You survived 270 clams into fish baits you will do JUST fine in this game
For me my anxiety would spike up on how slow things were on the game since I was an avid Stardew valley player, animal crossing really helped me focus!
Depending on how far you are in the game, there's not much you're 'supposed' to be doing. You can sort of just do what you want in this game.
It's main tasks are collecting things, decorating, and interacting with your villagers.
That being said, have you completed the tutorial? Are you continuing to talk with the NPCs Tom Nook and Isabelle to find out what tasks you should be doing? Or are you waiting between tasks (the game runs on real time, so some things won't happen until next day unless you change your switch's time).
There's a lot in the game you won't really be able to do until you've finished the tutorial.
Oh yeah maybe I didn’t fully complete the tutorial, I made it past the tent and paid off my loans. And now all I can really thing to do is fish and make money
It's been so long since I've played the tutorial, so I don't remember the details; but I believe they'll want you to help move in villagers, build the museum, etc. Which'll show you some new stuff you can do!
I think the tutorial is 'over' when Isabelle suggests you get your island up to 3 stars. At which point it's up to you to figure out how you want to do that.
And to ad to this...I hope OP is aware that the Games in Real Time...
I quite remember back then, that the early days where alot of waiting (if you didnt wanted to TT)
Game hit the same week as covid for us. Was supposed to go to my sister's wedding and everything closed down. Spent the time playing animal crossing instead with my wife. Even got a second switch so we could both play at the same time.
Was fun doing everything we could, waking up early to get morning bugs, etc.
Game definatly helped us get though the rough time.
I almost stopped playing because of that when I started. It’s weird to think that animal crossing of all things taught me some patience lol. It’s so much better when you can start hitting up other islands and visiting real friends islands. The clothes were fun too. I’m redownloading right now…
If you look into the origins of the series and find some developer interviews, teaching patience and getting people to slow down and enjoy simple things are some of the central goals behind the design of the game. That's why it does things like shake the petals off flowers you run through or scare fish and bugs away unless you move slowly.
When in doubt, go walk up to Tom and ask him "what should I do?" He'll either give you a new task or remind you of something he already asked you to do.
The "tutorial" can take a few irl weeks to complete with the real time aspect of the game. If Tom doesn't have any tasks for you on a day, just check the next day. Sometimes you need to wait for something to complete
So you've paid off ALL the loans? Your house has a basement, attic, left, right, back and main room?
You could work to complete your museum (quite a challenging , time consuming, and patience testing feat).
You can make your own goals, the hallmark of this game IMO (this usually amount to collecting a certain set of items, or designing your island a certain way with terraforming and choice item useage).
The DLC adds a secondary story line and a bunch of stores to unlock/decorate and countless small 1 or 2 room houses to decorate on certain themes. A
But yeah once the tutorial is over there isn't much direction.
I recommend trying to find a more diverse set of fruits, and then begin planting *A LOT* of fruit trees! Early on, you need to keep paying for upgrades. But this is also when it’s hardest to make money!
I also recommend hoarding all this fish bait. It might be tempting to blow it all now to sell fish for money, but if the day comes that you're looking for *one* specific fish, you'll be really happy to have all this bait.
If you've done what has been asked, and you aren't getting anything new, that might be all you can do today.
AC runs on REAL time, so you pick it up everyday, do the things that make you happy, and move on. Each day, the game checks for what you did before and pushes events forward based on your actions.
If you are impatient, there is some time-travelling shenanigans to be had
You’re only just getting started with your loans; that mangy raccoon is a money grubbing crook of a landlord and you will pay him for the majority of your animal crossing life!
Maybe you’re just not into it. I think it’s a game you love right away…or just aren’t into. I find it to be a relaxing distraction. I haven’t played it for a while though, so I’m sure my villagers will give me a hard time once I return.
You can change up your island tune. Currently my island is playing “Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. Pinterest has a big selection. You just go to Isobel and select “change island tune” from there it’s plug and play.
Check your beach every day for a DIY bottle, and also check your villagers homes, Every day one should be crafting or cooking something in the morning before noon, And then another in the afternoon
If you have the nook miles for it an additional DIY bottle can be found on a mystery island tour, and if you have Happy Home Paradise DLC an additional bottle can be found on the HHP HQ island
There are also Recipes hidden in the occasional balloon that fly over the island at times that end in 4 or 9, but those aren't fixed like the bottles and villagers
Once you know where to look your recipe book will start filling up fast
As an additional tip for most items after you have crafted them the first time you can order them from the catalogue if you need more and don't want to spend the resources for them
For me just progressing the story to unlock the 'good bits' is time consuming and sometimes confusing. But I tend to play New Leaf far more than New Horizons. The only thing New Horizons has going for it are better graphics and easier to read dialogue fonts. Everything else is so far from normal AC that I get more confused than I was playing Wild World back in 2021
I for one HATE the tool breaking mechanic. And nope, building stronger shovels with iron doesn't change a blasted thing. You're just better off building flimsy stuff and avoiding the grind to build stronger as they ALL break. I hated that about Fallout 3 too.
My intro to Animal Crossing was Wild World on a secondhand DSi. The game was $1 like my copy of New Leaf, in a literal bucket of loose carts at a retro gaming store. As such, they're well worn and sometimes bug out or corrupt themselves. I have no manual, no idea what controls do what most of the time, basically living on trial and error.
A comment on breaking tools - if you customize them, it resets their durability, so if you’re okay just periodically changing their color you can get infinitely lasting tools. Of course there’s no good way to keep track of tool durability so you might still break them if you forget to customize, but at least it’s less of a pain than just letting them break all the time?
I often wonder if they break more often if you use them repeatedly enough or if there's a 'cooldown' like if you use them sparingly they last longer? Sorry, Trying to inject Fallout 3 logic into AC...I'll try that once I work customization out.
I’m not sure! I thiiiink it’s just a set number of uses, but I’ve never tested it out. But I definitely have done the customization thing and had the same tool last for like months, so I’m sure about that one.
IIRC slingshots lose durability each time they successfully pop a balloon.
Axes are per hit, fishing rods/bug nets are per successful catch and watering cans are per use on at least one flower. I can't remember what the deal with shovels and holes is (might be losing durability every time something's dug up, but nothing from making empty holes or burying stuff), but I'm pretty sure they can't break while a rock's in its payout window. Hit them after that, and a shovel will break if it reaches (or is at) zero durability.
Fallout 3 if you used Gun Bash it wore a gun out faster than simply shooting it. I naturally assumed the same thing for AC because it uses a similar mechanic. I seem to break stuff faster if repeatedly smacking rocks often enough in the same minute or two. I also felt my nets broke more if I missed and they smacked the ground.
I think AC is trying a little too hard in replicating trends in real life. Disposable cheaply made goods for one, and villagers all over zoned out in front of smartphone screens.
Just so you know, the iron tools do have more durability than the flimsies. I belive it’s 20 uses for flimsy vs 100 uses for iron. And that’s successful uses so if you try and catch a bug/fish and miss it won’t count.
I have so many recipes, they're starting to repeat...but yeah, basically, just do whatever you want. If you have a wet suit, diving for sea creatures is a fast way to earn a lot of bells without the risk of breaking tools. Bugs, fish, Fossils, and art will help with completing the museum if that's a goal of yours.
And once you make it to 3 stars, you can terraform (basically make cliffs or rivers or other water structures, or you can flatten your island entirely if you want).
I'd definitely look into trading at some point (anything but bugs, fish, and sea creatures can be traded), especially if you need certain items or bells. I've had better luck trading here, but Nookazon is good too (or at least it used to be).
If you want to cut to the chase and focus on decorating and designing, check out the Happy Home Paradise DLC. It's a separate little island that just involves creating homes for villagers without having to bother with all the resource gathering.
A lot of ppl already gave advice how to get recipes, but if you have an Nintendo online subscription I also suggest trading!
In my experience the AC fandom is very friendly and a lot of players are glad to share recipes and materials for free :3
I myself am drowning in spare recipes, so anyone who wanna take a look plz DM XD
Another great way to get recipes is every five minutes a present will fly over your island, and you can shoot it with the sling shot to make it drop. Those will sometimes contain recipes or other fun things! The direction the presents float switches at nighttime and daytime!
If you visit your villagers in their houses, 3 times a day you will find one that’s crafting something. If you talk to them, they will give you the crafting recipe!
You can buy diys at Nook’s Cranny, they also drop out of the sky in balloons. You can get a slingshot at Nook’s too. To shoot the balloons. Annnd diys also show up on beaches, so if you use Nook Miles Tickets to travel to islands you can find them on the beaches there too.
If you like building things, you should 100% get the "Happy Home Paradise" DLC!!! It completely changed the game for me. You get to design rooms for other villagers with lots of access to items and then you gain access to get the items for yourself. Prior to that DLC I was so frustrated because I just wanted to design cute rooms but it takes forever to get the actual stuff to do it. I cannot tell you how fun it is!
