Animal Crossing’s Happy Home Paradise DLC is a pure joy

The Happy Home Paradise DLC finally puts home design front and center, giving players the chance to decorate numerous homes — their interiors and the yards around them — for villagers on vacation. It delivers.

It’s a joy to design with reckless abandon, finally getting more chances to experiment with one of New Horizons’ best elements. I’m making my dream reading nook and indoor spa, and noodling over the finest details — from wallpapers to garden landscaping. It’s gone! No more stress about finding furniture or changing the core of my island. Happy Home ParadiseThis is the perfect place to escape: I can use it as a getaway. New Horizons’ design tools to make numerous cute, themed spaces for both myself and other villagers.

New Horizons has always had limitations around home design, with only six rooms to decorate — unless players got creative with workarounds, like traveling to Harv’s Island to stage a photo shoot. Some players used dividers to make interior-looking vignettes. They also used hats, umbrellas, stools, and other accessories to give the appearance of themed buildings and rooms. The DLC not only gives players a solution to this — it does so in a way that’s both streamlined and structured enough to feel rewarding without being overwhelming.

Image: Nintendo via Polygon

To access the DLC, I tell Orville “I want to go to work,” a jarring statement that recalls Tom Nook’s whole deal, since the raccoon has made me pay for island upgrades for the past year. My first client Eloise arrives, and she tells me she wants a “Relaxing Reading Room’’ consisting of bookshelves and cozy chairs. She selects a home — after this tutorial level, players get to choose house locations — and we head there to get to work. The only thing that is left in her new home are three boxes containing key items for the overall motif. Eloise appears to be happy as long the items I have provided are indoors or outside.

There’s a lot to play with, but the DLC does a great job of streamlining the design process. Instead of unleashing, New Horizons’ overwhelming furniture catalogue on players, each home comes with a set of furniture relevant to the villager’s desired theme. Using it didn’t feel limiting, because the items are all coordinated, mitigating the frustration of furniture hunting for the last “missing item” that plagued the first year on my core island. No more keeping intense tabs on Nook’s Cranny to see if it finally has the right rice maker, or visiting a friend’s island just for a paper lantern lamp.

It is also possible to add aesthetic elements outside. You can change the color and style of roofing and doors, and easily move the home’s location on the plot — no relocation fee required. Bridges and incline types, for each home’s yard, are also customizable via a simple menu without having to pay any extra charge. There’s also Final wordsAn easy way to lay fences, hedges, or trees.

While Paradise curates specific furniture for a villager’s taste, you can arrange it in whatever manner you like, or incorporate items unlocked from past designs. My villager got his front yard filled with swords. A second villager bought a gym that has a spinning class set up because why not? And this was despite cues that I could have focused more on their stated themes: Eloise reacted with hearts, clapping, and exclamation points when I put in cozy items for her reading nook — but she took my more InterestingYou have many options.

Image: Nintendo via Polygon

Image: Nintendo via Polygon

I was often afraid of making mistakes and felt trapped on my island. ParadiseThis allows me to explore all kinds of design options with little risk. It is simple to court a client and everyone has their own taste so every project can be a chance for me to experiment with something different. One might prefer the aesthetic of a “mystery magician,” while another wants a “spa getaway.” I decide which island their home will be on, and even what season it will be on said island. And because I can easily remodel a home or move a villager — the DLC encourages me to check on clients to make sure they’re happy — I don’t have to worry about the permanence of my choices.

You can wrap all of these elements in adorable little things that reward you for a job well done. After you’re done designing, you can take a photo of the home and save it into the Paradise Planning design portfolio. You can make this a lot easier with the new Pro camera. The same way you can adjust the lighting for indoor photography, the Pro camera can be used outdoors to change the mood. What’s more, each job also rewards players with a cutscene in which you can see a client enjoying the home or yard you designed for them. Eloise reclining on her sofa was like Bobby Berk or a house flipper watching on HGTV. Queer Eye

The DLC rewards me for my time and investment. So far, I’ve designed about seven spaces, and the more I design, the more the game doles out additional rewards. I’ve gotten the chance to design facilities, like a school, which brought its own reward: Leif recently visited the school, and taught me how to make hybrid flowers. My home can now use hybrid flowers. Also, I just got the ability to scan Amiibo. This will allow me to invite my favourite villagers. ParadiseThey will be provided with homes. I’m also excited to eventually get a promotion — each job pays players with a currency called Poki, which can be spent on items sold from the Paradise Planning office (Bells don’t work here).

Image: Nintendo via Polygon

Happy Home Paradise is, ultimately, a chance for anyone who favored the game’s home design to dive into it without all of the hassle. It’s also the perfect solution for anyone who has core island fatigue — whether from having an already full island or being unsure of how to proceed with design. It’s also great for anyone looking for a structured way to play New HorizonsPost update Happy Home Paradise streamlines New Horizon’s intimidatingly open-ended gameplay so well that it’s made it even easier to chill out. It may seem like a job but it is actually a vacation.

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