Animal Crossing: New Horizons - what's it all about?

Nintendo has finally released Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

New Horizons is the latest game in the Animal Crossing series, which sees Switch players build their own village on a deserted island, and and make friends with cute animal villagers.

There have been four main games in the Animal Crossing series, with the first game released in Japan in 2001.

Since then, the series has become hugely popular with fans, selling more than 30 million copies around the world.

The game has been praised for helping people manage their stress and anxiety, and encouraging mindfulness.

Lot's of people are very excited for this game - here's why.

Crafting and discovering

Craft new objects and pay off your debt to Tom Nook!

As with all Animal Crossing games, players have to work hard doing lots of activities to earn Bells (the game's money) to pay off your debt to entrepreneurial racoon Tom Nook.

Players start the game off on a deserted island and have to build a village from scratch.

There's lots of fun things to to do on the island, from collecting fruit, going on a bug hunt, planting flowers, collecting fossils and fishing!

Players can also collect materials from the world around them to craft into furniture and objects for their home - a bit like Minecraft.

Meet the villagers

You can make friends with lots of different villagers including Flora, Rowan and Fang.

As well as main characters like Tom Nook and Isabelle (who you might recognise from Smash Bros) there are also a whole host of other villagers who you can interact with in the game.

According to Nintendo there will be 383 different villagers you can make friends with and help out in the game.

They appear as different animals, like Goldie the dog, or Lily the frog, and have different personalities and interests.

Players can even invite them to live in their villages if they like.

Hanging out with friends

Up to eight people can play together in the game!

As well as creating their own character and world, gamers can also hang out with their friends from the real world.

Players can visit their friend's islands, exchange gifts and even pose for photos together.

They can also lead group trips to visit the island's museum or clothing shop!

Fans have said the game might help people to keep in touch with their friends if they are self-isolating due to coronavirus.