Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Nintendo Switch

Tom Nook sells you a getaway package to a deserted island, and the rest is up to you. You arrive with a tent and a NookPhone, gather wood and fruit, craft tools and furniture from DIY recipes, and turn an empty island into a village with shops, a museum and animal neighbours who move in one by one.

The island runs on the console’s clock, with seasons that follow your own hemisphere, so cherry blossom and snow arrive when they do outside. Nook Miles reward small daily tasks, and with enough of them you can reshape the land itself, carving rivers and raising cliffs where you want them. A free update added cooking and Brewster’s café; the Happy Home Paradise expansion is sold separately.

Everyone on one Switch shares a single island: up to eight residents, four playing at once. Visiting friends’ islands works over local wireless or online, which needs a Nintendo Switch Online membership.