miles.
2. Once you have the Nook Miles Ticket, go to the airport and speak to Orville. He will ask for your confirmation to use the ticket. Select “Yes” to begin your journey.
3. After choosing to use the ticket, you can travel to an uncharted island. It is important to notice that each island has different resources and landscapes.
4. You can collect resources, catch bugs and fish, and interact with the island’s inhabitants if there are any.

The islands are randomly generated. This means that the resources, animals, and inhabitants are not the same as your home island, and that’s why this is an excellent way to get new resources and items.

But that’s not all! You can also travel to other friends’ islands using local communication. But if you have your Nintendo Switch Online subscription, you can also visit your friends’ islands online.

Here’s one of the most valuable Animal Crossing: New Horizons tips for online travel: you can search for Animal Crossing groups on Facebook to meet other players, visit their islands, and trade items with them.

Our Animal Crossing: New Horizons guide to time travel. Is it cheating?

As you already know, this video game features a real-time clock corresponding to the console’s actual time and date. But you can modify this in the console’s settings. Entering Time Travel!

Nothing really bad or catastrophic happens if you time travel in Animal Crossing. But that doesn’t mean that it is morally wrong, as it is considered a form of cheating by many fans of this video game, as you can gain some advantage over those who don’t do it.

So, if you still want to try it (your gameplay, your console, your rules), here are some of the various unintended consequences and advantages that you can experience:

Consequences of time travel:

• Disrupting events: Many events in the game occur at specific times of the day or year. If you time travel, you might miss them.
• Changing the behavior of the villagers or visitors: Some characters will only appear at certain times, days, or seasons. So, if you time travel, you might miss some opportunities to interact with them. But there’s more: if you time travel to the future, villagers will be sad and might move out since you were “out for a long time.”
• Affecting the growth of plants: The plants need time to grow, so you may miss the opportunity to harvest them, or, on the contrary, they might grow out of control.
• You will lose your turnips: All your turnips will rot if you travel back in time; it doesn’t matter if it is a minute or a day, you will surely lose them.
• Damaging your relationships with other characters: Some characters can stop visiting your island, or may not give you some necessary items.
• Cockroaches everywhere: Beware, this is the most disgusting Animal Crossing: New Horizons time travel consequences, your home will be infested with cockroaches.

Advantages of time travel:

• When asking Tom Nook to upgrade your house or build a bridge, inclines, or stairs, you can go to the next day to have the construction completed.
• Play day or night, summer or winter, on your island, no matter when you are actually playing. If you don’t have so much time to play, you can do it to enjoy all the island’s seasons without waiting a long time.
• Finally, you could put money in the bank and skip forward a decade to collect the interest.

Now that you are informed about the potential scenarios you can experience with time travel thanks to this Animal Crossing: New Horizons guide, it is up to you to decide whether it is worth it or not.

Final tips from our Animal Crossing: New Horizons guide

We have some extra tips in our Animal Crossing: New Horizons guide for you so you can enjoy your gameplay even more:

• Set daily goals to keep the motivation up: For example, you can set a number goal for Animal Crossing: New Horizons fish, bug, or fossils collecting, or even completing DIY recipes.
• Don’t compare your island with other islands: If you start comparing it, you will never actually enjoy yours. Try to be unique! Focus on your own gameplay and progress. Also, looking for ideas on Pinterest can be frustrating, as some items appear randomly, so it’s not likely that you will have the same items that other players have, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Always remember, your island, your rules!
• Get to know your island’s villagers and participate in their activities: If you build a relationship, you will earn rewards and avoid having a lonely gameplay.
• Don’t be afraid to be creative and experiment: You can create custom patterns in the in-game editor. You can also share them with other players. Be as wild as you want!
• Use the island’s natural resources: You can use the fruits and wood to create tools and furniture.
• The multiplayer exists, use it: You can get some advantages by visiting your friends’ islands and working together on projects.
• Try to fill up your Critterpedia: Try to catch all the fish, bugs, and sea creatures to fill up your Critterpedia. You can also profit by selling the extra ones you don’t need.
• Have fun and enjoy the game!

Is it worth playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons in 2025?

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is one of the best Switch Games you can play. It is really popular and has received praise for its relaxing gameplay, creative freedom, and, of course, its social features. This is why it is always on every “cozy games to play” list.

You can even get the Animal Crossing: Happy Home Paradise DLC to take your creativity further and always have something to do. Now, regarding our question, the truth is that whether or not it is worth playing will depend on your personal preferences and interests. Still, many players find it to be a really fun experience.

You won’t lose anything for trying, except for your daily stress. So, go to your gaming room, grab your switch, sit on your couch, and start having fun by unleashing your creativity with Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and don’t forget to bring along our Animal Crossing: New Horizons guide!

What is the feature that excites you the most about this video game? Let us know in the comments!