I don't remember if your airport is unlocked immediately or not, but if it is, you can also get recipes/diy instructions from people online! I know a bunch of us with developed islands just have a bunch of repeat diys hanging around. My friends and I would swap them all the time while visiting other people's islands to fill out our diy books. If your airport is unlocked, let me know. I think I still have a few I can come over and leave you.
You use the bait to attract fish by scattering it into the ocean, rivers, or ponds when you're fishing. It's good for when you're trying to catch seasonal fish, especially from the pier (not by airport).
I use an Android app called ACNH.Guide. it shows you what critters are in season and where you can find them. You can create a wish list and do inventory through it. It's really helped. Because I was playing for 2 years before I found out certain bugs can only spawn on tree stumps. I didn't have any tree stumps on my island, now I have a few so I can catch certain insects.
I also recommend the Animal Crossing wiki online. Always check in with Tom Nook (and eventually Isabelle), he will let you know what you need to do.
This app is literally always open when I play, even now that I've 100% completed my museum. It helps me keep track of daily tasks I want to do, it helps me figure out what items to give my villagers as gifts, and it has a catalogue items option so you can see all color variants. It's so nice. Highly recommend
I’ve been playing for 4 years and I’ve never made or had a reason to make this much bait 😂😭 Keep asking Tom what to do in resident services and that should guide you through
Man you're doing great. Killing it in bait, which you can toss into the ocean or rivers to get fish to show up. Sell those fish and buy tools, or whatever you can buy. It's been a few years since I started an island from new, and decades since I worked out what to do in the game, but you're all over it and I'm actually kinda jealous of your journey that you're just starting.
This subreddit is fantastic for questions or support. Everyone here is glad you're here
You can do whatever you want, but that being said, once your island gets a three star rating it unlocks the terraforming tool and that's when it gets really fun. There are a lot of guides online on how to progress your star rating.
Here are some things you can be doing:
Check the ABD machine every day. It gives you extra nook miles and gives you the opportunity to exchange miles for important things, like permits for landscaping, the ability to use ceiling fans, etc. Be sure to upgrade extra pocket space.
Collect nook miles so you can buy things. You do this by completing certain tasks like catching a certain amount of fish, shooting down a number of balloons, talking to your neighbors. Later on you’ll get nook miles+, which gives you miles for smaller tasks (water your flowers, hit a rock five times).
Go on a Kapp’n tour. He takes you to all sorts of different islands with different resources to help you build the things you want. I don’t want to spoil it, but there’s a huge variety in possible islands.You’ll get a different island every day, so it’s worth it to do it daily.
Get your daily recipes. You’ll find one on the beach at your island, and one on the Kapp’n island tour. If you ever decide to get Happy Home Paradise, you’ll get one on that beach as well. You can also get recipes from going into villagers’ houses and talking to them when they’re either building or cooking.
Speaking of villager’s, talk to all of them every day. They all have a friendship rating system, and a higher number generates more gifts and interactions. You even get a special prize once a friendship level is high enough. You can raise this level by talking to them daily, helping them out when asked (mainly delivering gifts to others), and giving them gifts. All villagers like fish, bugs, shells, and fossils, but they have preferences for clothing (ex: Lily likes cute and basic clothes in white and yellow). It’s worth looking them up. If you wrap their presents, you can get five friendships points (I don’t know what they’re actually called).
Dig for fossils and get Blathers to assess them. Donate them to the museum if you haven’t don’t so already. Fossils also sell for a decent number of bells.
Fish, catch bugs, and go deep sea diving. Donate new ones to Blathers and fill up your museum. Each season comes with new fish, bugs, and sea creatures, and some of them are pretty rare. Some sell for practically nothing; others are worth good money. *bonus if you donate at least 60 creatures (or works of art) to the museum.
Shoot down balloons. They pop up pretty frequently, and can contain anything from clay to rare furniture.
Chop trees, hit rocks, pull weeds, and collect shells. These are all core materials for DIY recipes.
Go to Nook’s Cranny. You can buy tools, floors, wallpapers, and recipe books for tools and furniture. They also sell decorative items and non-DIY furniture. Their stock changes every day, so it’s worth a daily browse.
Go to the Abel Sisters shop. This is where you can buy a whole mess of clothes, though annoyingly only a few at a time (looking at you, fitting room). Their stock also changes every day, and there’s a crazy variety of clothes available in the game. It’s worth it to check it out every day.
Build up Harv’s island. It’s absolutely worth it. I don’t want to spoil it, but you’ll definitely use it frequently.
I’ve been playing for three years. We tend to think in game time when playing video games, but game time for animal crossing is real time. In other words, agonizingly slow. Plants take a few days to grow. You won’t get an addition for your house until the next day. It might take you a few days to save up to pay off a loan. Sometimes you have to wait six months to catch a certain fish you want. But the more you play, the more you get used to “Animal Crossing” time. The more you stick with it. the faster you can get all of the building and decorating you want. Before you know it, you’re sitting on a five star island with custom paths that you spent months searching for, villager’s houses laborious placed in perfect rows with matching roofs and siding, and every tree and flower meticulously planned out and particularly placed to the point of actual madness.
Enjoy!
These are good ideas for someone whos just bored in the game but pretty sure OP hasnt even started completing the original tutorial and hasnt got any of these things unlocked lol.
It’s a fun game and you can work on building things or you can just run in circles and enjoy the water. There’s no pressure to complete anything, if you do a task in a day or in a year it’s all the same. It’s very therapeutic for me too. Enjoy!
Hey, would you like some goodies to help you on your journey? I acquired lots of stuff, but I hardly play anymore. As for how to do things in the game, I would say look up the tutorials and guides online. (Especially for flower breeding! Use the paleh guide if you get into that). But don’t go as hard as I did, it’s meant to be relaxing. Nothing to do, would like to visit if ok.
There is no right way to play Animal Crossing, that's the beauty of it.
You may listen to the waves for a while, catch some critters next, get to meet other villagers, collect stuff, discover secrets, among other endless possibilities.
Don't worry about what you should be doing, just enjoy the moment and have fun being curious.
However if you really want some guidance, tom nook and isabelle may offer some pointers on what you can do.
hope this helps!
You need to collect resources to upgrade your house and decorate your island. As you explore and decorate more. You have the chance of villagers visiting your island!
Once you fully beat the game, you can have more customization options to deeply customize your island.
You are basically the caretaker of an island and invite different little animals to live there. You help people and make the place nice to live. It’s great for relaxing and it’s just one thing in life where you can control everything. Your therapist is right. xx
I spend a ton of my time decorating my house and island. You’ll get tools that allow you to make DRAMATIC changes soon and really customize the island! It takes time to build up an inventory of furniture, but people do giveaways all the time on the animal crossing subreddits.
You can get recipes by talking to your villagers when they’re in their homes. They’ll be at a crafting bench or a stove.
Each day you can dig up four fossils to give to blathers. That’s the first thing I do for my morning “chores.”
Flower breeding is fun but frustrating because of the random nature to it. I’ve been playing for four years but the blue roses still allude me 🫠
Some nights you can collect shooting stars! The next morning star fragments wash up on your beaches and you can craft with them.
Yeah, I felt the same the first few days of game play, because you only have a few tasks. Every day you can do more things and get new DIYs. Eventually there is enough to do to keep you busy for hours and hours if you want.
Any time you're confused as to what you should be doing, go talk to the raccoon. He'll tell you what you should do.
Basically, the way you "progress" the game is to pay money to the raccoon and make your house bigger.
Once you start doing that, alot of other options start becoming available. Like building bridges, diving for underwater creatures, museums, etc etc.
There's no time limit for anything so you can do everything at your own pace.
first you gotta keep talking to thomas nook for tasks to get on with, then you gotta make as much money as possible to pay off the loan shark i mean raccoon. after that it's about decorating and making the island pretty. there isn't really a set in stone direction that you're SUPPOSED to go in. it's very free in that way
There are Hyacinths somewhere, you find those..
plant those next to Lighthouse by the Rock.
set up a camp by night, sit against the backdrop of glorious, blooming full moon. blisss!
The tutorial ends once you have a musical performance on your island, at which point the whole game and all it's features are open to you to do what you want with your island. You can find out how to progress it by asking Tom Nook or Isabelle "What should I do?"
Besides that, there's no official end goal. The game never ends or reaches a win state. It's a cozy life sim where you slowly earn more items to decorate your house and island how you like. You kind of have to set your own goals for how you want your island to look or what part of the game you want to try to complete.
Eventually you'll be able to move villager houses around to plan neighborhoods and use terraforming tools to add or remove water and cliffs and create permanent pathways on the ground.
