How to update Animal Crossing: New Horizons and get the new DLC

By Rob Leane

Published: Friday, 05 November 2021 at 12:00 am

Two big new things have come to Animal Crossing: New Horizons this week – the free Animal Crossing 2.0 update went live yesterday, and the paid Happy Home Paradise DLC is available to play as of this morning.

But if you’re wondering how to update Animal Crossing: New Horizons to make sure you’re playing the latest version of the Nintendo island management game, you’ve come to the right place! Updating the game is easy, and once you know how to do it, you will probably never have to ask that question again.

So if you want to update your copy of Animal Crossing to the 2.0 version, and maybe give that Happy Home Paradise DLC a look while you’re at it, read on for our handy guide!

How to update Animal Crossing: New Horizons

How do I manually update Animal Crossing: New Horizons? If you’ve been asking yourself that question, you’ll need to follow these steps to update Animal Crossing on your Nintendo Switch:

  1. Make sure your Nintendo Switch is connected to the internet (press the ‘System Settings’ cog on the console home page, head to ‘Internet Settings’ and connect the console to your Wifi)
  2. Ensure that your copy of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is closed (hover over the game on your console home page and press the X button to close the software)
  3. Try to open the game, and you should be prompted to download the Animal Crossing update!

If, for some reason, the update doesn’t seem to be coming, try this back-up plan:

  1. Hover over the game on your console home page and press the + button
  2. In the menu that appears, head to ‘Software Update’ and select the option titled ‘Via the Internet’
  3. The console will then search for updates – if you have one to download, it will prompt you to do so.

What version is the new Animal Crossing update?

Thanks to this update, the new Animal Crossing version number is Ver. 2.0.0. – this is the update that brings Brewster and the Roost into the game. It is said to be one of the final updates for the game, so we wouldn’t expect to see many higher version numbers than that in future.

Once you’ve successfully downloaded the update, you should see that number presented in the top right-hand corner of the game’s home screen, as illustrated in the Tweet below:

Version 2.0 of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is now available for download on your Nintendo Switch in an unexpected early release! ????

Here’s the new title screen showing off that beautiful 2.0 version number we’ve been waiting over a year for. #ACNH pic.twitter.com/5Rd6gE5Yax

— Animal Crossing World ????☕ (@ACWorldBlog) November 4, 2021