Animal Crossing New Horizons is very similar to New Leaf in many ways. You begin with a small town with not too much going on, and as the days roll out you get to see it slowly be upgraded with new things becoming unlocked each day. However unlike New Leaf this time you have to build nearly everything, and you start with even less. So if you're one of the people who would like to know what actually lies ahead, I've put together a small guide just for you. If you want to keep the game a secret however, and would like to discover things for yourself -- THEN STOP HERE! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
That being said, these dates may not line up perfectly with your game, as everyone will complete things in different orders. This is just a basic outline of what is to come, so don't expect it to be 100% accurate to your town.
Day 1: Moving In
The first day in ACNH has you moving to your island and getting basic things setup. There's not too much you can actually do on this day other than place your tent and move in your first two villagers, but that's fine. AC games are known for starting slow, and this day is nothing but the basics of the basics. Get to learn the controls, and then go to sleep and wait for the next day. Just make sure you donate enough bugs and fish to Nook so that you can trigger the Museum on day 2.
Day 2: Air Port and Museum Start and Nooks
On the second day you gain access to the Air Port and the beginning of the Museum. The Air Port lets you travel to friend's islands, or let others come to you. As for the museum? This is where you can donate Bugs, Fish, and fossils to build up your collection. You need to donate 15 items on this day if you want to start the actual Museum construction. You also get the pole on this day so you can finally cross your rivers, and possibly find a place to build the store Nook's Cranny.
Day 3: Mostly Construction
This is mainly a waiting day. Need to get your stuff built up from the previous day so no Museum or Shop access for now.
Day 4: Things are Built, Time to Expand (Bridges and Neighbors)
On this day everything will be open and you'll have the ability to build a bridge so that you can have more villagers come to your town. Nook will ask you to pick the space for said bridge and for your neighbor's houses as well. The first three neighbors will be those you talked to at the random islands (assuming you've done so), but before they can actually start to move in you'll need to meet their housing requirements. Once the plots are picked out you can check the signs out front to see which furniture is required for them to move in. This is where many people may see a difference in the days as finding the material for every item can be tricky and will depend on what resources you can gather at the islands. On another note by now your first two villagers should be living in houses as well rather than tents, and you should be able to buy clothes at Able Sister's stall in your town square.
Day 5: Moving Part 1 and Able
Assuming you built all three houses and have villagers lined up to move in, then this is the first day someone will show up. Your bridge should also be complete, so travel will be much easier now. By now you should also have the ability to place fences, so you can begin customizing your town a bit more. Make sure you talk to Able again today. You need to speak to her three times to get her to move into the town for good.
Day 6: Moving Part 2 and Able Sisters
Not much happening this day, but your first neighbor will now be finished unpacking and will walk around the village. Meanwhile your second villager will now be in the unpacking process, but they won't be doing much else until they finish. This day is also when Able told me about wanting to build an actual shop in my town, so you may set this up today as well. If not expect to do this on day 7. It really depends if she spawns for you or not. In reality it could take a few more days -- completely depends on your luck and who is or isn't visiting your town today.
Day 7: Moving Part 3 (and possibly Able Sisters)
Finally this will be the last day before something major happens. You get your 5th villager, but other than that it's a slow day. If you didn't get Able Sisters the day before though, she could have the stall setup today. If you did get her the previous day however, her shop should be under construction today. But again, it depends on the spawns -- keep that in mind moving forward from here.
Day 8: Town Hall
Now that your island is more like a town, it's time to finally get a proper Town Hall. Nook will start the process and introduce you to Isabelle, then let you know that they will be closed tomorrow for construction.
Day 9: Construction of Town Hall
Not much you can do here besides wait. Sorry guys.
Day 10: Town Hall Complete and Projects Unlocked
On day 10 a lot will change. Town Hall becomes unlocked, a lot of new furniture and recipes become unlocked in the Nook Mile exchange store, and you can even expand your inventory! On top of this you're now allowed to build more bridges, slopes/steps up to higher ground, and you can start customizing your town a bit more by moving projects. It's expensive to do any of this of course, but at least the options are there. Before you get too crazy though, Nook has plans for the island. He wants more people to come to it, so you'll need to set up a camp site for visitors to come and stay.
Day 11: Camp is now Open
The 11th day will see the camp site being opened to the public, but no one will visit on this day. If you want people to actually come and live however you'll need to have land ready for them also. This is when Nook will sell plots of land for 10k Bells each, and you can go out and place them wherever you like. You can only have 10 plots of land in total though, so keep that in mind as you plan out your island.
Day 12: Someone is Here
On day 12 you should get your first visitor to your camp. It's up to you if you want to ask them to move in or not, but you might want to consider it so you can get things moving along. Again this is another spot where days may vary between players. In the mean time you could build more bridges in town, or use those Nook miles to buy some cool new things, but I recommend saving at least 14,000 for the coming days.