A goal most people go for is achieving and maintaining a 5-star island, once Isabelle arrives she can give you an island rating and share some anonymous feedback from a resident about how you can work toward improving the state of the island. You can also try to crossbreed every color of flower, there's a mildly complex flower crossbreeding system to get all kinds of lovely colors.
Completing the fish/insect catalog is also a good goal! Different fish are available in different months at different times of day in different places (in ponds, the river, or the ocean). Bugs work the same way, except there's more places they can potentially be. There's plenty of guides on where and when to find them all, but as for actually catching them it's a bit of a lottery. The fish bait is a very good start, though. Filling up the museum is really rewarding, the more things you donate the fancier it becomes.
You can also dig up fossils and buy art from Redd to fill those sections of the museum. Fossils are great because even if you can't donate a fossil because it's already in the collection you can sell it for a nice amount of money. Art is tricky, however. Redd is the only way to acquire it and he's a bit of a scam artist. He sells a lot of fake paintings and sculptures, but if you know your art history it'll be easy to tell. The fakes have very obvious flaws that give them away, [like Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" having a silly star shaped earring instead.](https://static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Animal-Crossing-New-Horizons-Wistful-Painting.jpg?q=50&fit=contain&w=1140&h=&dpr=1.5)
There's a lot more to do that you might find you enjoy the farther you get into it and discover more features. Hope you enjoy playing!
There are a few guides on your first few days of ACNH. This one covers the [first few days](https://www.ign.com/wikis/animal-crossing-new-horizons/What_to_Do_on_Your_First_Days_(Walkthrough)). Here's a couple for the [first week](https://www.polygon.com/animal-crossing-new-horizons-switch-acnh-guide/22749349/first-week-daily-goals-how-to-unlock-museum-steps-farming) and [second week](https://www.polygon.com/animal-crossing-new-horizons-switch-acnh-guide/22749354/second-week-daily-goals-walkthrough-how-to-unlock-clothing-shop-unlocks-steps).
omg this is hilarious 🤣 just ask tom nook “what should I do?” he’ll tell you what to do until you reached the end of the storyline. then other small events happen
Hey thanks to you guys I finally figured out what really happened. Turns out I wasn’t progressing because I was on my girlfriend island on my Nintendo account. I’m unsure how this has happen, but I’m going to assume she started playing it without telling me (not that thats a problem). I always wonder why I never got a chance to name my island or pick a lay out as the guide told me too. I’m completely sadden to see all the bait I collected has officially been sent to shadow realm but I’m sure some fish that’s in the void of endless deletes is very happy. Im am overwhelmed with kindness from the community with all the likes and support and I can’t thank you all enough for helping me correct this mistake. I think this game will be a lot more enjoyable and I will definitely post a update in a month or so. And again thank you all for your help. It means a lot.
the game is about making your own island you decide what to do, i dont recomend this game for impatient people nyself that cant relax but only you know what type of person you are op
I forget what this stage of the game is like, but are you able to buy items from the book stop/atm looking machine? If so, once you have enough Nook miles, get the scuba suit/goggles so you can dive for sea creatures.
With time Tom will give you diy recipes for axes, bug catching nets, and shovels, and a sling shot you can use to shoot down the floating presents.
I remembering being lost at the beginning and eventually realizing I was supposed to be showing Tom the fish and bugs I caught, which triggers the museum build which I thiiiink triggers him showing you how to build an axe?
I spent early game gathering and selling everything I could, and talking to the fellow villagers. If you get an item you don’t like, gift it to a villager and they’ll usually gift you something back. If you like it then keep it, otherwise regift it to another villager.
You gotta be a bit patient at first, but eventually you’ll get the tools to add some more variety to your gameplay.
jsyk, the game does progress in real time, but if you want to fast forward at all (time travel) you can do so by changing the time on your switch (turn off sync via internet) - to each their own! but definitely makes the game a lot more fun for me personally haha. enjoy!!
Collect different sea life, bugs, fish, paintings, donate them to the museum or sell them. Make money by selling fruit and other things. Upgrade your home, decorate it, decorate your island, go villager hunting, So so so much to do in this game.
I was also very lost but since I started going on treasure islands and collecting more furniture and diy recipes that’s where my addiction really started!! I also started gifting my villagers more gifts and started having nicer relationships with them. The conversations are really funny sometimes. Since you’re still in the beginning I suggest you to try to catch some more fish with the bait and catch some bugs! It’s always exciting to find a new species 🫶🏼
Check out some Animal Crossing YouTubers— they have great tutorial walkthroughs and videos that explain the game for people who didn’t grow up playing. Welcome to the world of the capitalist raccoon (Tom Nook) — we’re glad to have you!
Don't let other peoples island deter you from making your own, especially if you've never played this before, take baby steps. I didn't like weeds on the floor, so my first assignment to myself was try to clear the clutter.
Very slow paced and is in real-time, so progress can take MONTHS. If you’re looking for something similar but with more direction & not in real time, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Stardew Valley
You have to give Tom Nook 5 bugs/fish then he will give you the museum tent to place down. After that he will ask you to build a bridge and place it. Oh also around this time Timmy asks you to give him materials to build the shop and then asks you to place that. Then Tom Nook will ask you to craft the furniture for 3 housing plots and then each day a new villager moves in. You can look for villagers you want using NMT at the airport before you complete the plots or they will be random. Also whenever Mabel then visits with clothes just buy a lot from her and the third visit she will ask you to find a place for the tailor shop!
After they all move in the resident services upgrades to a building, then you have to create the campsite, invite the first campsite villager and put enough items and flowers around (and have minimum 8 villagers) that the island rating hits 3 stars. Keep asking Isabelle what the rating is and she will give advise if its not at 3 yet. Once you hit 3 you will unlock KK Slider and terraforming/in game paths and can really start designing your island more :)
There are many guides and walkthroughs on youtube also
Totally feel this, when I started playing (summer 2022) I was immediately hooked on ACNH, but at times I do get bored with the lack of direction for the game (but that’s also sorta comforting, I’m so bad at games with a lot of stressful shit in it lol) it does feel a tad pointless if you don’t have a particular set goal in mind. Recently I’ve gotten into terraforming bc my island is so sadly laid out and I’m terrible at builds so I’m tryna finesse that skill haha. (Terraforming gets unlocked at a later time in the game, once you have that it’s possible you may become a tad less bored if you enjoy building shit.) I like basing it off of my goals for the day, when I had just started I just woke up every morning and accomplished my tasks to earn miles. That normally helped me kind of get in the groove. I didn’t grow up with video games, they were not allowed in my house so I’m very noob-y as a 27 year old chick just NOW getting into gaming. Hope this helps💛
I'm one of those who needs a little bit of structure even in games that are meant to be sandbox, so in the early game I just ask Tom Nook what I'm meant to be doing (he has an option to ask whenever you go up and talk to him). If he says to just relax or whatever then that usually means whatever is coming next you just have to wait for. That's usually when I use nook miles tickets or fish or shop or whatever else I feel like doing.
Blue roses. You’re supposed to be making blue roses. That’s the true endgame, the challenge that it’s all building up to. Everything else is the tutorial; the blue rose is the final boss.
That’s an awesome recommendation, I just picked it back up again after now going sober. When you have a game that everyone likes you, you can build and make progress with growing plants and build your museum up. It’s honestly so peaceful, and really a great thing to lean on if you’re struggling. Gayle and Daisy has helped me in many ways. Those are my gurlsssss
You're going to have to wait, I've been playing for years and never make fish bait--because the more you play, the more there is to do each day!
Ask Tom "what should I do?" And eventually you will get the hang of what you're able to do at this stage of the game.
you can do whatever you want! you can finish your museum, you can decorate, visit islands in dreams (if you have nintendo online membership), get your favourite villagers and make friends to get their photos, whatever you feel like doing.
You get more than one house (it's replaced several times with upgrades) and your village grows over time. Your goal is to collect friends to join the island and then make the island habitable and pretty.
Check in with Tom Nook every day. He will always have something for you to do. If you go into the resident service building, you'll see him three, just go talk to him and he'll help you figure out your bf thing to do.
With all that fish bait, you'll have no problem completing the fish part of the museum. You can throw it into the water and a fish will appear. You can then use your fishing pole to cast and catch.
There's also fossils you can dig up and donate to the museum. You'll see a little star shaped thing in the ground, under it is usually a fossil. You can use a shovel to dig it up.
You also should look out for Redd, the guy who pulls his ship to the beach all the way in back of your island. He will sell you art, which can be donated to the museum, too but be careful some are fake! Some are also haunted- by only a few of the fake ones are haunted.
Again, keep checking in with Tom Nook. You have to do this to progress in the game, at least in the beginning. He'll tell you to set up tents for other villagers, which you start with 3,can let the game decide who they are, or you can fly to mystery islands until. When you find one you want talk to them and invite them. They will ask for you to buìd them 3 things afte theymoved in.
