This Switch 2 upgrade makes big changes – but it's a tiny one that made it worth it for me

The Switch 2 upgrade for Animal Crossing: New Horizons is one of the most curious re-releases Nintendo has made for its beefed-up console yet, bringing a pretty slim set of changes to the table, but it dropped at the same time as a 3.0 patch for the game that does itself have some bigger changes.

If you've been playing New Horizons this whole time (and there's clearly a big playerbase for whom that's true), then there's likely to be no downside at all to spending £4.20 or $5 on the upgrade, since it does net you a visual upgrade and a couple of extra features, but for those of us returning to the game, it feels like a bigger change (in a good way).

Those who are on a long streak of playing every day will probably mainly want the upgrade pack for the clear and obvious boost it gives to the game's resolution and clarity. It can now hit 4K in docked play, making it look really crisp on the best TVs out there, and load times are also way faster than they were on the Switch 1.

That said, if you were playing the game on the Switch 2 already, before the upgrade, you were already enjoying faster load times, so you really should probably ask yourself if you care enough about resolution for it to reignite your passion for the game entirely.

In my case, revisiting it has actually been a surprise emotionally – I played the game mostly during lockdowns a few years ago, so it's quite weird to traipse around my island again, meeting up with residents who tell me they've missed me and more. Honestly, it's a bit of a head-trip.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition & Free Update – Announcement Trailer - YouTube

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Still, even to eyes that haven't seen the game in a while the upgrade visuals are really clear to see – there's just an absence of the jagged edges that were a little disappointing the first time around. It would have been nice for the whole game to now run at 60fps, instead of staying at 30fps, but for £4.20 I'm not complaining much.

That said, the really consequential changes that I've encountered in my time with the game since upgrading to the Switch 2 edition have actually just been those added with the 3.0 patch, which also comes to the Switch 1 version. It's made some quality of life changes that are fairly huge.

The biggest of these is being able to access materials from your stash wherever you are on the island – making it way, way easier to build things when you're out and about, without constantly needing to head back to pick things up. That's honestly massive, making for way less admin than I remember.

The new hotel, meanwhile, is a nice addition that helps to get more villager traffic through your island, which is similarly great for keeping things fresh (given how long you've been forced to spend with your residents).

Overall, then, I'm not sure that I'm going to be sucked into New Horizons for another dose of dozens of hours – my time with the game still feels like it really lay in the past. That said, the version of the game you can now play on the Switch 2 is clearly the best that's ever been available, and that's exciting for anyone about to settle in for some cosy fun for the first time.