Day 13: They've Moved In
Day 13 is move in day for your camper and that's about it. Continue saving those Nook Miles, or starting other town projects. Up to you really.
Day 14: Possibly Another Villager (Let's get KK!)
If you have lots built you could get another person on this day, but that might not always be the case. Nook will continue to talk about wanting to expand the town though so that they can attract the attention of KK, and Isabelle will tell you what you need to do to make this happen. At this stage in the game she should be telling you to get more villagers, but make sure you place furniture around your island as well. You need to fill up your island if you want him to come. (Kinda similar to the whole "Perfect Town" thing from past AC games.
Day 15: Another Villager
By this point you should have 8 villagers, and that should be enough to get a letter from KK saying that he likes the place. If not then keep placing furniture and keep waiting until you have all 10 plots filled. This can take days so this is really hard to call when it'll actually happen. Assuming 8 is all you needed though...
Day 16: KK Arrives and Island Creator
If KK was invited to your island yesterday, then today is the day he'll play. He'll sing his new song for ACNH, and then the credits will roll. Congrats! You've "beaten" Animal Crossing--yeah, not really. KK will now play a song every Saturday night just like he did in past games, and Nook will give you the Island Creator. You'll need to buy the land development and water tools using Nook Miles (each are 6,000 points), but they'll start you off with a basic path. You can also buy new patterns for your paths by using points as well, or even use your own designs.
Day X: One Month Later
Roughly one month or so after starting the game, and after using Nook's Cranny quite a bit, the store should receive an upgrade to a much larger version of Nook's Cranny. This will happen roughly 30 days after Nook originally opened. At the current time this seems to be the maximum upgrade for Nook's, with future upgrades being saved for DLC. Of course this has not been 100% confirmed by me so I'll update this article as I learn more about the situation. As mentioned in my previous post however this first store upgrade is how you get the new Colorful Tools, so at least we get something out of Nook's Cranny "2."
Day X-2: Museum Upgrade
After the patch released on 4-23-2020, the Museum can now be upgraded to the next level. This occurs after the town is visited by Redd for the first time, and you buy a painting from him to donate to the Museum. The upgrade itself will take another day, so this ends up being roughly a three day process. When this happens will vary from person to person, with long time players being able to do so on the day this patch released. As for new players, this could happen at any time as long as you land on a day that Redd spawns, and the Museum is already open.
And that about covers it! Of course as things change I'll come back and update this guide to include any new content that is added, or if anything new is discovered. If you personally find anything you would like me to add to this guide, or if you've discovered anything that isn't working correctly for you -- please feel free to leave a comment below.
Thanks
That being said, these dates may not line up perfectly with your game, as everyone will complete things in different orders. This is just a basic outline of what is to come, so don't expect it to be 100% accurate to your town.
Day 1: Moving In
The first day in ACNH has you moving to your island and getting basic things setup. There's not too much you can actually do on this day other than place your tent and move in your first two villagers, but that's fine. AC games are known for starting slow, and this day is nothing but the basics of the basics. Get to learn the controls, and then go to sleep and wait for the next day. Just make sure you donate enough bugs and fish to Nook so that you can trigger the Museum on day 2.
Day 2: Air Port and Museum Start and Nooks
On the second day you gain access to the Air Port and the beginning of the Museum. The Air Port lets you travel to friend's islands, or let others come to you. As for the museum? This is where you can donate Bugs, Fish, and fossils to build up your collection. You need to donate 15 items on this day if you want to start the actual Museum construction. You also get the pole on this day so you can finally cross your rivers, and possibly find a place to build the store Nook's Cranny.
Day 3: Mostly Construction
This is mainly a waiting day. Need to get your stuff built up from the previous day so no Museum or Shop access for now.
Day 4: Things are Built, Time to Expand (Bridges and Neighbors)
On this day everything will be open and you'll have the ability to build a bridge so that you can have more villagers come to your town. Nook will ask you to pick the space for said bridge and for your neighbor's houses as well. The first three neighbors will be those you talked to at the random islands (assuming you've done so), but before they can actually start to move in you'll need to meet their housing requirements. Once the plots are picked out you can check the signs out front to see which furniture is required for them to move in. This is where many people may see a difference in the days as finding the material for every item can be tricky and will depend on what resources you can gather at the islands. On another note by now your first two villagers should be living in houses as well rather than tents, and you should be able to buy clothes at Able Sister's stall in your town square.
Day 5: Moving Part 1 and Able
Assuming you built all three houses and have villagers lined up to move in, then this is the first day someone will show up. Your bridge should also be complete, so travel will be much easier now. By now you should also have the ability to place fences, so you can begin customizing your town a bit more. Make sure you talk to Able again today. You need to speak to her three times to get her to move into the town for good.
