Nintendo have just finished airing the latest Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct for the 20th of February, it contained plenty of information on what we can expect from the game when it launches in exactly a months time; including details on how you'll be able to make your island your own as you progress in the game, pick which hemisphere you want to live it, how the game will interact with previous Animal Crossing titles with relation to design elements and a lot more details besides.

Check below for the full press release...

20th February, 2020 – Tom Nook has an eye for business. That’s why the staple Animal Crossing character took time out of his very busy schedule to host a new video presentation about his latest endeavour, the Nook Inc. Deserted Island Getaway Package. In the presentation, he details the ins and outs of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, launching exclusively for Nintendo Switch on 20^th March. The video covers everything a potential Deserted Island Getaway Package customer needs to know to get started: an introduction to the new island life, the basics of home ownership, details about new neighbours, land development, exploration, crafting and much more.

For more details of the island getaway, check out the full video: Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Deep Dive Into Deserted Island Life (Nintendo Switch).

Some of the highlights of Tom Nook’s information session include:

Features new to the series:

• Life on the Island: Nook Inc. confidently recommends a trip to a remote deserted island. On the island, life is as peaceful and relaxing as it gets. Since the island is deserted, everyone can create a new life from the very beginning. Time flows as naturally as in the real world, including seasons and day and night cycles that mirror real time.
• DIY: By collecting specific materials around the island, residents can craft a wide variety of things, including tools and furniture. DIY workshops teach you how to enrich your life by crafting DIY recipes. As you become more familiar with DIY, you can even learn special skills like changing the colour of your DIY furniture or decorating them with custom designs.
• NookPhone: Nook Inc. will provide some basic necessities and services, including your very own NookPhone. It has standard apps, like a camera and map, but over time, new applications will be added. The camera can be used to take in-game photos all over the island – even adding fancy filters is possible.
• Nook Miles: Players looking for more concrete goals can take advantage of the Nook Mileage program. Fulfilling certain challenges and experiences will earn miles to pay off the cost of the getaway package or, eventually, to exchange for in-game rewards. Rewards range from in-game Nook Inc. merchandise and helpful items that can enrich your time on the island, to tickets usable to visit distant islands.
• Party Play: With the Nook Inc. Deserted Island Getaway package, up to eight people can live on one island.* In Party Play, residents can call up to three other players to explore the island at the same time. Whoever calls the others will be the Leader, making the others the Followers. It’s easy to change out the Leader, letting others quickly take charge. Any creatures or items found by Followers will be stored in a recycle box at the Resident Services building.
• Land Development: While crossing rivers on the island is possible by pole-vaulting and climbing elevated land using ladders, you can also change the landscape by adding bridges and slopes. Once your island is fully decked out, you’ll receive a permit to freely pave your own paths, as well as perform major construction like changing the paths of rivers or building and demolishing cliffs.
• Island Tours: These “mystery island tours” are at the whim of the pilot, so players never know where they will end up. Once on these smaller islands, feel free to gather as many items – like DIY materials and creatures – as you want and take them back with you to your island.
• NookLink: With NookLink, which is part of the Nintendo Switch Online app, players can scan a Custom Design QR Code pattern from previous games Animal Crossing: New Leaf or Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer with a real-life smartphone and then download them to Animal Crossing: New Horizons. When connected online, it’s also possible to talk with friends who also have Animal Crossing: New Horizons with the Nintendo Switch Online smartphone app, using the smartphone as a keyboard or for voice chat. NookLink will launch in March.