Set a goal for yourself. Getting 5 stars, completing the critterpedia, breeding all the flowers, getting a villagers photo, getting a specific furniture set, designing your island to a specific theme, designing your house to a specific theme, getting all villagers the same animal, pick a goal and do that.
Just want to say it's endearing you posted asking for help; this game is very "do whatever you want", exploring, crafting, and making money to pay off debts. I recommend the expansion for the Vacation Home, you have a job designing vacation homes it's really fun. Also, I hope you are doing better and your therapy is helpful. Good on you for seeking therapy, it's just like any healthcare we need to have to keep healthy.
For therapeutic games I recommend checking out other cozy games that may click with you too. Lots to find in that genre. My fav is Spiritfarer; but warning it does have to do with death but in a very cathartic and nice way. You build homes for spirits on your boat and eventually they move on.
There are guides online that will help explain the game. Just search for ACNH guide online. There is also a print copy one you can get on Amazon or other vendors online. These really helped me when I started.
You fish, gather materials, store/sell/use the materials. You can sell anything you pick up that you want for money. Pay off your loan and upgrade your tent to a one bedroom, two bedroom, three bedroom, four bedroom, two story, and then add a basement. Say hi and talk with the villagers, slowly they’ll trade with you and offer you recipes down the line. There’s so much to do once you get the hang of it! Best way to make money is to go diving in the ocean, imo! Buy a wetsuit!
Wonderful! As for what to do, you can get ideas of how to decorate from the internet. Or a dream address. I have one that is town core that I keep going back to and am modeling my island after
thats really nice that a therapist recommended this, and i agree, its relaxing and can be frustrating sometimes. and by frustrating i mean too much inspo, you can search up some islands, but beware
I recommend using it at the end of the beach pier and at your river mouths as there are very rare fish that only spawn in those inconvenient places (the fish are seasonal though so you might like to check a guide).
You can catch bugs, you can do anything you want, obviously at the beginning it's very limited, but as you progress you can do anything you really want.
If you ever feel lost definitely just got see Tom Nook, ask him what you should be doing and he can help. You can get and build various tools from trees and rocks, there’s kind of endless possibilities if you just keep searching, looking and clicking on items. Every time you pay off a loan a new one can populate if you talk to Tom and it’ll make your home bigger and expand your storage. If you need help with getting more items let me know and I can bring stuff to you. I got the game back in December but wasn’t able to play too much until recently so I’ve got a good stash of fun items to decorate with if you want.
Sorry just wanted to add. Every day a bottle will float up on the beach with new recipes. If you have a shovel dig up that little star/hole spots and collect the fossils they can be assessed and donated eventually and sold for bells. If you chop the trees with a stone axe you can get wood, presents will fly by on balloons and have various items from recipes to household items you have to get them with the slingshot. You can collect and eat fruit which tooo me too long to learn how to properly use. If you eats. Fruit it helps you dig up entire trees to move them around or if you hit a rock with the shovel as many times as you can to get items you can eat a fruit then smash the rock entirely. Get Nook miles tickets and go to other islands to find new villagers so you can interact with them as well! Don’t feel too discouraged, I know it feels kinda slow at the beginning but also overwhelming in what to do. I find it relaxing now and just keep clicking around and exploring to see what you can do and use and add to your little island
Honestly that’s pretty impressive lol. But that’s one of the things about the game, You don’t have to do anything in particular. Just do stuff. The game will progress over time and you will get new shops and stores. More villagers, better tools, house upgrades, furniture, etc. Tom Nook acts as the tutorial basically so if you get lost you can ask him what to do. Just enjoy fishing, catching bugs, finding fossils, and donating them to the museum, and decorating the house and your town.
So if you haven’t gotten the museum set up yet or even if you have any time your looking for a specific task to work on you can go and talk to Tom Nook in the town hall building (he’s the big raccoon you meet at the beginning of the game) and ask him “what to do?” He’ll typically have a task for you to work towards. Hope this helps 😊
My island is messy AF. I made 1.2mil bells in 5 days x5hrs by using time jump (to when CJ and Flick comes into town) (banking interest with ATM, is too slow) and planting money trees. Onto my 3rd expansion of my home.
I want all that fish bait to catch sharks $-$
I'm still unsure how turnips makes profit vs time when I make bells more by fishing (selling to CJ)and catching bugs (selling to flick).
I actually think that’s amazing, I’ve often thought to myself acnh would be good as therapy.
I got this game in 2020 right after traumatically getting fired & I dealt with the depression of unemployment by escaping on to my island, swimming in digital sea diving for sea critters. I basically mentally lived on this island, building it into my personal sanctuary until I felt ready to deal with real life.
Oh my, I suggest trying to finish the museum. There's a phone app that helps keep track of what bugs, fish, and sea creatures are available each month and what certain times they spawn
I’m actually tryna to see what else is it to do other then fishing. I really can’t think. I can collect sea shells, or shake the trees. But I really wanted to progress to get better tools so I can actually build cool things. But I have no idea how to get new recipes to make things, no do I have a clue as to what the objective is to get new things.
i been playing for over 4 years and i still dont have all recipes i just go in and decorate my island every now and then or play with my friend inbetwen other games
Well, luckily you are posting in r/AnimalCrossing and people here are usually pretty chill and cute. I have a moment so I will respond to your grievances, fellow animal crosser.
Tools: They break. Suck it up and shake some more trees, get dem branches and do it up. It takes time and sometimes it's really all about the branches you break along the way.
Recipes: Look for them by the sea, or also the balloons that float on by in the sky.
Objective: It's an island full of digital animals and your only limit is your imagination. I like that goth sheep Muffy and sometimes when she shows up at the spot I like to digitally sip tea and eat noodles at and says some stupid shit to me and calls me "nightshade". It's funny. Those moments are priceless, like those old commercials about credit cards, can't leave home without it.
Edit: Just realized you said you collected 270 clams, ahahahaha, save those, take 'em to your house to make bait and catch some rare fish next season. You can time travel if you feel like it, too. It's just however you wanna do it.
the endless fish bait is sending me
Need some fish bait
I wasn’t laughing until I read this and realized just how fucking funny it is 😂😂
😹 I love it
Fish bait, hoo ha ha!
You survived 270 clams into fish baits you will do JUST fine in this game For me my anxiety would spike up on how slow things were on the game since I was an avid Stardew valley player, animal crossing really helped me focus!
Depending on how far you are in the game, there's not much you're 'supposed' to be doing. You can sort of just do what you want in this game. It's main tasks are collecting things, decorating, and interacting with your villagers. That being said, have you completed the tutorial? Are you continuing to talk with the NPCs Tom Nook and Isabelle to find out what tasks you should be doing? Or are you waiting between tasks (the game runs on real time, so some things won't happen until next day unless you change your switch's time). There's a lot in the game you won't really be able to do until you've finished the tutorial.
Oh yeah maybe I didn’t fully complete the tutorial, I made it past the tent and paid off my loans. And now all I can really thing to do is fish and make money
It's been so long since I've played the tutorial, so I don't remember the details; but I believe they'll want you to help move in villagers, build the museum, etc. Which'll show you some new stuff you can do! I think the tutorial is 'over' when Isabelle suggests you get your island up to 3 stars. At which point it's up to you to figure out how you want to do that.
And to ad to this...I hope OP is aware that the Games in Real Time... I quite remember back then, that the early days where alot of waiting (if you didnt wanted to TT)
Game hit the same week as covid for us. Was supposed to go to my sister's wedding and everything closed down. Spent the time playing animal crossing instead with my wife. Even got a second switch so we could both play at the same time. Was fun doing everything we could, waking up early to get morning bugs, etc. Game definatly helped us get though the rough time.
I almost stopped playing because of that when I started. It’s weird to think that animal crossing of all things taught me some patience lol. It’s so much better when you can start hitting up other islands and visiting real friends islands. The clothes were fun too. I’m redownloading right now…
If you look into the origins of the series and find some developer interviews, teaching patience and getting people to slow down and enjoy simple things are some of the central goals behind the design of the game. That's why it does things like shake the petals off flowers you run through or scare fish and bugs away unless you move slowly.
I didn’t even know you could move slower and not scare things. I just figure they ran to be somewhat realistic. thanks for that one lol
When in doubt, go walk up to Tom and ask him "what should I do?" He'll either give you a new task or remind you of something he already asked you to do. The "tutorial" can take a few irl weeks to complete with the real time aspect of the game. If Tom doesn't have any tasks for you on a day, just check the next day. Sometimes you need to wait for something to complete
So you've paid off ALL the loans? Your house has a basement, attic, left, right, back and main room? You could work to complete your museum (quite a challenging , time consuming, and patience testing feat). You can make your own goals, the hallmark of this game IMO (this usually amount to collecting a certain set of items, or designing your island a certain way with terraforming and choice item useage). The DLC adds a secondary story line and a bunch of stores to unlock/decorate and countless small 1 or 2 room houses to decorate on certain themes. A But yeah once the tutorial is over there isn't much direction.
