Everything To Know Before Jumping Into Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ 3.0 Update

Animal Crossing: New Horizons‘ 3.0 update is live, and lapsed players are rushing back to their near-abandoned islands. The update is technically two parts—the free part, which everyone will get, and the paid part, which is only for Nintendo Switch 2 players. Most of the content is tied to the free update, like Kapp’n’s seaside hotel which has been constructed on island piers. For existing owners, the Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade is $4.99; Nintendo says it’s got an “enhanced resolution,” as well as mouse control support and larger multiplayer sessions.

Though Kapp’n’s hotel is the big, main content piece of the big 3.0 patch, there’s a lot of little details to love in both the free and paid updates.

Image: Nintendo

You can decorate two rooms per day at Kapp’n’s hotel

Isabelle will announce that the hotel is open, so head right down to the pier to check it out. Kapp’n and Tom Nook will be inside to give you the rundown on what’s going on. Basically, the hotel is already entirely built, but they’re looking for someone to help Kapp’n’s wife, Leilani, decorate the rooms. You’ll be prompted to decorate a room, and Leilani will walk you through it. She wants it to be themed, but you don’t have to follow that. You’ll get 200 tickets for doing so! You’ll continue to get prompted for a couple days to decorate rooms and help out with unlocking other features around the hotel.

But, at max, you’re only able to decorate two rooms per day. Once you decorate a room, tourists will start showing up. You can keep helping with the hotel, though, by taking on tasks at a DIY requests stand on the pier, which will be unlocked as you proceed.

Tourists will roam your island

The animals that show up to rent the rooms on your island can be found wandering around, exploring the sights. They’ll interact with your residents, but can’t be asked to move onto your island, like with the campsite.

You can decorate your pier

All of the wooden parts of the hotel pier can be decorated as you please. It’s not a ton of room, but it’s enough to bring in some extra flair. It works exactly the same way as decorating anywhere else, but you’ve got to work around some of the permanent fixtures.

The hotel’s facade can’t be customized, but it is decorated seasonally, it seems—there’s snow on the roof in winter, and an adorable little snowman outside.

Save up your bells for Resetti’s pricey service

Resetti will be wandering around your island when you update to 3.0. He’s able to quickly reset portions of your island, but it’ll cost you 60,000 bells per day. The good news is that it’s not 60,000 bells per portion of land—it’s a daily rate, so you can keep calling Resetti back for an entire 24 hours at no extra cost.

Of course, the first use of the service is free, so you’ll have time to save up if you want to give it a try but can’t afford his hefty fee. Here’s how it works: You first go tell Isabelle you want to use the service, and Resetti will be wandering your island. He’ll give you three options: to reset either the whole island, your beaches, or specific areas. If you choose the third option, you can go and choose the area and summon him.

New movement actions make decorating and terraforming more precise

This is a super small detail, but makes a huge difference. There are new movement options in New Horizons. It’s easy: You just need to tap and hold the L button to move precisely in different directions. Basically, it’s movement on a grid—up, down, left, and right. When you press the L button and don’t hold it down, you can do a little, cute jump.

This is particularly exciting for me, because it drives me crazy to be trying to dig up something and accidentally dig the wrong area. By being able to make precise movements, I can more easily position myself in the correct spot. It’ll help with placing items in the world, too, I think.

Craft without having resources in your pockets

Empty the sticks and rocks out of your pockets, because crafting now pulls from your home inventory! If you do have materials in your pockets, crafting will use those first, then move to home storage. You can do this from any crafting bench on your island, but it won’t work if you’re crafting on someone else’s island.

Bulk crafting limited to 10 items

Crafting that pulls from home storage is particularly helpful now that bulk crafting is a thing. However, bulk crafting is limited to making 10 of a certain item at once—no more than that. Ten is still a lot, and will certainly make life easier for people who are furiously crafting.