The exciting news that the highly anticipated Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 update arrived two days early came as a welcome surprise last night to fans of the series who had been revisiting the game in preparation for all the new content. The update has introduced a lot of new activities to the game, including things like a major update to Harv's Island, the Roost Cafe, farming, and much more. One important addition that came with the 2.0 update is that now the player can request island-wide ordinances, a highly requested feature that was introduced in Animal Crossing: New Leaf.
The different ordinances can do a handful of different things, from completely altering the economy of a player's island, to changing the behaviors of all of the villagers living alongside the player. Each ordinance has its ups and downs, but only one can be activated at any given time. Since it costs 20,000 bells to initiate, players need to be careful to choose the right one. While there are certainly arguments for picking others, Animal Crossing: New Horizons players should highly consider using the Night Owl ordinance.
Late Night Animal Crossing Play Sessions
The Night Owl ordinance brings a lot to the table, especially for those who are only able to play the game at night after finishing their daily responsibilities. An unfortunate reality about Animal Crossing is that there isn't a lot to do late at night. Since the game uses the internal clock in the Switch to tell time, players either need to set the clock incorrectly to be able to do anything, or simply play the game at night and not have much to engage with. Neither option is great, but the Night Owl ordinance can change all that.
When enacted, the ordinance keeps villagers awake later into the night and the shops open much later. Each villager has their own schedule based on their personality, with each type following the same schedule. The changes allow players to actually be able to spend time with their favorites at night, instead of having to sneak in gaming time during the day. The villagers' sleep schedules have been adjusted like the following:
Normal: 2 a.m. - 6 a.m.
Peppy: 3 a.m. - 9 a.m.
Snooty: 4 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
Sisterly: 5:30 a.m. - 11 a.m.
Lazy: 1:30 a.m. - 9 a.m.
Jock: 2:30 a.m. - 7 a.m.
Smug: 3:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.
Cranky: 6 a.m. - 10 a.m.
Lazy Mornings in New Horizons
The one drawback of the Night Owl ordinance is that, as shown above, villagers sleep in much later in the morning than they usually would. Although that can be irritating if a player is trying to get some work on their island done before they start their IRL day, it likely won't impact players who only have time for Animal Crossing at night. Because they aren't logging in before their day is over, they won't even notice that their island is sleeping past their usual hours.
If someone is expecting to play late into the night and then start back up again first thing in the morning, the Night Owl ordinance might not be the best the next day, but it certainly extends the fun of Animal Crossing much later than usual. If in that position, however, players might want to consider using one of the other island ordinances so that their villagers are going to bed on time and getting up bright and early for the next day ahead. When scheduling long play sessions with friends, it can be beneficial to have everyone's island have different ordinances enacted to make the most out of each session.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available now for Nintendo Switch.