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Announced on June 25th, Animal Crossing: New Horizons will be receiving a summer update on July 3rd, 2020. Let’s talk about everything we know about the update and speculate on what else is to come!
During the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct on February 20th, 2020, Nintendo announced that seasonal updates would be coming to the game over time after its release. The summer update featured in the reveal trailer will be our third (spoilers: and “fourth”) update to the game since it came out in March.
Previous Updates
March Update
The first update the game received was on March 20th, 2020 (Animal Crossing: New Horizons release date) and introduced new event items, decorations, and friends themed for “Bunny Day,” intended to emulate many Easter traditions.
Spring Update
The second update the game had received was on April 23rd, 2020 and, like in the previous update, did add items, recipes, and decorations based on event themes, but also introduced new vendors to the game. While there were allusions and small events for “Nature Day” (based on Earth Day) and “May Day” (based on European tradition), Wedding Day, and Museum Day, older Animal Crossing villagers were added as new vendors to this game. Leif returned as a gardening supplies vendor, selling bushes and seeds, while Redd appeared as an artwork and furniture vendor out of his boat. Directly related to Redd’s inclusion came a museum expansion that allowed artwork to be newly catalogued within its walls as of this update.
The Summer Update!
The main topic of this blog comes in the form of a new update that introduced, among other things, brand new mechanics to the game! New mechanics, new themed garb, new encounters, and an announcement of what is to come! Planned for a July 3rd, 2020 release, you can read what’s in store for the update below.
Swimming and Diving
Previously, in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you were landlocked when it came to being on your island. Sure, you can fish from land and even travel to other islands by plane, but this update introduced the abilities to both swim AND dive. Get your swimsuits ready, because these new mechanics aren’t just for show, either. While swimming, you’ll come across small dark objects in the water with bubbles rising from them. When you come across these, they will function similarly to most lootable resources; you can then dive down and come up with them!
New Museum Donations for Blathers
Similar to the Spring Update, this one opens a new category of collectibles to donate to your museum curator, Blathers. Using the new mechanics of swimming and diving, you will be able to locate brand new items underwater that serve different purposes. The Summer Update trailer shows three sea creatures that can be donated: a Sea star, a Sea anemone, and a Spotted garden eel. We assume this is only a small sample size of the greater selection of collectibles in this category! There are also rumors that these sea creatures may even vary by season and have more that can be caught further down the line.
New Encounters!
While encounters are nothing new to this game, two “new” ones will be introduced with the new update.
Pascal
The first is truly brand new and is also used to highlight the new mechanics in the game. It appears that one of the discoverable items underwater is a scallop that attracts a new friend named Pascal (Pascal has been in previous Animal Crossing games). Pascal will offer to trade scallops for new DIY recipes that use ocean materials for different things that we will discuss below in more detail.
Gulliver: Part 2?
The second of the new encounters coming with the Summer Update seems to be a new run-in with Gulliver. If you aren’t familiar with Gulliver, he is the same character who would wash ashore wearing blue sailor clothing and is dozing in and out of consciousness on the beach. After talking with him for a while, he will tell you that he was separated from his ship and crew and needs help rebuilding his communicator. This new run-in seems to be the same clumsy, birdy fellow, but wearing red, more pirate-like garb. His beginning speech pattern seems similar to previous interactions with him on shore, but we won’t truly know what will come from this encounter until the update drops.
New Clothing/Furniture/Decorations
Like with most updates, Animal Crossing: New Horizons introduces new resources used to build newer items. The Summer Update seems to be something similar with incorporating new mechanics and encounters to help you get going. The DIY recipes mentioned above that Pascal will trade for scallops seem to be the primary means of creating these items, but there may be more.
So far, we know that we will have the ability to make far more nautical-themed items in general, but, specifically, the following have been shown:
- Clothing
- Seashell Dress
- Seashell Tiara
- Furniture
- Mermaid Dresser
- Decorative Shells
- Mermaid dividers
- Shell chairs
- Seashell shelves
- Seashell Lamps
- Miscellaneous
- Seashell-themed floor patterns
- Seashell/mermaid-themed wallpaper
This is obviously a small taste of what is to come in the update, so you’ll need to chat with Pascal whenever possible to discover more DIY recipes!
A Second Summer Update!!
The final portion of the Summer Update trailer announces that there will be a second part to the Summer Updates. The first one already introduces new mechanics and themes to the game, so everybody is excited to see what the second one has to offer. The only information that has been provided is that the update will be coming to Animal Crossing: New Horizons in early August.
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