8 quality-of-life additions added in Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ 2.0 update

Some of the most exciting things about the new Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 update — which was released early on Wednesday — are the smaller updates Nintendo that didn’t headline the Animal Crossing Nintendo Direct in October.

Yes, the new items and returning villagers are great, but dedicated New Horizons players are particularly excited about some of the quieter changes that make island life just a little more pleasant. Nintendo still hasn’t added the ability to craft things in batches, but the developer has been listening. In particular, six new, small improvements stand out as super helpful in everyday island life, including DIY recipe storage and helpful announcements from Isabelle.

Previously, New Horizons designers were limited in the amount of custom designs they could post online to share via the Custom Designs Portal. For the New Horizons 2.0 update, Nintendo added a bunch more slots: Now players can add up to 200 custom designs.

The Custom Design Portal is accessible through the Custom Designs app on the NookPhone. Once that’s open, push A to access the portal, where designs can be shared online. A message will pop up regarding the new slots — and that’s all there is to it.

If you aren’t a New Horizons designer, this might not mean a lot to you, but it’s still of benefit. Your favorite designers won’t have to limit themselves or swap out designs until they’ve hit the 200 limit, now.

Instead of tossing your extra DIY recipes in the trash or laying them all over your island, you can now store them in your home — like, actually in the storage sections. It’s very easy to do: Just click on an item in your pocket and hit the “Put in Storage” button to add single DIY recipes just like any other item. But you can also mass add DIY items that lived scattered around your home, too.

Players who are sick of carrying around a ladder everywhere on their islands can now set up permanent ladders using the Ladder Set-Up Kit Recipe found at Nook’s Cranny. After crafting the wooden ladder set-up kit, it’s easy: Just put the kit near a cliff, and a ladder will permanently live there. It’s a nice alternative to an incline — they take up a lot of space, and you can only have a certain number of them, too.

Gone are the days in which players were limited to eight bridges and inclines. Now, you can add a total of 10 of these to your island — on top of however many permanent ladders you have, too.

Though we do like hearing about Isabelle’s daily musings, we’re glad to see she’s got some more helpful information to share each day. As of the Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 update, Isabelle now announces when a rotating island merchant is visiting. It’s particularly helpful for those that tend to roam, like Saharah. You won’t have to search everywhere for her!

Donation boxes are a new item that you can purchase as a DIY recipe, available from the Redeem Nook Miles tab at Resident Services’ Nook Stop. The recipe costs 800 Nook Miles, and building the box takes both wood and softwood. Once it’s built, you can place the donation box on your island.

Anyone who visits your island — say, to sell turnips or catalog items — can leave Bells by the 1,000. You’re the only one that can withdrawal, then.

Ordinances are different rules that make managing an island easier. There are four options: Beautiful island ordinance, Early Bird ordinance, Night Owl ordinances, and Bell Boom ordinance. These each cost 20,000 bells, but can make your residents get up earlier or later, increase item buying and selling prices, and ask villagers to help tend to weeds.

With the addition of Reese and Cyrus at Harv’s island, customization is a lot easier. The best news is that these two can customize any items purchased with NookMiles; this is helpful because typically only one color option is available through that shop. To get the other colors, players have to trade with others. Once an item is customized by Reese and Cyrus, the color variant will be catalogued so that it’s purchasable later, too.