TGO Daily | October 17, 2021 | Animal Crossing 2.0
✏️ From the Author
This weekend was all about Animal Crossing — they announced so much stuff, I can’t reasonably fit it all! So I did my best.
We’re also gonna chat Minecraft, which has some exciting stuff come up.
I love days like today. The lifespan of individual games are getting longer and longer, and the fact the developers support that (often for free) warms my heart.
— Adrian
📰 In The News
1. Major Animal Crossing updates
Last Friday, Nintendo held an “Animal Crossing Direct” detailing a massive amount of changes heading to the game.
A huge free 2.0 update will introduce a number of new features, quality of life changes, and customization options. Nintendo confirmed it will also be the game’s final update. Here’s the video outlining the changes, then my summary:
Brewster’s “The Roost” — The coffee shop conspicuously absent at release is now being added to the museum. Players can buy coffee and sit with other villagers.
Kapp’n — A turtle who will dock on the player’s island, and will take them to a different island which might have a different season or time of day. This allows for getting resources not currently available to the player.
Permanent retailers — Harv’s island will be making space for all the occasional item sellers to make a permanent space for themselves. NPCs like Harriet, Kicks, and Sahara will be accessible any time.
Town ordinances — Players can now adjust the activity times of the town NPCs so it better aligns with the player’s real-life schedule.
Better storage — Storage is being boosted from 2400 items up to 5000. They’ve also introduced a storage locker which can be placed anywhere on the island to access those items.
Better customization — Tons of new stuff. More home exteriors, new items, new fence types, new hairstyles, wall accents, etc.
Better island building — The bridge and incline limit is increasing from 8 to 10, and you can now build permanent ladders.
And more! — They have morning yoga, wearable patterns, a new cooking system, a better camera mode, more K.K. Slider tunes…The list goes on.
Animal Crossing is also getting it’s first DLC. Titled “Happy Home Paradise,” it will allow the player to build holiday homes for their town’s residents. It provides some new locations for the player to go, gives them an exercise in unlimited customization, and introduces a new currency that will help them get rare furniture items.
Most of the DLC lives separate from the main island, however playing through it will unlock new customization options, such as pillars, counters with varying heights, partition walls, and better lighting / sound effects. All of this can be brought back to the main island.
Finally, they announced that the DLC would be included as part of the “Expansion Pack” of Nintendo Switch Online, which also brings N64 and SEGA Genesis games to the platform.
It has been revealed that the Expansion Pack will be $50 USD / year, or $80 / year for families. This price point is more than double the base service. It will be available on October 25.
All new Animal Crossing content will become available on November 5, with the DLC alone costing $25.
💭Adrian’s Thoughts: These updates have been a long time coming. Even my partner, who isn’t tapped into the gaming industry, asked “shouldn’t all of this come a lot sooner?” I think it is fair to speculate that COVID-19 had a significant impact on its release, though. I hope that AC players will be happy with it, there’s definitely a lot there!
2. Minecraft getting various updates
Minecraft Live recently took place, and a number of announcements regarding the franchise came with it.
First, both the Java and Bedrock editions of Minecraft are heading to Xbox Game Pass PC. Previously the game was only available on the console versions of Game Pass. It’s a great PR move for them to also include the Java version, which hasn’t been their focus for some time, but still has millions of players.
The Wild Update is their next big game update arriving in 2022, which will improve some of the biomes in the game. It will also include the “Deep Dark Biome” which was previously delayed, which exists below the bedrock layer of the game.
Minecraft Dungeons is getting a new seasonal model, with an associated “Adventure Pass.” Rewards in the pass appear to be only cosmetic items and in-game currency. It’s also getting a new single-player roguelike dungeon-crawler mode, where players face waves of enemies that increase in difficulty.
💭Adrian’s Thoughts: I love Minecraft and everything they are doing with it. I hope it continues to be a successful franchise for them in the years to come.
💡 Worth A Look
📅 Events & Releases!
October 19: Inscryption
October 21: Resident Evil 4 VR
October 22: The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes
October 26: Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, NASCAR 21: Ignition
October 28: Age of Empires IV, Riders Republic, Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars
October 29: Mario Party Superstars
🔥 Thank You!
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