# Animal Crossing: New Horizons

*Game* · `animal-crossing-new-horizons` · status: **sourced**

A Nintendo life sim on a deserted island whose clock, seasons, and wildlife follow the real calendar, built around gathering, D.I.Y. crafting, museum collections, villager relationships, and island design.

| field | value |
|---|---|
| aliases | New Horizons |
| year | 2020 |
| developer | Nintendo EPD |
| platforms | Console, Handheld |
| subgenre | Life sim |
| subgenre secondary | Social sim |
| sim domain | Domestic / personal, Social / interpersonal, Biological / ecological |
| player role | Inhabitant |
| agency model | Direct avatar, Zoning / placement |
| time model | Real-world clock |
| sim scale | Settlement |
| fidelity | Stylized |
| perspective | Third-person |
| win structure | Open sandbox |
| failure model | None |
| narrative mode | Hybrid |
| multiplayer | Single-player, Co-op |
| modding | None |
| production tier | AAA |
| agent count order | ~10 |
| emergence | 2 |
| influence | 3 |
| cluster *(computed)* | C18 |
| core count *(computed)* | 4 |
| mechanic count *(computed)* | 13 |

## Summary

A Nintendo life sim on a deserted island whose clock, seasons, and wildlife follow the real calendar, built around gathering, D.I.Y. crafting, museum collections, villager relationships, and island design.

## Core Loop

visit the island each real day -> gather wood, fruit, fish, bugs, and fossils -> craft D.I.Y. items and spend Bells and Nook Miles -> donate to the museum and decorate -> island rating rises and unlocks services -> new seasons bring new species

## Design Notes

Time runs on the console clock, and weather, seasons, and species availability follow the hemisphere chosen at start, so a missed month means missing that month's fish and bugs. The developers lowered bank interest and removed waits from landscaping and crafting to reduce the payoff of changing the console clock. The island's one-to-five-star rating gates milestones such as K.K. Slider's concert at three stars, after which the Island Designer lets players add and remove cliffs, water, and paths. The turnip stalk market sells turnips on Sunday mornings, changes buy prices twice daily under one of four weekly patterns, and spoils unsold turnips the next Sunday.

## Relations

**uses**

- [Real-time clock](../mechanic/real-time-clock.md) (core): Game time follows the console clock; days, hemisphere-based seasons, shop hours, and species spawn windows advance while the game is off.
- [Collection goals](../mechanic/collection-goals.md) (core): Blathers' museum collects fish, bugs, sea creatures, fossils, and art donated by the player.
- [Hand crafting](../mechanic/hand-crafting.md) (core): D.I.Y. recipes turn gathered wood, stone, iron, fruit, and other materials into tools, furniture, and decorations at a workbench.
- [Building placement](../mechanic/free-placement.md) (core): Furniture and items can be placed indoors and outdoors anywhere on the island, and the player chooses sites for residents' houses and shops.
- [Terraforming](../mechanic/terraforming.md) (supporting): The Island Designer edits cliffs, rivers and ponds, and paths.
- [Decoration and beauty](../mechanic/decoration-beauty.md) (supporting): The island rating (one to five stars) reflects development and scenery; three stars triggers K.K. Slider's concert.
- [Milestone unlocks](../mechanic/milestone-unlocks.md) (supporting): Island growth brings shopkeepers and services such as Nook's Cranny, the museum, and the Able Sisters.
- [Seasons](../mechanic/seasons.md) (supporting)
- [Weather](../mechanic/weather.md) (supporting)
- [Renewable regrowth](../mechanic/renewable-regrowth.md) (supporting): Rocks, fruit, fish, and bugs replenish on daily or multi-day cycles, so gathering is a daily routine.
- [Spoilage](../mechanic/spoilage.md) (supporting): Turnips bought on Sunday rot the following Sunday while sell prices follow one of four weekly patterns.
- [Relationship values](../mechanic/relationship-values.md) (supporting): Villagers' friendship with the player grows through conversation and gifts.
- [Direct avatar control](../mechanic/direct-avatar.md) (supporting)

## Backlinks (computed)

**precedent for:** [Agent ambassadors between player worlds](../opportunity/agent-ambassadors-async.md), [Content-elastic event systems](../opportunity/content-elastic-events.md)

## Sources

- [Animal Crossing: New Horizons](../source/src-wikipedia-animal-crossing-new-horizons.md)
- [Stalk Market](../source/src-nookipedia-2026-stalk-market.md)

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Provenance: created in run `2026-10-24-catalog-gc`.