Animal Crossing: New Horizons has finally arrived on Nintendo Switch. Nintendo's charming life sim series has always had a very leisurely pace compared to other games, but even by these standards, New Horizons gets off to a slow start. You'll spend your first few days gradually transforming your deserted island into a bustling town, and this entails gathering lots of materials to build bridges, picking out plots of land for new residents, and setting up a museum and general store.
Given how long it takes to develop your island, you may be tempted to set your Switch clock forward and skip time to unlock things more quickly. We wouldn't recommend that, however. As Jake explains in the video above, time traveling may be an alluring way to get your town up and running, but you should resist the temptation and let the game unfold naturally.
New Horizons has received very positive reviews from critics. GameSpot's Kallie Plagge gave it an 8/10 in our Animal Crossing: New Horizons review-in-progress, writing, "So far, I've played Animal Crossing: New Horizons for 80 hours over 17 days, and that anticipation hasn't yet gone away. While I've spent a lot of time developing my island so far, I still feel as if there's plenty left for me to do and see--there's a lot in New Horizons to occupy your time with."
If you're just settling into your new island home, we've rounded up lots of tips and guides for New Horizons to help you out, including what you should be doing every day, how to get the all-important shovel, and how to make money. We also have explainers on how to unlock the ladder and upgrade your inventory space.