Animal Crossing: New Horizons: The Gigantic 3.0 Update is Finally Revealed, Everything You Need to Know

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By Gaming News
30 October 2025 1 comment

Today’s big news from Nintendo is that Animal Crossing: New Horizons will receive two waves of content on January 15, 2026. First, a free DLC accessible to all, but also an upgrade pack designed to improve performance on Switch 2.

villagers on the pier in front of a fireworks display

The perfect time to rediscover the game

You probably already know Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the famous life-sim that invited you to develop a deserted island into a tropical paradise. It’s safe to say that with its release right during the lockdown, it had no trouble attracting nearly 50 million Switch owners longing for some sunshine.

Did you miss out? Well, rest assured: while the game was already particularly rich in customization options at launch, its 3.0 update will make your head spin with a host of quality-of-life improvements, as well as collaborations with other series, such as Zelda and Splatoon… A great reason to join Tom Nook’s debt-ridden friendly community, in short.

Richer endgame options

We immediately get to the heart of the matter: a new hotel will now adorn your island’s pier, and you will have to decorate its rooms to attract new guests. By matching the furniture to a specific theme, your efforts will be rewarded with tickets used to purchase new items.

On paper, the idea is appealing and will finally allow players to use their entire furniture collection. An “endgame” that vaguely echoes that of Hello Kitty: Island Adventure, the clone from Sanrio, which we certainly don’t mind.

A more pleasant user experience

Beyond that, the gameplay loop should also be smoother:

     
  • Trees, flowers, and bushes can now be stored in your storage, which will also be upgraded to 9,000 maximum items for the occasion.
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  • Resetti will be your cleaning ally to tidy up an entire area.
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  • Thanks to Slumber Islands, you can let your inspiration run wild without destroying your main island. Behind this rather odd name, it will be a kind of “creative” mode accessible from your dreams, where terraforming and weather control tools will be made easier and even usable in multiplayer mode.

female villager sleeping in her bed

Collaborative content for Nintendo fans

Furthermore, if you enjoy crossovers, you’ll be delighted to learn that various retro games will be playable subject to a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. Items and new residents from Zelda and Splatoon can also be invited to your home by syncing a compatible Amiibo. And to close the chapter on collaborations, the LEGO brand will even make an appearance with a host of sofas, wallpapers, and coffee tables, all built from colorful blocks.

An optimized Switch 2 version

We finish with what Nintendo is calling, rather unsubtly, Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, which is the upgrade pack dedicated to the manufacturer’s latest hybrid console. You can find this upgrade for €4.99 alone, but it will also be available by default for the physical editions of the title on Switch 2.

In terms of content, we’ll give it to you in a thousand:

     
  • The resolution will be improved. While we don’t know exactly to what extent yet, the comparative images are quite convincing. However, the framerate still seems limited to 30 frames per second.
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  • It will also be possible to use the Joy-Con 2 in mouse mode, ideal for redesigning your flag or precisely placing objects.
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  • More surprisingly, we note the arrival of a megaphone to call out to residents using the console’s microphone.
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  • Up to 12 Switch 2 owners can gather online (compared to 8 on the first Switch). All can communicate via Game Chat at the same time and even show their faces via the separately sold camera.

From there to saying that this will be enough to bring back the curious who have defected to Petit Planet, is a small step.

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Scarlet Deng has been dispensing JV advice and recommendations for many years, and her ancestral wisdom is invaluable. Some might be tempted to classify her as a "new recruit", but given her PC knowledge and her passion for hairy RPGs, her admirers recognize her more as a "teacher" or "senpai". In fact, here we simply prefer "grandma" to better reflect her benevolence: since her reflexes have gone soft, Doom Eternal has largely given way to Stardew Valley...

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