Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out at the right time. With the world plunged into a global pandemic and limited in-person contact, the Nintendo Switch Animal Crossing entry was a remedy for players craving something cosy to tuck into. New Horizons quickly became a firm favourite amongst Switch players; an online phenomenon practically overnight.
The game’s rapid success meant players meant were quickly hungry for more content. New activities, extra items and more things to do on an already exhausted island. In addition to quality-of-life changes in the 2.0 update, in 2021 Nintendo released a paid expansion, Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Happy Home Paradise. Is this additional DLC enough to offer something different to the regular Animal Crossing experience?
Happy Home Paradise is the spiritual successor to Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer on Nintendo 3DS, where players take on clients and design fresh homes on a separate, far-away island. Think of it as cosy day-time TV, shows like Grand Designs or Changing Rooms, but with adorable furry friends instead. If you’re not a fan of decorating in New Horizons, then the Happy Home Paradise DLC is probably one to skip as it is the core mechanic. No crafting, no waiting days for items to be made, no terraforming – an aesthetic lover’s paradise!
When starting the DLC, players hop on a plane to an island that’s in need of more tourism, a little cash injection, if you will. The notorious capitalist Tom Nook isn’t the head honcho this time round, but rather the more gentile Lottie, who runs the “Paradise Planning” scheme. Fancy. A new team – a monkey called Niko and Wardell the manatee – also swing along for the ride. After making introductions, Lottie offers up a new job role: resident island home designer, interpreting client requests with unbound creativity.
It’s billed as “going to work” in the game, but for those who love to decorate, it doesn’t feel like a job. Happy Home Paradise avoids the slog of the base game. When back home on the base island, there’s a lot of crafting, recipe cards and cataloguing to be done. It works for the chilled pace of the main game, but it can take time to acquire all the items you’ll need. Months of waiting for the right item to spawn in the Nook’s Cranny shop. With the DLC, decorating client homes is far quicker. Players wouldn’t want to badged as a rogue builder who disappears for months on end to get the “right part”.
Apart from a handful of must-include specific items that the client provides, it’s a free reign of decorating with an unlimited budget and items to play with. That’s right, a huge catalogue of included items, furniture, wall and floor palettes to choose from. There’s no need to lug these around in your inventory, nor have catalogued these in the base game. That sense of unfiltered fun is instantly refreshing, a playground to make, well, anything – without having to buy the goods. There’s the creative freedom to brew up a stunning contemporary home or something a rogue estate agent would be proud of. Questionable substance den, haunted house, epic gamer room – the result really is open to interpretation! There’s no set score to worry about or harsh judgement here. No risk of being fired? The dream job.
Happy Home Paradise also unlocks advanced customisation features: the ability to break up the space with partition walls, pillars, polish objects and even soundscapes for ambient noise. It’s a neat way to break up a standard box room into something a bit more curated. Items can’t be hung on these additional partition walls, though, which is a shame. These DLC specific features also bleed into the core game, too, with the ability to use these techniques and even remodel villager houses unlocked after completing 30 holiday homes.
Beyond the interior, the house itself can be tinkered with – the overall look, colours and environment too. Fancy a snowy, midnight house in the wilderness? Those settings can be tweaked. Compared to the base game, decorating and item placement does feel significantly more fluid, too. Multiple views, grids outdoors and refined drag and drop make things feel that bit more intuitive.
After scoring high marks for a handful of holiday homes, island facilities start to open up – each open for a lick of paint. A school, restaurant, café, hospital and fashion store – some with sub rooms, too. Haunted hospital? Of course. Iconic British pub tribute with sticky carpets and a questionable toilet? Yes.
Once each design is wrapped up, a short cutscene plays of clients enjoying their new home – lounging about and greeting their designer with a polite smile. Homes can also be tinkered further later for those wanting to rework spaces, alongside extra housemates popping by as additional incentive for further work. It is paid gig, too, so players are rewarded with a little currency to spend at the resort shop. Neat!
Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Happy Home Paradise is, at time of review, included as part of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pass, free of charge. Those without Nintendo’s subscription can purchase the DLC separately as a one-off fee for permanent access.
