You went from habitually playing the game to forgetting its existence because, well, life. It happens to the best of us, but don’t panic over what state your ACNH island will be in just yet.
What happens if you abandon Animal Crossing: New Horizons?
Whether it was a day, a week, or you skipped a year in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, abandoning (or simply forgetting about the game) won’t have disastrous effects.
Let’s look at what you can expect if you don’t play the game for a few months… or years:
Effects on your home
Your home will be infested with cockroaches. Leaving ACNH for a while means these small pests will make their way into your living space and stay there.
But don’t fret, these critters are easy to get rid of! Run around your rooms with the aim of stepping on them.
If you’re successful you’ll see little cockroach ghosts rise from their bodies (slightly morbid), and they’ll disappear. Check each room to make sure you’ve completely eradicated the pest problem.
Keep in mind your Happy Home Academy score will also be impacted by cockroaches, so the sooner you get rid of them the better.
Lastly, you’ll likely have a lot of mail to read through; whether it’s a seasonal item gifted by your mom or letters from villagers detailing their deepest island-life thoughts.
This task shouldn’t take too long to get through, and you never know what gifts will be lying in wait for you!
Effects on your island
Weeds, wonderful weeds.
If you abandon your ACNH for a while, you can expect weeds, sticks, and flowers to overrun your island. This will have a direct impact on your island rating and will take a bit of time and dedication to sort out.
To get rid of the nasty weeds, use Lief’s weeding service (although this feature is reportedly hit and miss), or pick them yourself and sell the weeds to Leif.
There’s money to be made in sticks you pick up too! Collect them all and sell them to Timmy & Tommy for extra bells.
Replant any new flowers that have grown in your absence in a designated patch on your island.
You might also notice more fossils in the ground than your usual daily amount, however, you won’t get the daily four fossils buried for each day you were gone i.e if you left your island for a year, there won’t be 1,460 fossils to dig up!
So your land might be a little… messy, but what about your shores? Well, the beaches that line your island will hold more seashells.
They won’t be on every available spot, but you’ll notice an increased amount. Like with sticks, you can sell the seashells at Nook’s Cranny for a tidy sum of bells.
Your character
The only real difference a few months (or years) makes to your Animal Crossing: New Horizons character is a temporary bedhead hairstyle.
Unlike New Leaf, in New Horizons you don’t have to do anything to fix it – your character will automatically restyle your hair to look exactly like it did when you last played the game.
If you want to keep the bedhead hairstyle, though, you can do so by looking at a mirror and selecting the option to change up your look. Once your character has had the classic bedhead look, it’ll unlock as an option in your hairstyle list so you can choose to rock the just-woken-up look!
Your neighbors
We all have our favorite villagers, and spending a long time away from ACNH might mean your friendship won’t be as strong as when you last played. They might comment on how they haven’t seen you in a while, but after a few conversations (and maybe some gifts) your friendship will be back to normal.
Due to the length of time you’ve been gone, you might also notice a villager wandering around with a thought bubble above their head. When you speak to them, the villager may ask to leave for pastures new, but, don’t worry, they can’t do this without your consent.
Your savings
If you held any money in your Savings Account (accessed via the ABD), you would have received regular interest on the total money held.
On the first day of every month, Tom Nook sends a letter detailing the amount in bells of interest accrued. You can expect 0.05% interest on the total amount in your account as of the 1st of the month.
Do I have to play Animal Crossing every day?
So let’s get down to the crux of it, are you supposed to play Animal Crossing every day?
Yes, because the game gives you daily tasks which can form a routine. Hitting rocks for materials, bugs, and bells, finding the glowing spot to grow a bell tree, and checking out items in Nook’s Cranny create a routine and allows for habitual play.
No, because the game is designed to be played at your pace. One day you might spend 30 minutes playing, another day you may find yourself engrossed in fishing and lose track of time.
However, it’s important to know that habitually spending hours on the game will more than likely kill your love for it (otherwise known as ACNH burnout).
In many ways, ACNH gives us little clues that it’s meant to be played consistently over a long period. The game promotes this in different ways, for example when you upgrade a building or add infrastructure you have to wait a full day for it to be built.
All of these in-game “rules” slow down play, allowing you to savor each day and maintain a consistent speed of play!
What happens if you leave Animal Crossing for a long time?
The upshot of it is nothing major. Or at least, nothing unmanageable that a bit of dedicated play won’t fix!
You’ll need to tidy up the weeds, sticks, and flowers as well as dig out all the new fossils. And don’t forget to check your mail and return the favor by sending out letters to islanders.
All in all, leaving Animal Crossing for a long time won’t have much impact on your future gameplay. Within an hour, it’ll be like you never left!
And if you’re worried that you can’t commit to playing long stints of ACNH, remember that the game is best played little and often. Even if you can’t play every single day, a little bit of time goes a long way in ACNH, so take the stress out of gameplay and enjoy island life when you can!