Can't wait to fly off to a deserted island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons? We very much feel you, and thankfully we know exactly when you'll be able to do that.
If you have the game pre-loaded in time, you can download and boot up New Horizons as early as March 19 at 9pm PT / March 20 at 12am ET in the US, and midnight local time on March 20 in the UK. This is straight from the Nintendo site (US) and the Animal Crossing: New Horizons site (UK). Nintendo does say that "some third-party games" release a bit later, but that obviously doesn't apply with Animal Crossing.
If you've pre-ordered Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you can get it pre-loaded on your Switch right now. That way, as soon as the game goes live, all you need to do is download the client (and an update) and you're off to escape your real-world isolation in Tom Nook's debt-riddled paradise.
Our own Animal Crossing: New Horizons review paints exactly the picture you're likely hoping for from the tranquil life-sim. GamesRadar's Editor-in-Chief Sam Loveridge called it "the ultimate getaway from reality."
"With new faces to meet, old friends to reunite with, fresh features, regular visitors, quirky characters, and no doubt a plethora of incoming events, there's plenty to keep you coming back, day after day, to New Horizons," Sam gushed.
Because we all need some more wholesomeness right now, here's the story of the Animal Crossing: New Horizons villager who was named after one internet-famous grandma.
Animal Crossing's "obscure references" were all "localized out completely" before its debut in the West, as Nintendo felt it needed to "change everything"
After unsuccessfully attempting to launch a Monster Hunter clone, this controversial dev is now supposedly releasing an Animal Crossing-like game on PS5