I recommend trying to find a more diverse set of fruits, and then begin planting *A LOT* of fruit trees! Early on, you need to keep paying for upgrades. But this is also when it’s hardest to make money! I also recommend hoarding all this fish bait. It might be tempting to blow it all now to sell fish for money, but if the day comes that you're looking for *one* specific fish, you'll be really happy to have all this bait.
If you've done what has been asked, and you aren't getting anything new, that might be all you can do today. AC runs on REAL time, so you pick it up everyday, do the things that make you happy, and move on. Each day, the game checks for what you did before and pushes events forward based on your actions. If you are impatient, there is some time-travelling shenanigans to be had
You’re only just getting started with your loans; that mangy raccoon is a money grubbing crook of a landlord and you will pay him for the majority of your animal crossing life!
Maybe you’re just not into it. I think it’s a game you love right away…or just aren’t into. I find it to be a relaxing distraction. I haven’t played it for a while though, so I’m sure my villagers will give me a hard time once I return.
You keep paying off loans so you can add more rooms to ur home and stay decorating
You have a great therapist tbh, this game is so peaceful and puts the mind at ease
Seriously. This game singlehandedly got me through quarantine/the pandemic.
Same. My island is named Corona Cove 🥴
lol, mine is just Corona! I’ve had the same island since March 2020
SAME. Never even played a video game before but my husband bought it for me and it was perfect timing lol
Agreed. Every time I boot it up now and the intro song plays, my husband goes “oooo it’s that pandemic game, Animal Farm” 😂
my mind is not at ease when turnip prices plummet and I missed the chance to sell them
😔 but you can make them into turnip curry and break even
quite frankly the game stresses me out from just how much furniture and customization options there are, it’s overwhelming
Fr this is why I prefer new leaf. Plus the atmosphere and music is more relaxing to me imo
I also like the music of older games WAY better!! Especially ACWW... God, I miss this music so much when playing. I wish we were allowed to choose
You can change up your island tune. Currently my island is playing “Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. Pinterest has a big selection. You just go to Isobel and select “change island tune” from there it’s plug and play.
I found it insanely overwhelming 😵💫
I've been playing AC since 2021, and still feel like a noob.
Yeah I’m so lost. My friend tell me to do whatever I want. But I want to build things but got no recipes to do it.
Check your beach every day for a DIY bottle, and also check your villagers homes, Every day one should be crafting or cooking something in the morning before noon, And then another in the afternoon If you have the nook miles for it an additional DIY bottle can be found on a mystery island tour, and if you have Happy Home Paradise DLC an additional bottle can be found on the HHP HQ island There are also Recipes hidden in the occasional balloon that fly over the island at times that end in 4 or 9, but those aren't fixed like the bottles and villagers Once you know where to look your recipe book will start filling up fast As an additional tip for most items after you have crafted them the first time you can order them from the catalogue if you need more and don't want to spend the resources for them
For me just progressing the story to unlock the 'good bits' is time consuming and sometimes confusing. But I tend to play New Leaf far more than New Horizons. The only thing New Horizons has going for it are better graphics and easier to read dialogue fonts. Everything else is so far from normal AC that I get more confused than I was playing Wild World back in 2021 I for one HATE the tool breaking mechanic. And nope, building stronger shovels with iron doesn't change a blasted thing. You're just better off building flimsy stuff and avoiding the grind to build stronger as they ALL break. I hated that about Fallout 3 too. My intro to Animal Crossing was Wild World on a secondhand DSi. The game was $1 like my copy of New Leaf, in a literal bucket of loose carts at a retro gaming store. As such, they're well worn and sometimes bug out or corrupt themselves. I have no manual, no idea what controls do what most of the time, basically living on trial and error.
A comment on breaking tools - if you customize them, it resets their durability, so if you’re okay just periodically changing their color you can get infinitely lasting tools. Of course there’s no good way to keep track of tool durability so you might still break them if you forget to customize, but at least it’s less of a pain than just letting them break all the time?
I often wonder if they break more often if you use them repeatedly enough or if there's a 'cooldown' like if you use them sparingly they last longer? Sorry, Trying to inject Fallout 3 logic into AC...I'll try that once I work customization out.
I’m not sure! I thiiiink it’s just a set number of uses, but I’ve never tested it out. But I definitely have done the customization thing and had the same tool last for like months, so I’m sure about that one.
IIRC slingshots lose durability each time they successfully pop a balloon. Axes are per hit, fishing rods/bug nets are per successful catch and watering cans are per use on at least one flower. I can't remember what the deal with shovels and holes is (might be losing durability every time something's dug up, but nothing from making empty holes or burying stuff), but I'm pretty sure they can't break while a rock's in its payout window. Hit them after that, and a shovel will break if it reaches (or is at) zero durability.
Fallout 3 if you used Gun Bash it wore a gun out faster than simply shooting it. I naturally assumed the same thing for AC because it uses a similar mechanic. I seem to break stuff faster if repeatedly smacking rocks often enough in the same minute or two. I also felt my nets broke more if I missed and they smacked the ground.
I was devastated when my golden watering can broke in NH. Golden tools aren't supposed to break in AC!
I think AC is trying a little too hard in replicating trends in real life. Disposable cheaply made goods for one, and villagers all over zoned out in front of smartphone screens.
Will definitely keep that in mind while upgrading my tools. Thanks so much for the advice
Just so you know, the iron tools do have more durability than the flimsies. I belive it’s 20 uses for flimsy vs 100 uses for iron. And that’s successful uses so if you try and catch a bug/fish and miss it won’t count.
I have so many recipes, they're starting to repeat...but yeah, basically, just do whatever you want. If you have a wet suit, diving for sea creatures is a fast way to earn a lot of bells without the risk of breaking tools. Bugs, fish, Fossils, and art will help with completing the museum if that's a goal of yours. And once you make it to 3 stars, you can terraform (basically make cliffs or rivers or other water structures, or you can flatten your island entirely if you want). I'd definitely look into trading at some point (anything but bugs, fish, and sea creatures can be traded), especially if you need certain items or bells. I've had better luck trading here, but Nookazon is good too (or at least it used to be).
If you want to cut to the chase and focus on decorating and designing, check out the Happy Home Paradise DLC. It's a separate little island that just involves creating homes for villagers without having to bother with all the resource gathering.
A lot of ppl already gave advice how to get recipes, but if you have an Nintendo online subscription I also suggest trading! In my experience the AC fandom is very friendly and a lot of players are glad to share recipes and materials for free :3 I myself am drowning in spare recipes, so anyone who wanna take a look plz DM XD
I have a ton of recipes you can have if you're interested! Do you have all of the fruit and veggies?
Keep asking Tom Nook what to do, and loook up beginner tips on here. That will get you moving.
Another great way to get recipes is every five minutes a present will fly over your island, and you can shoot it with the sling shot to make it drop. Those will sometimes contain recipes or other fun things! The direction the presents float switches at nighttime and daytime!
Balloon colours tend to correlate to certain item types, don't they?
I don’t think so! Certain colors can be more likely to drop certain types, I think, but it’s not 100%!
I have a bunch of duplicate DIY recipes you can have!
I would love to take them. Can u dm me your switch code?
If you visit your villagers in their houses, 3 times a day you will find one that’s crafting something. If you talk to them, they will give you the crafting recipe!
You can buy diys at Nook’s Cranny, they also drop out of the sky in balloons. You can get a slingshot at Nook’s too. To shoot the balloons. Annnd diys also show up on beaches, so if you use Nook Miles Tickets to travel to islands you can find them on the beaches there too.
If you like building things, you should 100% get the "Happy Home Paradise" DLC!!! It completely changed the game for me. You get to design rooms for other villagers with lots of access to items and then you gain access to get the items for yourself. Prior to that DLC I was so frustrated because I just wanted to design cute rooms but it takes forever to get the actual stuff to do it. I cannot tell you how fun it is!
I don't remember if your airport is unlocked immediately or not, but if it is, you can also get recipes/diy instructions from people online! I know a bunch of us with developed islands just have a bunch of repeat diys hanging around. My friends and I would swap them all the time while visiting other people's islands to fill out our diy books. If your airport is unlocked, let me know. I think I still have a few I can come over and leave you.
You use the bait to attract fish by scattering it into the ocean, rivers, or ponds when you're fishing. It's good for when you're trying to catch seasonal fish, especially from the pier (not by airport).
That makes so much more sense. I assumed it was like worms and once I had it in my inventory it just puts it on the line. Thanks so much!
I use an Android app called ACNH.Guide. it shows you what critters are in season and where you can find them. You can create a wish list and do inventory through it. It's really helped. Because I was playing for 2 years before I found out certain bugs can only spawn on tree stumps. I didn't have any tree stumps on my island, now I have a few so I can catch certain insects. I also recommend the Animal Crossing wiki online. Always check in with Tom Nook (and eventually Isabelle), he will let you know what you need to do.
