Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a main installment in the for the Nintendo Switch that released on March 20, 2020. It's the first new installment in the main since 2012's, and the first for a home console since 2008's.

In a departure from previous titles in the series, the player lives on a deserted island rather than in a town (referred to as the "Nook Inc. Deserted Island Getaway Package"). Crafting from has also returned in this installment.

Development and unveiling
The game was teased during a Nintendo Direct on September 13, 2018, and was originally slated to be released in 2019.

During E3 2019 on June 11, 2019, the gameplay (from trailer and Treehouse interview) and title were shown. It was revealed that the game had been delayed to March 20, 2020; it was stated that "to ensure the game is the best it can be, we must ask that you wait a little longer than we thought." Later, President of Nintendo of America, Doug Bowser, said the following: "The crunch point is an interesting one, for us, one of our key tenets is that we bring smiles to people's faces, and we talk about that all the time. It's our vision. Or our mission, I should say. For us, that applies to our own employees. We need to make sure that our employees have good work-life balance. One of those examples is, we will not bring a game to market before it's ready. We just talked about one example. It's really important that we have that balance in our world. It's actually something we're proud of."

An Animal Crossing Nintendo Direct took place on February 20, 2020, announcing the final release date of March 20th, 2020. It showcased multiple new features of the game, such as terrain editing, additional house customization, and more.

This title supports more languages than all previous entries in the series, being the first to support the Chinese language since, which was ported to the iQue Player with simplified Chinese support exclusively for mainland China in 2006. This is also the first main series title since to have two separate localizations for Spanish and French; one for Europe and the other for the Americas, although it has been erroneously reported to be the first title, in general, to do so in the case of Spanish. It is the first title to include all localizations collectively regardless of regional release, and the first main series title to ever include Dutch and Russian languages.

Update history
will be regularly updated with new content and special events. Unlike previous games, most events do not exist in the game's data until they are added through an update. These events are not available to experience in the game until the first real-world date on which it occurs, therefore time-travelling cannot be exploited until the update has been installed. An online date verification is required to experience the event for the first time, at which point they will reoccur offline indefinitely.

Gameplay
Tom Nook has a new business venture: selling the Nook Inc. Deserted Island Getaway Package, which is sold to the player. The game begins on a nearly deserted island where the player can explore, collect resources, and craft various items (including tools and furniture). The only starting buildings on the island are the player’s tent, two villager tents (after the player places them), and the Resident Services tent. Donating 5 unique fish and insects to Tom Nook will unlock the ability to place Blathers’ tent. Once Blathers’ tent is unlocked, he will give the player a Vaulting Pole to find more creatures. Donating 15 more unique creatures to Blathers will unlock the ability to place his museum, at which the player can donate and assess multiple things at a time. To unlock more tools, the player will need to pay off their tent, help Tom Nook build Nook's Cranny, build one bridge, and start the housing plots for animal villagers. Once the Resident Services tent is upgraded into a building, Isabelle returns as Nook’s assistant. The Plaza in front of the upgraded building will feature events and visitors.

In addition to earning bells, the player can also earn Nook Miles, which is a new form of currency that can be exchanged for furniture, plane tickets to mystery islands, upgrades, and recipes.

As in, the game features the ability to place furniture outside. A new Vaulting Pole tool can be created, giving the ability to vault over rivers, as well as a ladder, allowing the player to climb up cliffs.

The player can earn an Island Designer Construction Permit. Once the proper terraforming tools are unlocked with Nook Miles, it allows them to pave roads (instead of having to place patterns on the ground), as well as modify or add rivers and cliffs.

Up to eight players can live in the player's island, but only one island can be made per Nintendo Switch. Additionally, there is a maximum of 10 animal villagers on the island.

Resources
Resources can be collected through various methods, such as chopping at trees with an axe for several types of wood, or hitting rocks with a shovel for clay, stone, and ores. Several different types of weeds appear, which can also be used as materials once plucked. Crafting is done through either Tom Nook's workbench, or a bench crafted by the player. With these mechanics, the player is able to build and develop the island over time. Players are also able to dig up clams in the sand, which can then be used as fishing bait or as crafting materials. Additionally, trees and flowers can be shoveled up to be stored in the pocket, flowers can be used as crafting material, and picking them will also leave the stems in the ground.

Player
Players can fully customize their characters, similar to and. This includes skin tones, gender-neutral hairstyles, and nose shapes. The player characters' overall design is slightly more detailed than in previous titles, featuring a more subdued color scheme and clear hair physics and shaders. The players also appear more expressive, showing a thoughtful expression when selecting items in their pocket, and moving their eyes around to look at nearby villagers and bugs.

The player also possesses a new item called the NookPhone, which features multiple different applications that the player can use such as Nook Miles, Rescue Service, Local Play, and more.

The player can purchase a variety of clothes from the Able Sisters shop and presumably other shops. Able Sisters now includes a fitting room, allowing the player to try on clothes.

Multiplayer
An island can support up to eight players. For the first time in the series, four players can play at the same time on a single system, and up to eight can play together through online multiplayer or local wireless. Online play requires a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.

In local multiplayer, the screen boundaries will follow player 1; however, they may transfer their "leadership" to another player at any time. The lead player is the only player able to see text prompts after catching bugs or fish. In online play, all players have equal abilities, as in previous games.

This marks the first game where a player's friend cannot modify the island unless they are marked as a best friend.

Connectivity
Players that have and  linked on the same My Nintendo account can redeem rewards via the My Nintendo screen in the mobile app. The rewards are 50 Leaf Tickets to use in and a 16-digit download code for Nintendo eShop used to access special furniture and clothing items orders in.

Reception
received positive reviews from critics, with many praising the new entry for retaining the soul of other titles in the series while also providing enhanced visuals and new mechanics.

Ratings include:
 * Famitsu: 38/40
 * IGN: 9/10
 * Metacritic (an average of 53 reviews): 91%
 * Forbes: 100%
 * Telegraph: 100%
 * Nintendo Life: 100%
 * Pocket Gamer UK: 100%