Animal Crossing Happy Home Paradise paid DLC is a designer’s dream

The Happy Home Paradise DLC is available after a surprisingly packed Animal Crossing-focused presentation last month. This paid downloadable content, which Nintendo says will be the last from New Horizons, offers players the opportunity to take on a new career as a vacation home designer. The experience costs $ 24.99 on its own, but if you purchase a Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership, Happy Home Paradise is included at no additional cost. So is the design life worth it?

With several hours, several happy vacation home clients, and even a promotion under my belt, my biggest takeaway is that this expansion has little for you if you don’t love designing spaces. If you’re drawn to Animal Crossing to gather museum exhibits or get rich at Stalk Market, Happy Home Paradise may not be for you. However, if you get dizzy thinking about putting together the perfect themed room, this DLC will allow you to design to your heart’s content.

Expansion starts with the easiest job interview you have ever experienced. Called to the airport to meet Lottie, a character who debuted six years ago at Happy Home Designer, I was offered a position at her company, Paradise Planning, despite my complete lack of experience and my ridiculous half-dive, half-dive outfit. Chef. The aquatic culinary aspect wasn’t enough though, as Lottie had me put on a uniform after meeting my lovely new co-workers, Niko and Wardell. After the first trial, the process of finding a client and creating a dream vacation home follows a predictable pattern.

Armed with my official company clipboard, I scour the central island of the expansion for potential clients, a much easier task because everyone on the island is dreaming of their perfect vacation home. Just stand near a tourist to see what kind of design he’s looking for. You don’t like the idea of ​​building a robot factory or a house full of mushrooms? Go to the next villager. When I finally discover someone with an intriguing vision, I consult them, choose a location for their home, and learn about their decorating requirements.

Then it goes to the site to decorate the exterior and interior of the house. There is a wide range of menu options for gardening and changing the look of the building before even entering the house. I can alter the look of bridges, adjust the weather, swap building types, put up fences, plant flowers, and more. Once inside, the customer-required décor, which has been conveniently shipped to the venue prior to arrival, awaits me along with a helpful list of recommended furniture and design options that match the customer’s creative concept.

But don’t worry about straying too far from these suggestions; it is almost impossible to disappoint the prospective owner. As long as you had the required items around the house, you had a happy customer, even if you didn’t decorate anything. After a series of successful jobs, I started unlocking new features like polishing furniture to shine, a unique DIY recipe, or large facility makeovers. At the end of each project, I am also rewarded with Poki, an in-game currency that only works on the central island.

I’m not a Poki fan. I can use it at the little Paradise Planning store to get rare household items, but I can’t spend it directly on my home island, which drastically limits its usefulness. Similarly, taking pictures of my interior design masterpieces for the company’s portfolio is strangely restrictive. The game only allows me to send the last photo I took, and I lost some of my favorite photos by accidentally taking another photo. However, like some oddly frustrating features in the base game, these aren’t enough to get in the way of having a good time in the DLC.

Aside from some hard-to-find materials like glittery moss and vines, a handful of cool furniture, DIY, and decorating techniques, it doesn’t seem like players will miss too much if they skip Happy Home Paradise. Especially since the free update that was released last week has introduced a lot of things to the game, such as cooking and boating with Kapp’n. But for Animal Crossing players who love creating imaginative homes, Happy Home Paradise is a perfect way to stretch those creative muscles without the tedium of creating, customizing, or collecting all the pieces necessary to bring your vision to life.