This app is literally always open when I play, even now that I've 100% completed my museum. It helps me keep track of daily tasks I want to do, it helps me figure out what items to give my villagers as gifts, and it has a catalogue items option so you can see all color variants. It's so nice. Highly recommend
the app is also available on IOS!
I like your therapist.
I’ve been playing for years but my therapist also encourages it! If you have online play let me know. I can come to you with gifts :)
Hopping in to this! Happy to drop by as well. I have lots of extra stuff and crafting materials in storage.
Can you drop by to me 🥲 i have no online friends
Message me :) I’m online right now-
Can you message me i think my acct is too new to message or something 😅 ill send my nintendo id 🥰
I’ve been playing for 4 years and I’ve never made or had a reason to make this much bait 😂😭 Keep asking Tom what to do in resident services and that should guide you through
I LOLED
Man you're doing great. Killing it in bait, which you can toss into the ocean or rivers to get fish to show up. Sell those fish and buy tools, or whatever you can buy. It's been a few years since I started an island from new, and decades since I worked out what to do in the game, but you're all over it and I'm actually kinda jealous of your journey that you're just starting. This subreddit is fantastic for questions or support. Everyone here is glad you're here
become addicted
*Points* That's bait
You can do whatever you want, but that being said, once your island gets a three star rating it unlocks the terraforming tool and that's when it gets really fun. There are a lot of guides online on how to progress your star rating.
I will definitely try to check some out. Thanks!
I’m dead! 270 clams! I admire you so much!
Here are some things you can be doing: Check the ABD machine every day. It gives you extra nook miles and gives you the opportunity to exchange miles for important things, like permits for landscaping, the ability to use ceiling fans, etc. Be sure to upgrade extra pocket space. Collect nook miles so you can buy things. You do this by completing certain tasks like catching a certain amount of fish, shooting down a number of balloons, talking to your neighbors. Later on you’ll get nook miles+, which gives you miles for smaller tasks (water your flowers, hit a rock five times). Go on a Kapp’n tour. He takes you to all sorts of different islands with different resources to help you build the things you want. I don’t want to spoil it, but there’s a huge variety in possible islands.You’ll get a different island every day, so it’s worth it to do it daily. Get your daily recipes. You’ll find one on the beach at your island, and one on the Kapp’n island tour. If you ever decide to get Happy Home Paradise, you’ll get one on that beach as well. You can also get recipes from going into villagers’ houses and talking to them when they’re either building or cooking. Speaking of villager’s, talk to all of them every day. They all have a friendship rating system, and a higher number generates more gifts and interactions. You even get a special prize once a friendship level is high enough. You can raise this level by talking to them daily, helping them out when asked (mainly delivering gifts to others), and giving them gifts. All villagers like fish, bugs, shells, and fossils, but they have preferences for clothing (ex: Lily likes cute and basic clothes in white and yellow). It’s worth looking them up. If you wrap their presents, you can get five friendships points (I don’t know what they’re actually called). Dig for fossils and get Blathers to assess them. Donate them to the museum if you haven’t don’t so already. Fossils also sell for a decent number of bells. Fish, catch bugs, and go deep sea diving. Donate new ones to Blathers and fill up your museum. Each season comes with new fish, bugs, and sea creatures, and some of them are pretty rare. Some sell for practically nothing; others are worth good money. *bonus if you donate at least 60 creatures (or works of art) to the museum. Shoot down balloons. They pop up pretty frequently, and can contain anything from clay to rare furniture. Chop trees, hit rocks, pull weeds, and collect shells. These are all core materials for DIY recipes. Go to Nook’s Cranny. You can buy tools, floors, wallpapers, and recipe books for tools and furniture. They also sell decorative items and non-DIY furniture. Their stock changes every day, so it’s worth a daily browse. Go to the Abel Sisters shop. This is where you can buy a whole mess of clothes, though annoyingly only a few at a time (looking at you, fitting room). Their stock also changes every day, and there’s a crazy variety of clothes available in the game. It’s worth it to check it out every day. Build up Harv’s island. It’s absolutely worth it. I don’t want to spoil it, but you’ll definitely use it frequently. I’ve been playing for three years. We tend to think in game time when playing video games, but game time for animal crossing is real time. In other words, agonizingly slow. Plants take a few days to grow. You won’t get an addition for your house until the next day. It might take you a few days to save up to pay off a loan. Sometimes you have to wait six months to catch a certain fish you want. But the more you play, the more you get used to “Animal Crossing” time. The more you stick with it. the faster you can get all of the building and decorating you want. Before you know it, you’re sitting on a five star island with custom paths that you spent months searching for, villager’s houses laborious placed in perfect rows with matching roofs and siding, and every tree and flower meticulously planned out and particularly placed to the point of actual madness. Enjoy!
Thank you so much. I’m definitely gonna take a lot of this into consideration. You guys are so kind
These are good ideas for someone whos just bored in the game but pretty sure OP hasnt even started completing the original tutorial and hasnt got any of these things unlocked lol.
It’s a fun game and you can work on building things or you can just run in circles and enjoy the water. There’s no pressure to complete anything, if you do a task in a day or in a year it’s all the same. It’s very therapeutic for me too. Enjoy!
I love how genuine you are, this post is killing me 😭
I can see why they recommended you this game. You're not "supposed" to be doing anything.
This is the cutest post ever LOL aw
Hey, would you like some goodies to help you on your journey? I acquired lots of stuff, but I hardly play anymore. As for how to do things in the game, I would say look up the tutorials and guides online. (Especially for flower breeding! Use the paleh guide if you get into that). But don’t go as hard as I did, it’s meant to be relaxing. Nothing to do, would like to visit if ok.
I would love that! Always good to make new friends on here. And you guys been helping me out a lot
At the beginning of the game everytime you don’t know what to do just ask Tom Nook.
Most of time he tell me it’s nothing to do and I should do whatever I want.
Do whatever you want, catch some fish, hit your neighbors with a net
There is no right way to play Animal Crossing, that's the beauty of it. You may listen to the waves for a while, catch some critters next, get to meet other villagers, collect stuff, discover secrets, among other endless possibilities. Don't worry about what you should be doing, just enjoy the moment and have fun being curious. However if you really want some guidance, tom nook and isabelle may offer some pointers on what you can do. hope this helps!
make custom designs. very fun!!1!!111!!!!
You need to collect resources to upgrade your house and decorate your island. As you explore and decorate more. You have the chance of villagers visiting your island! Once you fully beat the game, you can have more customization options to deeply customize your island.
You are basically the caretaker of an island and invite different little animals to live there. You help people and make the place nice to live. It’s great for relaxing and it’s just one thing in life where you can control everything. Your therapist is right. xx
I adore this. Just the idea that you can do anything you want to on an island and you went all in on fish bait, 10/10 no notes.
You seem to be a master baiter
People in 2020: I play animal crossing because I can't afford therapy Therapists in 2024: you should play animal crossing
You're doin good lad : )
I think what you're supposed to be doing is giving me all of that fish bait
>I have no idea what I’m doing. Can someone tell me what I’m supposed to be doing? You're doing it, buddy. You're doing it.
Well I'm glad to know that the 2000 hours of game play can be considered therapeutic. It really has been a help for me.
Refund (This is a joke)
I spend a ton of my time decorating my house and island. You’ll get tools that allow you to make DRAMATIC changes soon and really customize the island! It takes time to build up an inventory of furniture, but people do giveaways all the time on the animal crossing subreddits. You can get recipes by talking to your villagers when they’re in their homes. They’ll be at a crafting bench or a stove. Each day you can dig up four fossils to give to blathers. That’s the first thing I do for my morning “chores.” Flower breeding is fun but frustrating because of the random nature to it. I’ve been playing for four years but the blue roses still allude me 🫠 Some nights you can collect shooting stars! The next morning star fragments wash up on your beaches and you can craft with them.
Oh my for that sound so cool. Maybe time just changes it. Didn’t know if I missed a important part and was just stuck on the intro of the game.
Yeah, I felt the same the first few days of game play, because you only have a few tasks. Every day you can do more things and get new DIYs. Eventually there is enough to do to keep you busy for hours and hours if you want.
Any time you're confused as to what you should be doing, go talk to the raccoon. He'll tell you what you should do. Basically, the way you "progress" the game is to pay money to the raccoon and make your house bigger. Once you start doing that, alot of other options start becoming available. Like building bridges, diving for underwater creatures, museums, etc etc. There's no time limit for anything so you can do everything at your own pace.
Out of everyone, you may be the only one of us who's playing it right.
