Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (あつまれ どうぶつの森) is an upcoming installment in the, set to be released for the Nintendo Switch on March 20, 2020. It will be the first 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 will live on a deserted island rather than in a town (referred to as the "Nook Inc. Deserted Island Getaway Package"). Crafting from has also been shown to return.

Development and unveiling
This game was teased during a Nintendo Direct on September 13, 2018 and was originally intended 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 has been delayed to March 20, 2020, stating 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 (means this game delay). It's really important that we have that balance in our world. It's actually something we're proud of."

This title is expected to support 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 will also be the first main series title since to have two separate Spanish language localizations; one for Spain and the other for Latin America. It has been erroneously reported to be the first title in general to do so, albeit it will be the first title to include all localizations collectively regardless of regional release.

An Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct is scheduled for February 20, 2020 to feature roughly 25 minutes of new information about this game.

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 that the player can explore, collect resources, and craft various items (including tools and furniture). 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 also appear, which can also be used as materials once plucked. Crafting is done through Tom Nook's workbench. 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, while picking flowers will leave the stems, with the flowers being usable as materials.

As in, the game features the ability to place furniture outside. A new pole tool can be created, giving the ability to vault over rivers. Roads are able to be paved, instead of having to place patterns on the ground, or intentional grass deterioration.

Up to eight players can live in the player's island, however the island remains the same for one Nintendo Switch.

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 Nook Phone, which features at least 4 different apps that can access different features of the game, such as an app to check all the D.I.Y. recipes made by crafting.

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 any other players. The lead player is the only player to be able to see text prompts after catching bugs or fish. In online play, all players have equal abilities, as in previous games.

Villagers
This is the first game where villagers no longer wear their tops sleeveless. Villagers can also be seen wearing dresses. Sheep now wear normal tops instead of the scarves that were worn up to. Additionally, villagers can move their eyes to look at nearby villagers and bugs, as well as sitting down on the grass, making them more interactive with their surroundings.

The players starts with two or so villagers. If the player doesn't like the spot chosen, they can move the villager's house location to wherever they see fit. There are no new personality types introduced in this game.

Over 160 villagers have been confirmed as of February 10, 2020:

Seven new villagers are also seen in the New Horizons stickers pack.

Special Characters
Tom Nook and his nephews Timmy and Tommy are set to appear in this game.

Isabelle is set to appear in the game as well. Her appearance is dependent on how much debt the player has paid back.

Mr. Resetti's appearance, while implied, is in question, due to auto-save feature that allows the game to automatically save in some occasions.

K.K. Slider is confirmed to appear in this game, assuming the same role as he does in previous games.

Harvey is confirmed to appear in the game according to the official key artwork. His role in the game is currently unknown.

Five new characters, a beaver who looks very distinct from Chip, two blue-and-yellow birds, a red lizard, and a boar who looks very distinct from Joan, will appear in the game. Their roles in the game are currently unknown.

Blathers, Celeste, Mabel, Sable, Labelle, Saharah, Gulliver, and Wisp are confirmed to appear in the game according to the New Horizons stickers pack. Their roles in the game are currently unknown.

A new character named C.J. is set to appear according to a Journal Bundle for the game. Their role in the game, who they are, and what they look like, is currently unknown.