You’ll lose archipelago access but still retain certain things on your main island
“Players can stillcontinue to accesscertain things they have unlocked inAnimal Crossing: New Horizons – Happy Home Paradiseon theirmain island, including addingcounters,partition walls, as well as addingambient lightingandsoundscapes, even if their access toAnimal Crossing: New Horizons – Happy Home Paradiseis suspended. However, it will not be possible to visit the archipelago if players lose access to the DLC.”
“To be able tovisit the archipelagoandtake on requestsof designing vacation homes again, you will need topurchase the DLC separately or renewthe Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership,” according to Nintendo.
I keep seeing confused comments about theAnimal CrossingDLC seemingly requiring a subscription, so this is worth reiterating — it doesn’t; the DLC is not exclusive to the Expansion Pack plan. you’re able to buy it on its own. Blame the messaging!
This whole scheme is more confusing than it probably needs to be, and it’s almost more of a what-if situation, but I can see this information being useful for folks with a household ofAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsplayers who intend to spring for the $80-per-year “family plan” version of NSO + Expansion Pack that covers up to eight users. Hence this post.
Taking on villager requests for the Paradise Planning team is going to be the main draw for this DLC, but it’s good to know that you won’t loseeverythingif you drop out of the subscription rat race. That said, I feel like the majority ofNew Horizonsplayers will want to — and arguably should — just go for the $25 keep-it-for-good separate purchase of theHappy Home ParadiseDLC and skip the pricier online service tier altogether.
Unless Nintendo is going to feature more first-party game DLC in the Expansion Pack down the road — or trulynail itwith theN64 gamesand the release schedule — then paying $50 per year as an individual (or $80 per year as a family) is going to be ridiculous. For many people, this notion already is. These perks can’t feel “static” or it’ll bleed subs.
Even as someone who digsNew Horizons, I wish I could get the Expansion Pack for the Nintendo 64 games and avoid the DLC in exchange for a more-expensive-but-not-that-expensive new tier. I’m curious (and not that hopeful) to see how this all shakes out.