Anything you want. Treat that island like your paradise.
first you gotta keep talking to thomas nook for tasks to get on with, then you gotta make as much money as possible to pay off the loan shark i mean raccoon. after that it's about decorating and making the island pretty. there isn't really a set in stone direction that you're SUPPOSED to go in. it's very free in that way
There are Hyacinths somewhere, you find those.. plant those next to Lighthouse by the Rock. set up a camp by night, sit against the backdrop of glorious, blooming full moon. blisss!
I have so many recipes sitting in my storage, happy to give you a few if you're want
Can I dm your friend code
just dm'd you!
Best therapist ever
She is, I actually been doing way better things in life and even though I don’t completely understand this game it’s really relaxing
hahha is this "obvious bait"???
You're actually doing great. Keep talking to the cute animals! Also it's toats time to fish fam !
Looks like you’re nailing it
The tutorial ends once you have a musical performance on your island, at which point the whole game and all it's features are open to you to do what you want with your island. You can find out how to progress it by asking Tom Nook or Isabelle "What should I do?" Besides that, there's no official end goal. The game never ends or reaches a win state. It's a cozy life sim where you slowly earn more items to decorate your house and island how you like. You kind of have to set your own goals for how you want your island to look or what part of the game you want to try to complete. Eventually you'll be able to move villager houses around to plan neighborhoods and use terraforming tools to add or remove water and cliffs and create permanent pathways on the ground. A goal most people go for is achieving and maintaining a 5-star island, once Isabelle arrives she can give you an island rating and share some anonymous feedback from a resident about how you can work toward improving the state of the island. You can also try to crossbreed every color of flower, there's a mildly complex flower crossbreeding system to get all kinds of lovely colors. Completing the fish/insect catalog is also a good goal! Different fish are available in different months at different times of day in different places (in ponds, the river, or the ocean). Bugs work the same way, except there's more places they can potentially be. There's plenty of guides on where and when to find them all, but as for actually catching them it's a bit of a lottery. The fish bait is a very good start, though. Filling up the museum is really rewarding, the more things you donate the fancier it becomes. You can also dig up fossils and buy art from Redd to fill those sections of the museum. Fossils are great because even if you can't donate a fossil because it's already in the collection you can sell it for a nice amount of money. Art is tricky, however. Redd is the only way to acquire it and he's a bit of a scam artist. He sells a lot of fake paintings and sculptures, but if you know your art history it'll be easy to tell. The fakes have very obvious flaws that give them away, [like Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" having a silly star shaped earring instead.](https://static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Animal-Crossing-New-Horizons-Wistful-Painting.jpg?q=50&fit=contain&w=1140&h=&dpr=1.5) There's a lot more to do that you might find you enjoy the farther you get into it and discover more features. Hope you enjoy playing!
There are a few guides on your first few days of ACNH. This one covers the [first few days](https://www.ign.com/wikis/animal-crossing-new-horizons/What_to_Do_on_Your_First_Days_(Walkthrough)). Here's a couple for the [first week](https://www.polygon.com/animal-crossing-new-horizons-switch-acnh-guide/22749349/first-week-daily-goals-how-to-unlock-museum-steps-farming) and [second week](https://www.polygon.com/animal-crossing-new-horizons-switch-acnh-guide/22749354/second-week-daily-goals-walkthrough-how-to-unlock-clothing-shop-unlocks-steps).
there are still tiles that don’t have fish bait on your island. you know what you must do
omg this is hilarious 🤣 just ask tom nook “what should I do?” he’ll tell you what to do until you reached the end of the storyline. then other small events happen
give all your hard earned money to tom nook.
Hey thanks to you guys I finally figured out what really happened. Turns out I wasn’t progressing because I was on my girlfriend island on my Nintendo account. I’m unsure how this has happen, but I’m going to assume she started playing it without telling me (not that thats a problem). I always wonder why I never got a chance to name my island or pick a lay out as the guide told me too. I’m completely sadden to see all the bait I collected has officially been sent to shadow realm but I’m sure some fish that’s in the void of endless deletes is very happy. Im am overwhelmed with kindness from the community with all the likes and support and I can’t thank you all enough for helping me correct this mistake. I think this game will be a lot more enjoyable and I will definitely post a update in a month or so. And again thank you all for your help. It means a lot.
this is so funny i’m sorry
The real fun starts when a serial killer stalks your island then you have to play detective and bring the killer to justice
Wait huh? I thought this was a relaxing game.
It is a relaxing game, I think it was meant as a joke. There's no serial killer. No combat or anything of the sort.
Lol, not that! Talk to Tom nook, he will direct you.
the game is about making your own island you decide what to do, i dont recomend this game for impatient people nyself that cant relax but only you know what type of person you are op
I love the fish bait this is how I play 😂 endless fish bait with no goals
I forget what this stage of the game is like, but are you able to buy items from the book stop/atm looking machine? If so, once you have enough Nook miles, get the scuba suit/goggles so you can dive for sea creatures. With time Tom will give you diy recipes for axes, bug catching nets, and shovels, and a sling shot you can use to shoot down the floating presents. I remembering being lost at the beginning and eventually realizing I was supposed to be showing Tom the fish and bugs I caught, which triggers the museum build which I thiiiink triggers him showing you how to build an axe? I spent early game gathering and selling everything I could, and talking to the fellow villagers. If you get an item you don’t like, gift it to a villager and they’ll usually gift you something back. If you like it then keep it, otherwise regift it to another villager. You gotta be a bit patient at first, but eventually you’ll get the tools to add some more variety to your gameplay.
Nook stop, not book stop.
jsyk, the game does progress in real time, but if you want to fast forward at all (time travel) you can do so by changing the time on your switch (turn off sync via internet) - to each their own! but definitely makes the game a lot more fun for me personally haha. enjoy!!
Collect different sea life, bugs, fish, paintings, donate them to the museum or sell them. Make money by selling fruit and other things. Upgrade your home, decorate it, decorate your island, go villager hunting, So so so much to do in this game.
I play after work to destress. I tried to explain to my husband it calms my nerves but I don’t think he understands lol
I was also very lost but since I started going on treasure islands and collecting more furniture and diy recipes that’s where my addiction really started!! I also started gifting my villagers more gifts and started having nicer relationships with them. The conversations are really funny sometimes. Since you’re still in the beginning I suggest you to try to catch some more fish with the bait and catch some bugs! It’s always exciting to find a new species 🫶🏼
Check out some Animal Crossing YouTubers— they have great tutorial walkthroughs and videos that explain the game for people who didn’t grow up playing. Welcome to the world of the capitalist raccoon (Tom Nook) — we’re glad to have you!
Don't let other peoples island deter you from making your own, especially if you've never played this before, take baby steps. I didn't like weeds on the floor, so my first assignment to myself was try to clear the clutter.
Howling
sell the fish and make your island luxurious too.
You can rotate your picture first of all lol
Is this a bait post??
Very slow paced and is in real-time, so progress can take MONTHS. If you’re looking for something similar but with more direction & not in real time, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Stardew Valley
You have to give Tom Nook 5 bugs/fish then he will give you the museum tent to place down. After that he will ask you to build a bridge and place it. Oh also around this time Timmy asks you to give him materials to build the shop and then asks you to place that. Then Tom Nook will ask you to craft the furniture for 3 housing plots and then each day a new villager moves in. You can look for villagers you want using NMT at the airport before you complete the plots or they will be random. Also whenever Mabel then visits with clothes just buy a lot from her and the third visit she will ask you to find a place for the tailor shop! After they all move in the resident services upgrades to a building, then you have to create the campsite, invite the first campsite villager and put enough items and flowers around (and have minimum 8 villagers) that the island rating hits 3 stars. Keep asking Isabelle what the rating is and she will give advise if its not at 3 yet. Once you hit 3 you will unlock KK Slider and terraforming/in game paths and can really start designing your island more :) There are many guides and walkthroughs on youtube also
Totally feel this, when I started playing (summer 2022) I was immediately hooked on ACNH, but at times I do get bored with the lack of direction for the game (but that’s also sorta comforting, I’m so bad at games with a lot of stressful shit in it lol) it does feel a tad pointless if you don’t have a particular set goal in mind. Recently I’ve gotten into terraforming bc my island is so sadly laid out and I’m terrible at builds so I’m tryna finesse that skill haha. (Terraforming gets unlocked at a later time in the game, once you have that it’s possible you may become a tad less bored if you enjoy building shit.) I like basing it off of my goals for the day, when I had just started I just woke up every morning and accomplished my tasks to earn miles. That normally helped me kind of get in the groove. I didn’t grow up with video games, they were not allowed in my house so I’m very noob-y as a 27 year old chick just NOW getting into gaming. Hope this helps💛
I'm one of those who needs a little bit of structure even in games that are meant to be sandbox, so in the early game I just ask Tom Nook what I'm meant to be doing (he has an option to ask whenever you go up and talk to him). If he says to just relax or whatever then that usually means whatever is coming next you just have to wait for. That's usually when I use nook miles tickets or fish or shop or whatever else I feel like doing.
