Skip to main content
Join The Community
- Join our community
11
Premium Benefits
24/7
Access Available
21K+
Active Members
Commenting
Join the discussion
Exclusive Articles Coming Soon
Member-only articles
Weekly Newsletters
Weekly gaming & entertainment news
Member Badges
Earn badges as you go
Exclusive Competitions
Members-only prize draws
Curated Deals Coming Soon
Tech and gaming deals worth grabbing
GET COMMUNITY ACCESS QUICK
For the quickest way to join, simply enter your email below and get access. We will send a confirmation and sign you up to our newsletter to keep you updated on all your gaming news.
By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
FIND OUT ABOUT OUR MAGAZINE
Want to subscribe to the magazine? Click the button below to find out more information.
Find out more
GET Community ACCESS QUICK

Join the GamesRadar community for quick access. Enter your email below and we'll send confirmation, and sign you up to our newsletter.

By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Background
Welcome to GamesRADAR+ Community !
Hi ,

Your membership journey starts here.

Keep exploring and earning more as a member.

MY ACCOUNT

Badge picture
Earn your first badge
Read 1 article to unlock your first badge.
Keep earning badges
Explore ways to get more involved as a member.
Latest Games News

Latest Games News

Breaking gaming news and updates

Read Now
Latest Games Reviews

Latest Games Reviews

Expert verdicts on the newest releases

Read Now

See what you’ve unlocked.

Explore your membership benefits.

Explore
Member Exclusives

Stay Ahead with GamesRadar+

Get the biggest gaming news, reviews, and releases straight to your inbox.

Explore

Sign Out
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+
US EditionUS CA EditionCanada UK EditionUK AU EditionAustralia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
    • Game Insights
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • Big in 2026
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
    • Genres
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
    • Franchises
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • Insights
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
    • Computing
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
    • Accessories & Tech
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
    • Video
    • GR+ Replay - Submit Your Clips
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Total Film
  • home
  • Games
    • View Games
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • Big in 2026
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • View Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • View Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • View TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • View Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • View Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • View Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • View Hardware
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • View Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • View Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
    • View Video
    • Video
    • GR+ Replay - Submit Your Clips
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Total Film
Trending
  • Crimson Desert
  • Pokopia
  • Arc Raiders
  • The Boys S5
  • Starfield
  • Submit your clips. Win prizes
Don't miss these
Pokemon Pokopia screenshot showing Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle all gathered around a Ditto in human form between two green trees
Pokemon The ultimate Pokemon Pokopia guide for restoring the world around you
Animal Crossing characters look up at the moon
Animal Crossing Animal Crossing helped me process grief, and I'm not alone: "Visiting her island has brought me a lot of peace"
Best games like Animal Crossing: A group of villagers on a stone bridge during New Horizons.
Animal Crossing 15 Best games like Animal Crossing that are so wholesome it hurts
Animal Crossing How to upload any Animal Crossing: New Horizons image into the game
A player runs towards the Pokemon Pokopia release time
Pokemon Pokemon Pokopia fan creates Cloud Island you can use to get the cozy game's rarest goodies, Animal Crossing-style
Julian, a light blue horse with a unicorn-like horn, in Animal Crossing: New Horizon poses in front of the mayor's office, with the GamesRadar+ On The Radar frame
Animal Crossing The best Animal Crossing: New Horizons villagers have been our faves since day one
A path design in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing Best Animal Crossing: New Horizons island ideas
A widescreen image of the Animal Crossing PC port
Animal Crossing Unofficial Animal Crossing PC port is here, offering a widescreen 4K experience
Animal Crossing New Horizons guide
Animal Crossing Full Animal Crossing: New Horizons guide for island life
Animal Crossing: New Horizons flowers
Animal Crossing How to create hybrid flowers in Animal Crossing New Horizons
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Isabelle
Animal Crossing How to find Isabelle in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing: New Horizons fish
Animal Crossing When and where to catch all Animal Crossing: New Horizons fish
Screenshot from Pokopia. A ditto is in the centre of the frame sat in a cave
Pokemon Pokopia "doesn't force you to wait" like Animal Crossing – the Pokemon life sim lets you knock stuff out as you wish
Some of the village gathers around with Tom Nook and Kapp'n's family in Animal Crossing: New Horizons for Nintendo Switch 2 celebrate the Resort Hotel opening
Animal Crossing Here's everything new in the Animal Crossing New Horizons 3.0 update, including the Hotel and Zelda stuff
Animal Crossing New Horizons villager wearing majora's mask from Zelda and standing in front of the master sword
Animal Crossing Full Animal Crossing New Horizons Zelda item list and how to unlock them
  1. Games
  2. Simulation
  3. Animal Crossing
Supported

Dive back into Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Features
By Louise Blain published 11 February 2022

Beat the bedhead and get back on track on your island

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

GamesRadar+ created this content as part of a paid partnership with Nintendo. The content of this article are entirely independent and solely reflect the editorial opinion of GamesRadar+.

Put down most games and your character will stay frozen in time, just waiting for you to come back. Close Animal Crossing: New Horizons though and your island goes on without you. Because Animal Crossing works in real time and reflects the different seasons, you’ll find all kinds of changes on your island when you return. This means a stack of fun things to add to your to do list when you load it back up. While your bedhead thankfully doesn’t stick around as it did in previous titles, you can always use this as an excuse to refresh your look for the new year. Before you go on to refresh your whole island…  

In the video above we cover all the different things to discover when you go back to your island after some time away. From the gentle guilt trips when you catch up with all your neighbours - sorry Bam, it won’t happen again - to a solution to solve your weeds issue in one go, we’ve got everything you need to know. And once you’ve got everything back in order and tidied away all those rogue Christmas decorations for another year, it’s time to start on some fresh projects. The Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 updated last year added hundreds of new items to make sure that your island looks better than ever. Add in the Happy Home Paradise DLC and you’ll even be able to individually decorate all of your villager’s homes. Welcome back!   

Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
Louise Blain
Louise Blain
Social Links Navigation
Freelance Writer

Louise Blain is a journalist and broadcaster specialising in gaming, technology, and entertainment. She is the presenter of BBC Radio 3’s monthly Sound of Gaming show and has a weekly consumer tech slot on BBC Radio Scotland. She can also be found on BBC Radio 4, BBC Five Live, Netflix UK's YouTube Channel, and on The Evolution of Horror podcast. As well as her work on GamesRadar, Louise writes for NME, T3, and TechRadar. When she’s not working, you can probably find her watching horror movies or playing an Assassin’s Creed game and getting distracted by Photo Mode.

LATEST ARTICLES
  1. 1
    The Mass Effect TV show reportedly goes through rewrites to make it "more appealing to non-gamers," and I'm hoping it follows Fallout and not Halo in that direction
  2. 2
    This Super Mario Switch 2 headset is as cheap as it is stylish, and it's my go-to pick for little Nintendo fans
  3. 3
    State of Decay 3 lead says the game only existed in a Word document when its reveal trailer dropped 6 years ago: "We're not doing zombie animals"
  4. 4
    Achievements for Starfield's Terran Armada DLC seemingly tease whole new locations and features Bethesda's remained quiet about
  5. 5
    I'm an RGB defender, and this Mario and Luigi Switch 2 controller is prime reason why

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google
  • Terms and conditions
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Accessibility statement
  • Careers
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...