Everything New In Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Summer Update

The complete summer update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been fully deployed across two major content releases throughout July and August. These substantial additions significantly expand your island exploration capabilities and introduce fresh seasonal activities.

Proper swimming gear is essential before you can explore your island’s surrounding waters.

Acquiring the wetsuit represents your gateway to underwater adventures. You can purchase this essential equipment through multiple channels: Nook’s Cranny sells it for 3,000 Bells, while the Nook Miles redemption program offers an alternative acquisition method. Unlike previous tools that required crafting, the wetsuit functions as wearable equipment that you simply don to enter the ocean.

Mastering swimming mechanics involves understanding the control scheme. Press A to swim faster when equipped with your wetsuit, but be mindful of your stamina meter that depletes with rapid movement. Strategic pacing prevents exhaustion and allows for longer diving sessions. Optimal swimming times occur between 4 PM and 9 AM when rare sea creatures become more prevalent.

Advanced players should note that diving during rainstorms increases the spawn rate of certain valuable marine life. The ocean surrounding your island contains different depth zones, with deeper areas typically housing more exotic species. Learning to identify bubble patterns on the water’s surface helps pinpoint creature locations before diving.

Underwater exploration reveals an entirely new ecosystem teeming with collectible marine life. Your Critterpedia expands to accommodate these discoveries with a dedicated sea creatures section separate from fish and bugs.

Documenting marine biodiversity adds new completion goals to your island life.

The update introduces 40 distinct sea creatures with varied availability patterns. Common mistakes include chasing fast-moving creatures like the Venus’ flower basket without proper positioning. Approach from the front rather than directly behind to increase capture success rates. Each species has specific active months and time windows—the giant isopod appears from November to April, while the sea pig only emerges between November and February.

Donation strategy for Blathers follows similar patterns to other museum contributions. However, sea creatures cannot be displayed in tanks like fish; instead, they receive specialized aquatic exhibits. Rare specimens like the spider crab and gazami crab command premium prices at Nook’s Cranny, making them lucrative farming targets.

Advanced collection techniques involve creating dedicated swimming routes around your island’s perimeter. The sea grapes and sea anemones appear year-round, while the moon jellyfish exclusively appears during summer months. Tracking your progress through the Critterpedia helps identify missing specimens for completionists.

Your aquatic adventures introduce unique NPC interactions that provide exclusive rewards. Pascal, the philosophical sea otter, appears randomly when you surface with scallops. His appearance isn’t guaranteed every time, but consistently diving for shellfish increases encounter probability.

This maritime philosopher offers wisdom and rare crafting materials in exchange for your findings.

Pascal’s trading mechanics follow specific patterns. He may provide mermaid DIY recipes, pearls, or occasional clothing items from the mermaid set. Pearls serve as crucial crafting components for the entire mermaid furniture series and cannot be purchased, making Pascal encounters valuable. He typically appears within 1-3 scallop discoveries if you remain in the water.

Gullivarrr represents the aquatic version of Gulliver with distinct pirate-themed quests. When you encounter him washed ashore, he’ll request help finding his communicator in the ocean. Successfully retrieving it rewards you with pirate-series items unavailable through other means.

The pirate variant of everyone’s favorite stranded seagull brings a new underwater retrieval mission.

Visitor scheduling follows predictable patterns—Pascal can appear once per day, while Gullivarrr follows the standard special visitor rotation. Tracking these patterns in your island journal helps optimize your daily routine for maximum reward acquisition.

The summer update introduces two major crafting sets with distinct acquisition methods. The mermaid series features elegant underwater-themed furniture and clothing with pastel color schemes and pearl accents.

These aquatic blueprints create some of the most visually distinctive items in the game.

Mermaid DIY recipes primarily come from Pascal in exchange for scallops. The complete set includes 14 furniture pieces and 7 clothing items, each requiring pearls as primary crafting components. Common mistakes include selling pearls before realizing their crafting importance—always prioritize recipe completion over short-term Bell gains.

Summer shells emerge as seasonal materials available between June and August in the Northern Hemisphere. These vibrant items spawn randomly on your island’s beaches and form the basis for the summer shell recipes. These seasonal blueprints include the tropical vista wall, water flooring, and shell wreath variations.

Material farming efficiency improves with beach layout optimization. Clear your shorelines of unnecessary items to increase summer shell spawn rates. The shell wand, one of the most sought-after recipes, requires 3 summer shells and 3 star fragments to craft.

For players seeking comprehensive crafting guidance, our Weapons Unlock guide provides similar structured approaches to collection and recipe mastery in other gaming contexts.

Wave two of the summer update celebrates August with festive events and convenient features. Fireworks shows occur every Sunday evening throughout the month, transforming your island plaza into a celebration venue.

Fireworks mechanics allow custom firework designs using patterns from the Able Sisters. Each show runs from 7 PM to midnight, with Isabelle distributing free sparklers to all residents. You can also purchase bubble blowers and party poppers from Nook’s Cranny during event hours.

The dream suite functionality enables visiting other islands without permanent changes. By sleeping in any bed and selecting the dream option, you connect to Luna’s service for island tourism. This system provides inspiration for your own island development while preserving the host’s original state.

Island backup represents a crucial quality-of-life addition that automatically saves your progress to cloud storage. This feature protects against data loss from hardware issues or accidental deletion. The restoration process requires contacting Nintendo support, making it an emergency measure rather than daily utility.

Strategic players should integrate these features into their weekly routines. Sunday evenings prioritize fireworks participation for exclusive items, while dream visits offer mid-week inspiration. Understanding these seasonal patterns aligns with broader gaming strategies similar to those discussed in our Class Guide for optimal performance.

For those looking to master all aspects of their gaming experience, our Complete Guide provides similar comprehensive coverage for other major titles.

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