Animal Crossing: New Horizons Gets in the Spooky Spirit With a New Fall Update

Everyone knows the scariest things in Animal Crossing: New Horizons are spiders, scorpions, and the very first time an oarfish emerges from the ocean at the end of your finishing line. That seems to be enough frights for Nintendo's cute life sim-expect some adorably spooky additions to New Horizons with the Fall update launching next week.

On Wednesday, September 30, the Fall update will kick off the Halloween season in style with several new features. Nook's will start selling candy out of the store cabinet, Leif will help players start up their own pumpkin patches, and those pumpkins can then be used to craft some new seasonal items.

For player customization, some Nook Miles will net players "body paint" and "colored contact lenses," essentially expanding the skin tone and eye color options to allow for creepy zombie and intense vampire looks. There will also be some new costume options sold at the Able Sisters shop throughout October.

On Halloween, players will be able get some rewards by giving candy to Jack, Animal Crossing's pumpkin-headed Halloween czar (think Zipper during Bunny Day but less annoying). Nintendo's patch notes also recommend holding on to candy to give to villagers, lest players be pranked for holding out.

In some less-spooky news, New Horizons is also adding a Ring Con item from Ring Fit Adventure for everybody who downloads the update. Just like real life, you can put the Ring Con next to your TV and then feel bad for not using it enough.

Along with some new Halloween-appropriate reactions, the mobile Nook Link app will also get an update next week that will let players pick from the full list of reactions on the fly. Another quality-of-life update is on the way, too: the Dream Island feature introduced a few months ago will get the addition of an in-game list for revisiting islands.

So, you've got a couple days to clear a spot for a pumpkin patch before the update hits. Be sure to make the most of the Halloween season now, because Nintendo's already teasing an update that will add events for Thanksgiving and the winter holidays—don't drag your feet and come up with a costume when it's nearly November, okay?