Your friends can't destroy your Animal Crossing: New Horizons island

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Don't worry, visitors can't just come and smash up your creation

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Nintendo has put provisions in place to make sure any visitors can't destroy all your hard work in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. 

You don't need to panic about letting other players onto your island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons for fear of them completely destroying all the hard work you put into it. After all, this is the Animal Crossing game that's going to let you completely customise your island. We're talking adding and removing land, smashing in new water features, actually painting on pathways, and plenty more. Naturally, you don't want anyone undoing all your hard work.

Thankfully, Nintendo has thought ahead and has added a handy feature that will ensure that doesn't happen. 

"In order to protect the environment of your island, certain tools like axes and shovels are forbidden in visits from friends," explains Nintendo in the special Animal Crossing Direct. 

But if you do want to work on your island with a little help from your pals, there's also a solution to that. Upgrading them to a 'Best Friend'.

Any friends that you register as a 'Best Friend' can use all their tools on your island. Of course, you'll only want to give that kind of access to people you can trust and actually communicate properly with during their time on the island.

With regards to communicating, Nintendo also announced a new addition to the Nintendo Switch Online mobile app - Nook Link. It's this that you'll use to communicate with your friends in-game, as with previous multiplayer Nintendo titles like Splatoon and Super Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Get even more excited about Tom Nook's imminent descent by checking out our Animal Crossing: New Horizons preview where we got to go hands-on with the opening of the game.

Sam Loveridge
Sam Loveridge
Brand Director, GamesRadar+

Sam Loveridge is the Brand Director and former Global Editor-in-Chief of GamesRadar. She joined the team in August 2017. Sam came to GamesRadar after working at TrustedReviews, Digital Spy, and Fandom, following the completion of an MA in Journalism. In her time, she's also had appearances on The Guardian, BBC, and more. Her experience has seen her cover console and PC games, along with gaming hardware, for a decade, and for GamesRadar, she's in charge of the site's overall direction, managing the team, and making sure it's the best it can be. Her gaming passions lie with weird simulation games, big open-world RPGs, and beautifully crafted indies. She plays across all platforms, and specializes in titles like Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, The Sims, and more. Basically, she loves all games that aren't sports or fighting titles! In her spare time, Sam likes to live like Stardew Valley by cooking and baking, growing vegetables, and enjoying life in the countryside.