I love Animal Crossing: New Horizons Slumber Islands, but it could’ve been so much better

After downloading the Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 update, a little character called Luna now greets me in my sleep, asking if I'd like to take a dreamy journey over to Slumber Islands. This new world will let me practice my wildest design fantasies, she explains. Or, so I was led to believe.

I've been wishing for a sandbox mode in Animal Crossing: New Horizons since the beginning, because while I love to get creative with terrain and 'scapes, I'll admit, it absolutely does not come naturally to me. And that feels a little embarrassing to say, especially when I've seen what some players are capable of.

But, when I first got a look at Slumber Islands during the update announcement, I was full of excitement. Maybe if I practice enough without the fear of ruining my main island, then I can do better. So, after I figured out how to unlock Slumber Islands, I was ready to go, tucked up in my Animal Crossing bed and ready for the glamorous tapir to give me an opportunity to solve my design woes.

Three new islands

With Slumber Islands, you can upload your main island for people to visit and play with online. Anything they do there doesn't affect your actual island, phew. Same goes for other players uploading theirs, and then with either with a code or as a surprise, you can go exploring.

This is an excellent feature on because while I love to look up designs and lurk around social media on the hunt for ideas to take over to my own island, it's a lot easier when you can walk around it and get fully immersed. I'm a visual learner, what can I say?

Then it comes to the big part of the Slumber Islands 3.0 update and that's being able to create your own set of islands. Three, to be exact. Totally independent from your main island, it opens up a whole new world of opportunity.

You can pick small, medium or large, and I chose small because I have a tendency to get totally overwhelmed if there's too much to do. You can decorate it however you want, terraforming with full permission and taking full advantage of the cliff and waterscaping permits. But, after about 15 minutes on my first island, I let out a little disappointed sigh when I realised it has its limitations.

More buildings, please

Straight off the bat, my heart hurts a little bit because I can't place any buildings, including villagers houses, apart from own home. Without buildings I can't make any fun cityscapes or themed neighbourhoods, and I'm also doubly glad I didn't pick a medium or large island to begin with. Buildings are a huge part of my main island, so why aren't they here?

Trees, decorations and items of furniture, absolutely, but no buildings? It's a major bump in the road for me, but with the whimsical music and serene dreamscape, I can adapt and change. Although if I think about the fact I can't do interiors for a second longer, I might need to take some deep breaths.

Reframing, I consider that the thing I'm worst at is terrain ideas, which can be a costly mistake on my real island. Here, in Slumber Islands, I can practice with my terrain without fear of making a huge no-no.

But, then here comes another feature I wish they'd included, the ability to transfer my ideas over to the design portal and back to my own island. Yes, I've put the practice in so theoretically I can do the same again, but firstly, I'm feeling a little lazy after all my hard work and secondly, what if I make a mistake?

Turns out Slumber Islands is a bit like Fight Club. The one big rule – what goes down on Slumber Islands, stays on Slumber Islands. And I'm not mad about it, I just wish there was a chance to take some of my work back so I can enjoy it.

A girl can dream

I do get it, if you're inviting friends onto your Slumber Islands and they start messing with your work, it doesn't matter. You can start again. Clean up is a lovely feature that gives you a chance to disappear all the items you've dropped down. Or, just delete the entire Slumber Island and go again.

But, while I mentioned that you can place down items on your island, you only have access to ones you've personally collected already and I was really hoping they'd give me access to everything. Again, it's my dream state, so let me dream! Luna promised that I could let my imagination run free and if that means throwing a load of furniture around without a care in the world, then so be it.

And since I'm making a wishlist, the last feature I wish Nintendo had included was being able to change the season. Slumber Islands reflects the season currently happening on your main island and while you can change the time of day and weather, you can't quite get the vibe for seasonally themed designs.

With changing seasons, it'd be a lot easier to set up my design on Slumber Islands than throw my whole main island into disarray, especially if I want to take some cool screenshots. But, alas, whatever I'm creating in Slumber Islands is staying put. So, I guess I'll just keep happily squirrelling away at the terrain in peace. A 4.0 update with some added features? I'll dream about it.

If the upcoming Switch 2 games still to come in 2026 aren't doing it for you, why not check out the best games like Animal Crossing to scratch that Tom Nook-shaped itch?