Day 6: Moving Part 2 and Able Sisters
Not much happening this day, but your first neighbor will now be finished unpacking and will walk around the village. Meanwhile your second villager will now be in the unpacking process, but they won't be doing much else until they finish. This day is also when Able told me about wanting to build an actual shop in my town, so you may set this up today as well. If not expect to do this on day 7. It really depends if she spawns for you or not. In reality it could take a few more days -- completely depends on your luck and who is or isn't visiting your town today.
Day 7: Moving Part 3 (and possibly Able Sisters)
Finally this will be the last day before something major happens. You get your 5th villager, but other than that it's a slow day. If you didn't get Able Sisters the day before though, she could have the stall setup today. If you did get her the previous day however, her shop should be under construction today. But again, it depends on the spawns -- keep that in mind moving forward from here.
Day 8: Town Hall
Now that your island is more like a town, it's time to finally get a proper Town Hall. Nook will start the process and introduce you to Isabelle, then let you know that they will be closed tomorrow for construction.
Day 9: Construction of Town Hall
Not much you can do here besides wait. Sorry guys.
Day 10: Town Hall Complete and Projects Unlocked
On day 10 a lot will change. Town Hall becomes unlocked, a lot of new furniture and recipes become unlocked in the Nook Mile exchange store, and you can even expand your inventory! On top of this you're now allowed to build more bridges, slopes/steps up to higher ground, and you can start customizing your town a bit more by moving projects. It's expensive to do any of this of course, but at least the options are there. Before you get too crazy though, Nook has plans for the island. He wants more people to come to it, so you'll need to set up a camp site for visitors to come and stay.
Day 11: Camp is now Open
The 11th day will see the camp site being opened to the public, but no one will visit on this day. If you want people to actually come and live however you'll need to have land ready for them also. This is when Nook will sell plots of land for 10k Bells each, and you can go out and place them wherever you like. You can only have 10 plots of land in total though, so keep that in mind as you plan out your island.
Day 12: Someone is Here
On day 12 you should get your first visitor to your camp. It's up to you if you want to ask them to move in or not, but you might want to consider it so you can get things moving along. Again this is another spot where days may vary between players. In the mean time you could build more bridges in town, or use those Nook miles to buy some cool new things, but I recommend saving at least 14,000 for the coming days.
Day 13: They've Moved In
Day 13 is move in day for your camper and that's about it. Continue saving those Nook Miles, or starting other town projects. Up to you really.
Day 14: Possibly Another Villager (Let's get KK!)
If you have lots built you could get another person on this day, but that might not always be the case. Nook will continue to talk about wanting to expand the town though so that they can attract the attention of KK, and Isabelle will tell you what you need to do to make this happen. At this stage in the game she should be telling you to get more villagers, but make sure you place furniture around your island as well. You need to fill up your island if you want him to come. (Kinda similar to the whole "Perfect Town" thing from past AC games.
Day 15: Another Villager
By this point you should have 8 villagers, and that should be enough to get a letter from KK saying that he likes the place. If not then keep placing furniture and keep waiting until you have all 10 plots filled. This can take days so this is really hard to call when it'll actually happen. Assuming 8 is all you needed though...
Day 16: KK Arrives and Island Creator
If KK was invited to your island yesterday, then today is the day he'll play. He'll sing his new song for ACNH, and then the credits will roll. Congrats! You've "beaten" Animal Crossing--yeah, not really. KK will now play a song every Saturday night just like he did in past games, and Nook will give you the Island Creator. You'll need to buy the land development and water tools using Nook Miles (each are 6,000 points), but they'll start you off with a basic path. You can also buy new patterns for your paths by using points as well, or even use your own designs.
Day X: One Month Later
Roughly one month or so after starting the game, and after using Nook's Cranny quite a bit, the store should receive an upgrade to a much larger version of Nook's Cranny. This will happen roughly 30 days after Nook originally opened. At the current time this seems to be the maximum upgrade for Nook's, with future upgrades being saved for DLC. Of course this has not been 100% confirmed by me so I'll update this article as I learn more about the situation. As mentioned in my previous post however this first store upgrade is how you get the new Colorful Tools, so at least we get something out of Nook's Cranny "2."
Day X-2: Museum Upgrade
After the patch released on 4-23-2020, the Museum can now be upgraded to the next level. This occurs after the town is visited by Redd for the first time, and you buy a painting from him to donate to the Museum. The upgrade itself will take another day, so this ends up being roughly a three day process. When this happens will vary from person to person, with long time players being able to do so on the day this patch released. As for new players, this could happen at any time as long as you land on a day that Redd spawns, and the Museum is already open.
And that about covers it! Of course as things change I'll come back and update this guide to include any new content that is added, or if anything new is discovered. If you personally find anything you would like me to add to this guide, or if you've discovered anything that isn't working correctly for you -- please feel free to leave a comment below.
Thanks