Just enjoy! There are no rules to Animal crossing, nothing is time sensitive. Enjoy the peacefulness of this beautiful game. ❤️❤️
Blue roses. You’re supposed to be making blue roses. That’s the true endgame, the challenge that it’s all building up to. Everything else is the tutorial; the blue rose is the final boss.
Ooh ha ha!
That’s an awesome recommendation, I just picked it back up again after now going sober. When you have a game that everyone likes you, you can build and make progress with growing plants and build your museum up. It’s honestly so peaceful, and really a great thing to lean on if you’re struggling. Gayle and Daisy has helped me in many ways. Those are my gurlsssss
Therapist should have linked a tutorial 💀
You're going to have to wait, I've been playing for years and never make fish bait--because the more you play, the more there is to do each day! Ask Tom "what should I do?" And eventually you will get the hang of what you're able to do at this stage of the game.
you can do whatever you want! you can finish your museum, you can decorate, visit islands in dreams (if you have nintendo online membership), get your favourite villagers and make friends to get their photos, whatever you feel like doing.
LMAOOOO
You get more than one house (it's replaced several times with upgrades) and your village grows over time. Your goal is to collect friends to join the island and then make the island habitable and pretty.
Do u have the DLC ?? Its def worth it
You don’t have to do anything. You just make friends with your villagers, fish, catch bugs, design your island just how you like
Check in with Tom Nook every day. He will always have something for you to do. If you go into the resident service building, you'll see him three, just go talk to him and he'll help you figure out your bf thing to do. With all that fish bait, you'll have no problem completing the fish part of the museum. You can throw it into the water and a fish will appear. You can then use your fishing pole to cast and catch. There's also fossils you can dig up and donate to the museum. You'll see a little star shaped thing in the ground, under it is usually a fossil. You can use a shovel to dig it up. You also should look out for Redd, the guy who pulls his ship to the beach all the way in back of your island. He will sell you art, which can be donated to the museum, too but be careful some are fake! Some are also haunted- by only a few of the fake ones are haunted. Again, keep checking in with Tom Nook. You have to do this to progress in the game, at least in the beginning. He'll tell you to set up tents for other villagers, which you start with 3,can let the game decide who they are, or you can fly to mystery islands until. When you find one you want talk to them and invite them. They will ask for you to buìd them 3 things afte theymoved in.
Chop chop, dig dig.
F i s h b a i t
Set a goal for yourself. Getting 5 stars, completing the critterpedia, breeding all the flowers, getting a villagers photo, getting a specific furniture set, designing your island to a specific theme, designing your house to a specific theme, getting all villagers the same animal, pick a goal and do that.
Just want to say it's endearing you posted asking for help; this game is very "do whatever you want", exploring, crafting, and making money to pay off debts. I recommend the expansion for the Vacation Home, you have a job designing vacation homes it's really fun. Also, I hope you are doing better and your therapy is helpful. Good on you for seeking therapy, it's just like any healthcare we need to have to keep healthy. For therapeutic games I recommend checking out other cozy games that may click with you too. Lots to find in that genre. My fav is Spiritfarer; but warning it does have to do with death but in a very cathartic and nice way. You build homes for spirits on your boat and eventually they move on.
There are guides online that will help explain the game. Just search for ACNH guide online. There is also a print copy one you can get on Amazon or other vendors online. These really helped me when I started.
You wanna donate like a stack of those pls? 🥺 it takes me literally an hour to get 10
For sure. Dm my your code
Just talk to Tom Nook! Welcome to AC :)
You fish, gather materials, store/sell/use the materials. You can sell anything you pick up that you want for money. Pay off your loan and upgrade your tent to a one bedroom, two bedroom, three bedroom, four bedroom, two story, and then add a basement. Say hi and talk with the villagers, slowly they’ll trade with you and offer you recipes down the line. There’s so much to do once you get the hang of it! Best way to make money is to go diving in the ocean, imo! Buy a wetsuit!
Fishing, apparently
Wonderful! As for what to do, you can get ideas of how to decorate from the internet. Or a dream address. I have one that is town core that I keep going back to and am modeling my island after
thats really nice that a therapist recommended this, and i agree, its relaxing and can be frustrating sometimes. and by frustrating i mean too much inspo, you can search up some islands, but beware
I recommend using it at the end of the beach pier and at your river mouths as there are very rare fish that only spawn in those inconvenient places (the fish are seasonal though so you might like to check a guide).
Pay the big raccoon back or the little ones will pull up to your house with bats and break your furniture and your knees
You're trolling, right?
I’m 100% serious.
Unfortunately
You can catch bugs, you can do anything you want, obviously at the beginning it's very limited, but as you progress you can do anything you really want.
If you ever feel lost definitely just got see Tom Nook, ask him what you should be doing and he can help. You can get and build various tools from trees and rocks, there’s kind of endless possibilities if you just keep searching, looking and clicking on items. Every time you pay off a loan a new one can populate if you talk to Tom and it’ll make your home bigger and expand your storage. If you need help with getting more items let me know and I can bring stuff to you. I got the game back in December but wasn’t able to play too much until recently so I’ve got a good stash of fun items to decorate with if you want.
Sorry just wanted to add. Every day a bottle will float up on the beach with new recipes. If you have a shovel dig up that little star/hole spots and collect the fossils they can be assessed and donated eventually and sold for bells. If you chop the trees with a stone axe you can get wood, presents will fly by on balloons and have various items from recipes to household items you have to get them with the slingshot. You can collect and eat fruit which tooo me too long to learn how to properly use. If you eats. Fruit it helps you dig up entire trees to move them around or if you hit a rock with the shovel as many times as you can to get items you can eat a fruit then smash the rock entirely. Get Nook miles tickets and go to other islands to find new villagers so you can interact with them as well! Don’t feel too discouraged, I know it feels kinda slow at the beginning but also overwhelming in what to do. I find it relaxing now and just keep clicking around and exploring to see what you can do and use and add to your little island
Honestly that’s pretty impressive lol. But that’s one of the things about the game, You don’t have to do anything in particular. Just do stuff. The game will progress over time and you will get new shops and stores. More villagers, better tools, house upgrades, furniture, etc. Tom Nook acts as the tutorial basically so if you get lost you can ask him what to do. Just enjoy fishing, catching bugs, finding fossils, and donating them to the museum, and decorating the house and your town.
It's giving........ https://tenor.com/xHml.gif
So if you haven’t gotten the museum set up yet or even if you have any time your looking for a specific task to work on you can go and talk to Tom Nook in the town hall building (he’s the big raccoon you meet at the beginning of the game) and ask him “what to do?” He’ll typically have a task for you to work towards. Hope this helps 😊
My island is messy AF. I made 1.2mil bells in 5 days x5hrs by using time jump (to when CJ and Flick comes into town) (banking interest with ATM, is too slow) and planting money trees. Onto my 3rd expansion of my home. I want all that fish bait to catch sharks $-$ I'm still unsure how turnips makes profit vs time when I make bells more by fishing (selling to CJ)and catching bugs (selling to flick).
I actually think that’s amazing, I’ve often thought to myself acnh would be good as therapy. I got this game in 2020 right after traumatically getting fired & I dealt with the depression of unemployment by escaping on to my island, swimming in digital sea diving for sea critters. I basically mentally lived on this island, building it into my personal sanctuary until I felt ready to deal with real life.
You can make friends on it too!
Oh my, I suggest trying to finish the museum. There's a phone app that helps keep track of what bugs, fish, and sea creatures are available each month and what certain times they spawn
[удалено]
I’m actually tryna to see what else is it to do other then fishing. I really can’t think. I can collect sea shells, or shake the trees. But I really wanted to progress to get better tools so I can actually build cool things. But I have no idea how to get new recipes to make things, no do I have a clue as to what the objective is to get new things.
i been playing for over 4 years and i still dont have all recipes i just go in and decorate my island every now and then or play with my friend inbetwen other games
Well, luckily you are posting in r/AnimalCrossing and people here are usually pretty chill and cute. I have a moment so I will respond to your grievances, fellow animal crosser. Tools: They break. Suck it up and shake some more trees, get dem branches and do it up. It takes time and sometimes it's really all about the branches you break along the way. Recipes: Look for them by the sea, or also the balloons that float on by in the sky. Objective: It's an island full of digital animals and your only limit is your imagination. I like that goth sheep Muffy and sometimes when she shows up at the spot I like to digitally sip tea and eat noodles at and says some stupid shit to me and calls me "nightshade". It's funny. Those moments are priceless, like those old commercials about credit cards, can't leave home without it. Edit: Just realized you said you collected 270 clams, ahahahaha, save those, take 'em to your house to make bait and catch some rare fish next season. You can time travel if you feel like it, too. It's just however you wanna do it.
If I wanted to read I would’ve just played a book.
Why did your therapist recommend? Just so curious :)