During the era of the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, there were attempts made at diversifying the Animal Crossing series from consisting of just a once-in-a-console-generation release. Some of these, such as Amiibo Festival, were forgettable, some of these fell off the radar in the abyss of other games such as Pocket Camp, and then there was Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer. Available on the Nintendo 3DS, Happy Home Designer was an underappreciated game using the Animal Crossing engine, with a greater emphasis on house design rather than life simulation. Of course, with you as the villager, doing all the hard work. While there is no way you would get an experience akin to The Sims in a package like this, Happy Home Designer focused on the creative elements of the series, which often became lost in the mix of fishing, fossil digging and islander hunting.
When Animal Crossing: New Horizons received a Version 2.0 update earlier this month, Nintendo offered the first (and presumed only) paid downloadable content alongside it. This came as quite a surprise, given the update was scheduled to be the last one offering any new significant content for the game. Dubbed Happy Home Paradise, many of the fundamental features of Happy Home Designer have been implemented into the New Horizons engine, along with some brand new concepts. Some of the things on offer include:
- Significantly improved home design systems
- Countless new furniture items (from colour variations to new items to new house decoration accessories
- The ability to create standalone vacation homes for the game’s 400+ villagers/NPCs
- A new story route that sees you developing the resort alongside other members of the Paradise Planning Office.
Rather than being a separate game like the 3DS version was, Happy Home Paradise is downloadable content that integrates seamlessly with Animal Crossing: New Horizons. After purchasing the DLC exclusively from the Nintendo eShop, you are greeted by a phone call from Tom Nook immediately upon launching the game – and invited to help one of his acquaintances with your design skills. Becoming a member of the Paradise Planning Office alongside otter Lottie, monkey Niko and manatee Wardell – you work towards recruiting new islanders, doing all the heavy lifting by creating their dream vacation home around a pre-designated theme and eventually being able to create a number of the facilities (Eg. Cafe, Restaurant, School etc.). As you progress, you will also unlock increased functionalities that will assist you in building vacation homes (Such as discovering how Tom Nook can renovate your house in just one night) and eventually offer similar services to the villagers back home.
The level of customisation you have in Animal Crossing: Happy Home Paradise is exceptional. There are no real limitations around doing the absolute bare minimum to get through the DLC content. Essentially, if you have the required items inside, you will pass. But for those who consider themselves architects, the sky is the limit. Happy Home Paradise offers an easy-to-use interface, flexibility to change environment seasons/time of day/weather, the ability to control room sizes, and eventually build partitions and allow tourists to become roommates. With this DLC being all about designing, you don’t have the limitation of crafting keeping you back, although you are still required to unlock pieces of furniture by obtaining them through each project. That said, the amount of content you get from House #1 and each subsequent house is more than enough to not hamper your vision.
With 413 villagers and many special characters available as part of the amiibo cards available to build for, does the game keep things fresh to keep you going and going? This depends on your playstyle. Each villager has their unique vacation home theme which they would like you to run with, often consisting of a few items that must be placed in your house or garden. Outside of that, home design is very much left up to the player – and you are not going to be chastised by the villager for not 100% representing their dream concept. My recommendations would be to fully embrace the idea and do only a couple of vacation homes each day. While, like not time skipping, it draws out the main storyline a lot longer, it reduces the risk of burn-out and gives you the time to fully embrace each build.
For those looking for the social elements of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, that is mainly left on your home island. Although you can interact with the villagers and NPCs, you build vacation homes for, their dialogue is limited outside of the main story. In many ways, it is like talking with a blank canvas going through an even smaller selection of dialogue options than in the base game. Fortunately, as you build your island paradise up further, you can see these characters take on several jobs such as teacher/student in the school, staff in the Restaurant/Cafe and more – which leads to some interesting dialogue depending on the character’s personality.
Much of what happens in Happy Home Paradise stays within the Happy Home Paradise content. Villagers will not gush about their stay in their vacation home or suddenly disappear off the island for the whole day to fulfil their teaching job. But outside the simulation elements, many of the build features carry across with you as you unlock them. The ability to use the improved room designer, the ability to carry across special furniture items and eventually the ability to refurbish the home of your favourite villager who you have had from Day 1 and gotten stuck in a log cabin and even some of the mundane features such as polishing furniture for that extra shine are all available. For those who do not wish to purchase the DLC, some features are available via a NookPhone upgrade for Bells, which is a nice touch given Happy Home Paradise isn’t the cheapest DLC on the market. Alas, the ability to jump straight into the catalogue and have access to an extensive range of furniture is not a thing, and you are still at the mercy of purchasing items with bells or crafting them.
Ultimately, Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Happy Home Paradise is a fun experience, especially for those who enjoy the idea of home design in Animal Crossing but haven’t found the systems that approachable. The DLC integrates well into the overall Animal Crossing: New Horizons experience, and with so few limitations, encourages potentially dozens of hours of new experiences as you treat every character to their dream Vacation Home… yes, even that one guy who wants his vacation home themed around “Toilets”… Thank you for inspiring me to perve you out, Lionel. May nobody stop by and visit… or at least if they do, at least question that technical rig you have on the other side of the wall. If you more favour the simulation side of Animal Crossing: New Horizons and your Villagers house remains bare, perhaps the free content of Version 2.0 will be up your alley.
