As 2020 finally begins coming to its close, a new Animal Crossing: New Horizons update promises to send the dismal year off with a festive bang with Turkey and Toy Day events, decorations, and special event characters Franklin and Jingle. The adorable Animal Crossing series has always been best defined by its events, and the scale and popularity of this year's Nintendo Switch-exclusive entry promise to make this end-of-year celebration one for the books.

After a spotty start to the latest game's take on holiday events with Zipper's hellish Egg Day, Nintendo has struck a much better balance in the several seasonal events that have come and gone in the long, intervening months since April. The defining game of the deadlier-than-ever COVID-19 pandemic era, players sticking to their stay-at-home guns have turned to the cozy life sim to commemorate birthdays, weddings, funerals, and real-world holidays with their AI villagers and human friends online since its fateful March launch. As the game progresses in real-time and follows the calendar as the days pass, players most recently celebrated Halloween with Jack (and some took some neat souvenirs with them back into the real world).

Related: Animal Crossing Holiday Event Times & All New Free Content Explained

Before Animal Crossing: New Horizons rings in the new year, the series' beloved Turkey Day and Toy Day are still yet to come, and a new Nintendo trailer announces they'll be enabled at last in a November 19 update. As is tradition since Animal Crossing: City Folk, Turkey Day will star Franklin the master chef turkey, whom players will get a series-first opportunity to cook with in their redecorated Plazas on November 26. Afterward, a wondrous blanket of snow will cover north hemisphere players' islands and the Santa Claus-inspired reindeer Jingle will make his long-awaited return in the new game, bringing with him a slew of new decorations, clothing, and the chance to exchange gifts with players' favorite villagers.

Each of these events seem to logically - but uniquely - build upon what Animal Crossing: New Horizons' already has on offer and does best when it comes to core and event gameplay. Turkey Day gives players a reason to continue growing, harvesting, and accumulating pumpkins of each color for the next week-and-a-half, while Toy Day looks like it will function like a less chaotic Halloween, as it seems players will be Jingle's special helper to deliver presents to their villagers - likely in exchange for event currency or holiday-themed items. As far as seasonal items go, Toy Day looks like it will take the take fruit cake, as holly bushes will be in full bloom and an assortment of ornamented trees, lighted decorations, and gifts aplenty will transform players' islands into holiday wonderlands.

As the Switch's ultimate distraction and time-waster in a time when people need it more than ever, these events and other new additions are sure to keep players busy as many of them celebrate these end-of-year holidays alone for the first time. It's certainly not a replacement for in-person cooking and gift exchanges with family and friends, but, as ever, Animal Crossing: New Horizons will still soften the sting of a rough year.

Next: When Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Christmas Event Starts

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available for Nintendo Switch.

Source: Nintendo