‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’: 5 Details You Might’ve Missed in the October Direct
Nintendo‘s Animal Crossing: New Horizons October Direct was a lot to take in. The 20-minute announcement video showcased the massive and free 2.0 update arriving on Nov. 5, in addition to a jam-packed paid DLC called Happy Home Paradise. More than a dozen new features will come with the update, from quality-of-life improvements to new shops, characters, and activities.
With all the excitement surrounding the Direct, it’s not surprising that Nintendo managed to slip in several tiny details that went unnoticed. Here are some things you might’ve missed.
Brewster has gyroids on display
Animal Crossing: New Horizons players have known for weeks that Brewster would be discussed in the Direct, so it was no surprise to see the pigeon character in the first few minutes. A mainstay in the Animal Crossing franchise, Brewster has served coffee to villagers in The Roost Cafe since early game installments. In the 2.0 update, he’ll sell coffee to players for 200 bells each. The Roost Cafe will become a local hangout for animal villagers, which means players can also have new interactions with shop owners and residents.
As longtime Animal Crossing players might recall, Brewster’s lore includes an interest in gyroids. In previous games, he would store the funky dancing furniture pieces for players. The Direct didn’t mention that feature for New Horizons, but it did nod to Brewster’s gyroid collection.
In the backroom behind the counter, two gyroids sat on a shelf. Interestingly, one was a gyroid style from older games, while the other was a new model coming to Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Nintendo mentioned these new gyroids later in the video, so this cameo teased the announcement.
New furniture using vines
The Animal Crossing: New Horizons October Direct showcased several new DIY ingredients, including vegetables. Additionally, it looked like players could find new weeds and flowers while visiting special mystery islands on Kapp’n’s boat tours.
A sneak peek at the islands showed some interesting glowing weeds, as well as vines growing up the sides of cliffs. The player used the vines to climb higher, but the plant might be multi-functional. Later in the Direct, a blink-and-you-miss-it clip of Jay running in front of his house at night showed several pieces of marble and vine furniture. The collection included items like an arch, a stool, and a broken pillar. It’s not clear if players will use vines as a DIY ingredient to make this new furniture set, but it would certainly make sense.
A dessert section in the cooking DIYs
Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ 2.0 Update will include a whole new kind of DIY: cooking. The October Direct offered a glimpse at the new feature, showing off the game’s new ingredients. Players can grow tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, and more for these cooking recipes. After making the foods in any kitchen, players can eat them for energy, put them on display, or give them to neighbors.
The video showed only a small portion of the cooking DIY recipes; the scroll bar on the side seemed to go down pretty far — and that’s only one page. At the top of the screen were a few more cooking tabs, one of which appeared to be a dessert tab.
This new cooking feature is no small addition; it may very well include more than two dozen recipes.
Froggy chair is back and customizable
Nintendo knew exactly what it was doing when it casually slipped a Froggy Chair cameo into the Direct. Many longtime Animal Crossing fans have loved this green furniture item, so they were majorly disappointed to see it excluded from New Horizons. Finally, Nintendo has brought it back.
In the “navigating tight spaces” section of the October Direct, the Froggy Chair could be seen sitting in the corner of the room. Later, during the Happy Home Paradise showcase, the furniture piece appeared again. This time, it sat beside a yellow version of the chair.
It’s not clear if Froggy Chair will be a DIY item or a purchasable one, but either way, the color variation is exciting for some fans.
Nook’s Cranny sells a full PC gaming setup
Animal Crossing: New Horizons villagers can become gamers, thanks to a new intricate PC setup. While showing off the lighting fixture for sale in Nook’s Cranny, the Direct also offered a look at a 4-monitor PC station, complete with speakers, a gaming chair, a keyboard, and headphones. The Happy Home Paradise portion even showed the setup in action, with a neon screensaver on the monitors and RGB lights on the keyboard. Finish it off with the open bags of cheese puffs and cookies featured elsewhere in the video, and you’ve got yourself a gaming room.
