The Animal Crossing: New Horizons update is chock-a-block with fantastic things to find, and not all of them are immediately obvious. In fact, some weren’t even in the Animal Crossing Direct!

Here are the 29 things that brought us joy while we explored our new 2.0 paradise — most of them from the free update, so everyone can enjoy!

A More Efficient DAL

You can now fly from Harv’s Island straight to the Happy Home Paradise, and vice versa!

Permanent Ladders Are Customisable

Are you tired of ugly ladders? Yeah, us too. But don’t be blue, because now your ladder can be blue, instead! Or yellow, or red, or white, or…

Loading Screen Tips

Download the Island Life 101 app, and you’ll get tips on your loading screen!

New House Exteriors

A few new options for customising your house are now available, so you can turn your house into a cute little Christmas cottage, or a beachy pastel bungalow!

Fisheye Lens And New Filters

The new Pro Camera App gives you the option to go into first-person mode and take selfies, but it also comes with new filters — Fisheye, Retro, and Surveillance being our current favourites.

You’re Not The Only One Who’s Bad At Stretching

If you’ve tried out the new plaza stretching exercise, you’ll probably know that it’s surprisingly tricky. Luckily, you’re not alone. Phew.

Recipes In Bottles Tell You What They Are Before You Open Them

This one’s just a cute detail, but still quite lovely! Now you can see whether something is a food recipe, or a DIY recipe. Of course, you still have to open it to find out what it’ll teach you!

Scooching

This one was on the Direct, but you might not appreciate just how good scooching is until you do it. Small gaps between a sofa and a coffee table? Not a problem any more, pal! Scooch away!

Brewster And Kapp’n’s Secrets

Check out some of the details in The Roost and you’ll see a storeroom full of gyroids, and photos of old Animal Crossing memories. Awww!

Likewise, Kapp’n has a wee photo of his family from New Leaf, and their little shop, on his boat.

Invite Old Friends To The Roost

With Animal Crossing amiibo figures or Series 5 of the Animal Crossing amiibo cards, you can now invite old pals like Resetti, Digby, Pelly, Booker, DJ KK, Katie, and Gracie to The Roost and Harv’s Island.

Have Fun On Kapp’n’s Boat

The four face buttons — X, Y, A, and B — have a purpose when you’re on Kapp’n’s boat.

Pressing A will let you clap along in time to Kapp’n’s songs, Y will make you chuckle, and X will make you respond in shock. And we can’t think why you’d want this, but B will make Kapp’n stop singing.

Isabelle’s New And Improved News

Isabelle will now tell you who’s visiting the island, whether it’s Kicks, Leif, Saharah, or Redd — so you no longer have to run around the whole island to find out yourself!

Katrina’s Special Power

Katrina used to tell your fortune and predict your luck, but now she can also check your friendship levels with your villagers, too! Weird that she knows that, though — she only just got here.

High Card Low Card

Villagers can visit your houses, but they can also now gamble with you. They’ll invite you to play a game of High Card, Low Card, where they turn over one card and ask if the next one is higher, or lower. Get it right for a prize!

Ione Glows In The Dark

One of the new villagers is this adorable celestial squirrel/chipmunk called Ione. That galaxy tail isn’t just for show — Ione actually glows in the dark. We’re a little terrified of what that means.