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When the DLC add-on of Animal Crossing: New Horizon’s Happy Home Paradise came out last year, it has given players more to do on their island even with the final free update Nintendo released for the game. It couldn’t have come at a better time after many players of New Horizons started checking in on their islands and residents less and less. A game that united people during the start of the pandemic as a way to cope with the uncertainty of COVID-19 and to stay connected with friends while everyone isolated themselves from the comfort of their own homes, players, eventually, would max out just about everything there is to do on their island.

Happy Home Paradise has been the perfect add-on to draw AC fans back in and keep people playing at least for a little while longer.

Upon downloading and installing Happy Home Paradise, the game opens up a new island where your AC character can fly over and start working as a rookie interior designer alongside the Paradise team that consists of Lottie, Wardell, and Niko. After Lottie, who is essentially your boss, gets you situated and explains what you need to do as a designer, you don your very own Happy Home Paradise uniform and are sent on your way to pick out vacationing folks on the island who may be interested in having their very own vacation home.

When your character is in working mode, you can walk up to each potential vacation home islander and get a clue as to what their ideal place would potentially be in the form of a thought bubble. If you decide you want to work with them to design their dream vacation home, you simply start talking to them and the next scene cuts to you sitting down with your new client and Lottie to sort out the details.

The client will tell you what the theme of their home is along with the three required furniture or items their island home must have. Then you are tasked by Lottie to pick out which area of the island your client should settle in.

The choices and island map cover a wide area and is divided by seasons. Once you choose the perfect spot for your client you, Niko, and your soon-to-be new resident set sail on a motorboat to the location where you can start doing your thing to design the perfect vacation home.

There is plenty to do on Happy Home Paradise and this DLC really allows you to let your inner interior designer thrive. Depending on what the theme of the home is you can spend a lot of time making sure the exterior as well as the interior reflect the personality of your client. I recall spending an hour just picking pieces, moving stuff around, and scrutinizing every item available to me. The more you play the DLC, the more items and customizable features are unlocked.

After you have completed designing your client’s vacation home, Lottie will reward you with Poki, the currency on this particular island, where you can buy furniture that’s available for the day to use on your own home. Eventually your character will get promoted, increasing the amount of Poki you’re paid as well as unlocking more choices for the uniform you wear.

Once you keep designing more homes and have a good amount of new islanders moving in, Lottie will come to you from time to time to let you know the main island will be opening up new facilities like a school, restaurant, or cafe and would like your help in designing them, too.

I’ll admit my playtime with New Horizons has dropped after I designed my island the way I wanted to, but when I purchased the DLC last year I could not get enough of Happy Home Paradise. I often find myself traveling for work to see who are the potential clients of the day and what furniture I could buy. The strength of New Horizons is the wealth of options and creativity the game gives you, making it one of the best ones to play when you want to sit back with something stress-free while also having fun creating.

There’s still plenty for me to do with Happy Home Paradise and I look forward to seeing what the “end game” for this DLC looks like once I have occupied every spot on Paradise island with very happy vacation home dwellers.

Have you played Happy Home Paradise? What’s your favorite part about the DLC?