What are ordinances in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?

Nintendo breathed new life into Animal Crossing: New Horizons with the 2.0 update, as it introduced lots of new features and items, along with items from previous titles in the franchise.

One such feature that returned to New Horizons was island ordinances. This has made the game a lot more inclusive for players, allowing for more varied playstyles.

Here is everything players need to know about island ordinances in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

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Island ordinances were recently introduced in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Island ordinances are essentially a set of rules that players can implement on their Animal Crossing islands, which will affect the way in which the island functions. This includes the time that the island starts and stops functioning, including shops and villagers.

This is a rather convenient feature added by Nintendo since different players can play the game at their convenience based on their real-life schedules.

Nintendo offers four different kinds of ordinances to New Horizons players for their islands. To access them, players must first unlock the island ordinances feature by speaking with Isabelle, which requires them to make a certain amount of progress in the game.

To unlock ordinances in New Horizons, players must have progressed enough in the game to have upgraded the Resident Services building and brought Isabelle to their island. Next, they must upgrade their island to a 3-star rating and have K.K. Slider visit and perform on their island at least once.

After this initial performance, players can visit Isabelle, who will inform them that island ordinances are available for players to implement if they want. Unlocking these island ordinances will cost players a hefty charge of 20,000 Bells, but it is worth the amount of convenience that players get from this feature.

There are four different kinds of island ordinances that players can choose from, which are as follows:

Early Bird: Shops open up faster in the game, and villagers wake up earlier, setting the game in motion quite early on in the day.

Night Owl: The island starts working later in the day, with shops opening and villagers waking up quite late.

Beautiful Island: The greenery present on the island always remains intact, with flowers never wilting and weeds being automatically pulled out on the island. Cockroaches also spawn a lot less on these islands.

Bell Boom: Perfect for players who are looking for maximum financial gain since items can be bought for minimal prices while they have very high sell prices whenever the player decides to sell them.

These are the four different kinds of island ordinances that can be implemented in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. However, players must bear in mind that they can only implement one ordinance at a time.

To implement island ordinances, players must simply interact with Isabelle and, when prompted, select the following two options.

1. Review island features
2. Discuss ordinances

Setting up island ordinances is quite simple and can make gameplay a lot more convenient and smooth for players of the Nintendo life-simulation title.