Animal Crossing: New Horizons is getting a DLC on November 5th that adds almost an entire new game to the popular title, but it is lacking in certain areas. The DLC, called Happy Home Paradise, will give the player a job at an archipelago resort, where they will be tasked with helping various Animal Crossing characters build their perfect vacation homes. Players will also be able to decorate and customize separate facilities like a school and a hospital. In order to allow for diverse builds and maximum creativity, the DLC is also introducing new design techniques like partition walls, counters, soundscapes, and more. All of this is fantastic, but when it comes to the player’s home island, Happy Home Paradise falls a little short.
New Horizons’ paid DLC was announced during the October 2021 Animal Crossing Direct. After such a long period without any major updates for the game, the 2.0 patch and the DLC is set to give New Horizons a new life. However, while there is a lot of new Animal Crossing content coming, Nintendo has confirmed that this will be the last major content update for the game. Happy Home Paradise looks as though it'll be a much-needed addition, but knowing that there won’t be any other major updates to follow, it is a little disappointing that the majority of the DLC’s new features are locked to the resort.
One of the most exciting aspects of Animal Crossing's Happy Home Paradise DLC is the addition of functional facilities. There will be five buildings that aren't houses at the resort that players can decorate to be a school, a hospital, a restaurant, and so on. Players have been creating similar areas on their islands since the game launched, but the major difference is how the villagers interact with it. On player islands, villagers may sit in a chair or interact with a ball for a few seconds before moving on to a different location. Many of these builds were located inside extra houses, so villagers weren’t even able to get inside of them, meaning all the school builds Animal Crossing players built for villagers were just sitting there unused. For the DLC, the Direct showed these facilities being used with different villagers working as employees or enjoying the facilities as customers. This alone is a huge addition to the game, but it is a bit disappointing that it can only occur at the resort.
Ways ACNH’s DLC Could Have Impacted Player Islands
Happy Home Paradise could have been made even better were players able to build similar facilities on their own islands that their villagers would interact with. The islands are small, so all five of these buildings simply can’t fit. With that in mind, it would've been a great feature if players were able to add a new building type to their islands and make it into whatever facility they wanted. That way, they would have the option of staffing it either with villagers living on their island or by bringing in new villagers with Animal Crossing amiibos. Providing villagers with a job on the island would add a lot more life to New Horizons, instead of simply having them wander around all day.
Another way the DLC could have impacted player islands would've been through New Horizon's campsite. The two could have been connected in some way. For instance, villagers that have a vacation home at the resort could have been invited to visit the player’s campsite. If the villager was happy with how their vacation home turned out, they could then become interested in visiting or even living on the player’s island.
As far as design goes in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, players can decorate the surrounding campsite, but the actual tent itself stays the same. It would have been nice to see a little upgrade here. Considering there will be an entire archipelago resort, Animal Crossing's villagers will probably want more from their vacation to a player’s island than just a small tent. With all the new design techniques and the ability to further customize islands, it would've been nice to be able to decorate the tent as well.