Kayla Dube · May 31, 2024 · 7 min read The newest edition of Animal Crossing has been long anticipated, bringing lots of new features while still retaining its unique charm. This new version of the game is also very accessible to new players of the series, making it a great game for anyone to pick up.
If you are new to these games, you’ll find pretty quickly that there are lots of things that you can spend your time doing. You may have many ideas for how you want to grow and upgrade your island, but be lost as to what to do in order to get there.
Eventually, you’ll find a routine that works for you if you play each day. However, there are some important things you’ll want to keep in mind at the beginning of Animal Crossing: New Horizons so you can really get the ball rolling.
How To Play Animal Crossing: New Horizons
The premise of Animal Crossing is pretty simple: you can do activities to earn bells (the in-game currency), which can be used to upgrade your house and your island. You live with other villagers who will come and go, and there are shops where you can spend your bells on things like furniture or clothes.
Most of the activities for gaining bells include catching and collecting animals or plants. You can also bring these to a museum in the game in order to preserve your collection. There are a multitude of other activities in the game that you’ll come across, but when just starting out, you’ll really want to focus on what will help you earn bells.
What’s new in this Animal Crossing: New Horizons game is the ability to craft objects, which is very important when you are starting out and will continue to be as you play throughout the game. Crafting is done by learning DIY recipes, gathering needed materials, and crafting the recipes using workbenches.
Your First Days In Animal Crossing: New Horizons
When you first start the game, you’ll be led through a tutorial that’s pretty straightforward. This will allow you to get your tent set up, and create a workbench where you can craft some simple things. Once you get through this, you will have more free reign on what you do. At this point, there are some key things you should keep in mind to do first.
Get Your Tools
Having a good set of tools is extremely important for everything you’ll have to do. When you first start out, you’ll have to craft your tools and get the recipes from Tom Nook. These first tools won’t be great quality, but they’ll help you get more resources to upgrade them eventually.
If you want to get your tools faster, though, there’s an easy way to do this. By going to the airport and travelling to a mystery island, you can meet Wilbur who will allow you to buy any tool you need. You can buy them cheaply, and it’s a much faster way to retrieve them all at the start.
Get More Inventory Space
The more space you have to store items, the more bells you’ll be able to make in a much shorter amount of time. Thankfully, in this game, your inventory space is upgradeable.
You can do this by going to the ATM in Residential Services, and choosing to upgrade there. These will cost Nook Miles, but it’s worth it to have a larger inventory early on in the game. You’ll be able to make bells at a much faster rate, which is important at this stage.
Pay Off Your Loan
The first loan you’ll need to pay off, among many to come, is the Island Getaway Package. This one will set you back 49,800 bells, or alternatively 5,000 Nook Miles.
The quickest way you can earn enough bells at this point is to sell whatever you collect around the island to Timmy in Resident Services. Bugs and fish will get you the most income, but sell anything you pick up, because he will buy nearly whatever you bring. Selling to him will also help in getting the Nook Shop on your island, where you can buy a variety of items such as furniture and clothes.
If you want to go the Nook Miles route, you’ll just need to complete tasks that earn you Miles. Here are some easy tasks you can do right away to get you a good amount to start with:
- Sell 50 weeds.
- Sell 20 fruit.
- Take a picture using the NookPhone camera app.
- Open your passport app and edit it.
- Post a message on the bulletin board.
- Use the Custom Designs app.
- Open your Nook Miles app.
Tips For Making More Bells
When you’re just starting, it’ll be a lot more difficult to earn bells until you can get better tools. However, there are some good ways you can earn a lot despite this. The main way to do this is to fish as much as you can.
You’ll want to collect lots of tree branches, as you’ll need these to craft multiple fishing rods, as they will eventually wear out. Fish until you have filled up your inventory, and then go sell all of them to Timmy.
You can repeat this until you get enough upgrades that will help you earn bells more easily. Once you do this, you can follow some of these other tips.
Catch Bugs
Besides fishing, another great way to earn bells is to catch bugs. There are lots of bugs you can catch, but some will net you a lot more bells than others.
For example, at night you may be able to find a tarantula or scorpion. Either of these can get you thousands of bells with just one. They are very hard to find though, but you can always catch other bugs while you look.
Sell Fossils
Sometimes you may come across x-shaped holes in the ground. Digging these up will sometimes get you fossils. If you get a new fossil, it’s best to give it to the museum for the collection, but once you get copies you can sell them for thousands of bells.
Make a Money Tree
Ever noticed a glowing spot in the ground? If you dig this up, you will find bells. But you can also do even more with this spot. If you go into your inventory and take out 10,000 bells, you can bury it in this spot and have a tree grow with the bell amount multiplied. This is a great way to earn a good amount of extra bells by just waiting.
Living On Your Island
The more bells you get in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the faster you will be able to pay off your loans and build up your island however you want. The tips here are some of the best ways to do this. Furthermore, you should make sure you check your island everyday, as things change daily. You might miss an opportunity for a huge amount of bells, so it’s best to be consistent.
You should also make sure to talk to your villagers, explore each part of the island, and check in on the shops daily as much as you can. Leave no stone unturned if you want to earn the maximum amount of bells and find rare items.
If you follow this advice, you should be well on your way to getting the Animal Crossing island of your dreams.