Detailed breakdown of the Getaway Package experience:

• Choose Your Island: Before boarding your flight to the island, you will choose the island from a range of options. Choosing to live in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, for example, will affect the timing of the seasons. When the seasons change on the island, so do the activities. For Northern Hemisphere residents, spring will just be starting when the game launches on 20^th March, so residents can expect blooming cherry blossoms to show up soon.
• Orientation: After landing on the island, residents will receive a helpful orientation session from the Nook Inc. staff. At this time, you’ll be provided with the tent that’s included with your getaway package. You can chat with other island residents about where you want to set up your new home and help them choose their home locations as well.
• Resident Services: The Resident Services facility is available to support daily needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They provide services such as the sale of everyday goods, the purchase of unwanted items and helpful advice.
• Become a Home Owner: The tent provided to you by Nook Inc. is great, but have you considered a house? Home loans have no deadlines, interest or assessment, and you can pay your loan back at your own pace. A house offers much more space than a tent and also includes storage space for any extra furniture and baggage. Once you own a home, you can channel your inner interior designer, setting up the walls, flooring and furniture however you like. You can also use extension and remodelling services to expand and customise your home even more.
• Customization Deluxe: Animal Crossing: New Horizons offers more customisation options than ever before, from personalising the look of your character all the way down to skin tone, hairstyle and clothing, to placing buildings and items wherever you want on the island. You can even decorate the inside and outside of your home.
• Airport: This is the first place you will land on the island. It’s also available to use 24 hours a day, beginning on the day after your arrival. At the airport, you can invite residents of other islands to your own island via the internet or local wireless. You can also travel and visit other islands yourself. Up to eight people can play on a given island at one time**, so feel free to get a good group together and make some fantastic memories.
• Island-wide Broadcasts: At the start of each day, Mr. Nook, CEO of Nook Inc., will make a broadcast to all residents, updating them with the latest on important island events and advice about how to best enjoy island living.

Features and updates to further island enjoyment:

• New Residents: When you first land on the island you will only have a few animal residents living there with you. But as you develop your island from the ground up, more neighbours will visit and choose to move in. You can even invite some of the new residents to live there yourself.
• Free Updates: Free updates will be added after the game launches, with free seasonal events continually added throughout the year. The first free update will be on launch day, 20^th March. By installing this update, you can celebrate Bunny Day with a special event in April.
• Additional Facilities: As you grow your island, more facilities will be built. This includes a museum showcasing the rich ecosystem of the island, a shop full of ready-made furniture and goods you can’t craft yourself, a tailor offering clothing and fashion items, and a campsite where you can invite guests for recreational purposes.
• Tourists & Events: Your island will not only be home to new residents, but also tourists as well! These temporary visitors are always welcome and can offer up items that cannot be crafted on the island. Visitors can also participate in fun events like Fishing Tourneys and Bug-Offs, which will pop up throughout the year. Through free updates to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, new special events and seasonal guests will be introduced.
• amiibo Support: Animal Crossing: New Horizons supports amiibo figures and amiibo cards from the Animal Crossing series. You can also invite these familiar faces to Photopia, an island that exists in the game, where you can place models in creative photo shoots.
• Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp collaboration: If you own both Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp for mobile devices and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you’ll receive special items in each game. Details will be announced at a later date from the Animal Crossing Twitter account.
• Tom Nook Twitter Takeover: And keep an eye out for social media-savvy Tom Nook, who is going to take over Isabelle’s Twitter account right after today’s video presentation.

In addition to the game, players can accessorise with Animal Crossing: New Horizons Carrying Cases for Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch Lite. A special edition Animal Crossing-themed Nintendo Switch console will be available in stores on 20^th March as well. The system takes design inspiration from Animal Crossing: New Horizons, with pastel green and blue Joy-Con controllers that are white on the back, coloured wrist straps, and a white Nintendo Switch dock, adorned with images of characters Tom Nook and Nooklings Timmy and Tommy.

For more information about Animal Crossing: New Horizons, visit https://www.nintendo.co.uk/animalcrossingnewhorizons.

And if you haven't seen the presentation yet for yourself or perhaps wanted a recap, here's the original video below...

Did this latest Direct answer all of your questions on Animal Crossing: New Horizons? Will you be picking it up as soon as it releases? Or will you be waiting until the reviews come out before making a decision? (Look out for a review on N-Europe around the time of the games release or shortly after)

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or join in with the discussion on our forum.