It has been a little while since you began your island getaway in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Perhaps you're just getting started on your adventure or plan to in the future. Either way, once you achieve a 5-star island, you may find yourself questioning what to do next. While there is a ton of new content on the way with free updates planned throughout the year, there are a lot of things you can do until then to improve your island and keep enjoying your wonderous island getaway package.
From finding rare villagers to obtaining the golden tools in the game, here are 10 things to do after getting 5 stars in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Updated April 14th, 2021 By Nate Bermudez: Animal Crossing: New Horizons continues to grow in popularity with the release of new updates and villagers. Some players are just getting started on their adventure or plan to in the near future. Either way, once players achieve a 5-star island, they may find themselves questioning what to do next. While none of the updates have expanded the island or added any new upgrades to the current shops available, there are plenty of new items to collect. The dream suite has also returned, allowing players to make a copy of their island for others to see without the need for them to be online. The future is bright for Animal Crossing New Horizons and it is never too late to get into the game.
15 Move Villagers
As players reach 5 stars they may find themselves wanting to do a complete remodel of their island. This may include moving villagers to better areas that work a lot better with terraforming. It can be quite tedious as the game currently only allows players to move one house at a time per day. This could require some time traveling unless players are willing to wait a couple of days to move some villagers. It does also cost some bells so make sure those are handy. What's better than giving a villager a new view or neighbor to interact with?
14 Collect Amiibo Cards
Amiibo cards can be pretty difficult to hunt down. The latest Sanrio Collaboration cards added cute new villagers to the game but sold out extremely quickly online. It's possible that they may restock in the future with new cards. They don't really add much to gameplay but can be great for those wanting to collect as much as possible in the game. Some of the Sanrio-themed items could go well with certain island themes as well.
13 Start Over
This one may not be for everyone as it causes the player to lose pretty much everything they've worked for. However, sometimes a fresh start is good! There's the possibility that players can get villagers that they've been hunting at the start of the game or get a native fruit that they wanted. There's currently no option like in previous games to keep some progress such as bells made. DIY recipes also don't transfer over to a fresh island so those will need to be collected again. It may be worth it for some players but others may want to keep working on their hard-earned 5-star island.
12 Island Tours
Spending time on other islands is a great way of getting a change of scenery and getting more things to improve your growing island. Nook Miles Tickets can be purchased at your Resident Services building for 2000 miles. You can also get a bunch of tickets by allowing players to come to your island if you have high turnip prices. Very often, they'll tip you a Nook Mile ticket or two for allowing them to sell their turnips. While visiting random islands, you may even encounter a new friend you can bring back to your island.
11 Multiplayer Minigames
The online part of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is fairly limited at the moment. Hopefully, in the future, you'll be able to terraform with your friends and be able to go on Island Tours together. For now, players are finding creative ways to make minigames with their friends to make online play more enjoyable. Reddit user LittleSquishes made a really cool spin the wheel game that allows friends to get random prizes. It's a cool way to get rid of some of the extra furniture you have that your friends don't and would be an interesting way to do giveaways in online communities.
10 Enter The Dream Suite
The dream suite allows players to make a copy of their island to share with other players online without them having to actually visit through the airport. It's pretty convenient and is a great way to visit other islands to get ideas without having to go through the regular online process. To enter the dream suite, players will have to rest in a bed. They'll then be prompted to visit a dream or make a copy of their own. There are plenty of codes available online in the community for other islands. It's a great way to get inspired! Do be aware though, some of the islands out there can be pretty creepy.
9 Finish The Museum
The museum is one of the first buildings players will have to build on their island. There's a ton of fish, bugs, and fossils to collect, as well as art. It can be quite tedious as filling up the museum will require waiting for different seasons to catch certain fish and bugs but it can be pretty rewarding once friends come and visit. Since official island games aren't currently a thing, one of the most fun experiences online is going through the museum. It's an extremely well-done part of the game that will hopefully get expanded in the future with the coffee shop that players hold dear to their hearts.
8 Find Rare Villagers
Another great way to spend your Nook Miles Tickets is to hunt down some of the harder-to-find villagers in the game. You could also look for the villagers you had in previous games or maybe one that you've wanted since starting your island.
It does get a bit tedious having to go to an island over and over again till you find someone specific but it can be very rewarding once you find them. It's also a great way of just meeting every villager in the game that you may never run into again.
7 Terraform
Terraforming is one of the features in Animal Crossing: New Horizons that players were really looking forward to before release and it was definitely worth the grind to get. It allows you to customize your island with endless creativity and it continues to evolve as players discover new ways to do it efficiently. There's a lot of ways to make your island look and feel better with terraforming and while it does take a while considering you have to work block by block, it's definitely worth it in the end. Hopefully, in the future, there'll be an update to make terraforming a bit easier and faster.
6 Have Your Island Follow A Certain Theme
Following a certain theme on your island could make things a ton of fun when it comes to customization and even picking certain villagers. For example, if you wanted to do a horror-themed island you could search for some of the villagers that may fit in a spooky-themed island. Once that's done, it's time to get the furniture and DIY recipes that fit the theme and start working on every bit of the island to make sure it follows your specific theme. Another great idea is to combine themes and make your island a spitting image of your personality. There are so many possibilities with island themes and plenty of ideas online if you're stuck creatively.
5 Hunt Down DIY Recipes
Animal Crossing: New Horizons has a ton of DIY recipes that players desire. Some of them sell for a ton so if you're trying to get some extra bells, DIY recipes are great to hunt down. Even if you just want to collect all of them for your own collection.
Trading and even talking to villagers will allow you to get some of the recipes that may be useful later down the road. It can be a bit frustrating running into the same recipe over and over but the messages in bottles often give some rare recipes and spawn on the beach every day.
4 Time Travel
Time traveling is a very controversial thing in the Animal Crossing community. Some people are very against it, and some are very much okay with it. The truth in the matter is that you should play the game however you want to and shouldn't let anyone else decide how you enjoy playing. Time-traveling has a lot of benefits to it such as being able to visit your shops without having to wait a full day, finding good turnip prices, and collecting fish and bugs for your museum. There's no real drawback to it besides getting weeds in your town and having turnips spoil. Your residents will not leave your island without your permission.
3 Get Golden Tools
Once you get a 5-star island, you'll receive the DIY recipe for the Golden Watering Can. Unfortunately, these tools do break and are not indestructible. The Golden Axe recipe can be obtained by destroying 100 flimsy axes, stone axes, or axes. To get the Golden Fishing Rod recipe, you'll have to catch and donate every fish in the game. The Golden Net recipe requires you to donate all the bugs in the game while the Golden Shovel recipe requires you to help Gulliver 30 times. Finally, the Golden Slingshot recipe can be obtained by popping 300 balloons.
2 Farm Nook Miles
There's plenty to do to get Nook Miles in the game such as completing the achievements, visiting other islands, and checking the Nook Stop every day. Just casually playing the game will net you a ton of Nook Miles to buy whatever you'd like. Online trading often requires Nook Miles tickets so it'd be really good to stock up on those. The events also give bonus Nook Miles so definitely be on the lookout for those when they appear!
1 Stock Up On Materials
More updates and events are on the way and they may require some materials such as wood, iron nuggets, stone, and clay. It'd be a good idea to stock up as much as possible on all these materials so you don't have to worry about farming them in the future. Plenty of these materials can be obtained from visiting random islands and on your own island. It's really not worth selling any of the materials as they're extremely valuable when it comes to DIY crafting.