Animal Crossing New Horizons November Update: New Characters, Special Events, and Potential Gameplay Elements

Spooky season has concluded in Animal Crossing: New Horizons and islands in the Northern Hemisphere are now in the final month of fall. Mushroom varieties have started spawning in-game with November’s onset. Each type differs in rarity and has a distinct spawn rate, depending upon the star rating of islands.

Foraging for these mushrooms will help players get new mushroom-themed DIY recipes to decorate their islands. Now, alongside those seasonal items, November has several other things to keep players occupied over the next few weeks.

YouTuber Mayor Mori has provided a November guide for Animal Crossing: New Horizons while discussing what to expect from the next major update.

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November activities in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

In the Northern Hemisphere, players can still gather acorns and pinecones by shaking trees and subsequently collect their corresponding Tree’s Bounty furniture and items. Moreover, the final seasonal material, maple leaves, will start falling around the islands.

Using these maple leaves, players can craft recipes from the set maple leaf-themed furniture and items. Meanwhile, those playing in the Southern Hemisphere can still track down the Young Spring Bamboo recipes until they disappear at the end of the month.

However, it has now been over a month since the last major update rolled out for the game, which introduced the pumpkin farming mechanic. Nintendo’s Fall update trailer for New Horizons revealed the next free update will arrive in late November. The trailer also confirmed that two special characters seen in previous Animal Crossing games will return to New Horizons.

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New characters and special events returning with the next free update

The first character is a turkey character named Franklin, who visits players’ islands to celebrate the Harvest Festival. Animal Crossing games typically associate this event with Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, the other character is Jingle the reindeer who hosts Toy Day in celebration of Christmas and the holidays.

In Animal Crossing, the Harvest Festival occurs on the fourth Thursday of November, in line with the real-world holiday. This time it is November 26. Therefore, players can probably expect the next update to arrive sometime that week, most likely the weekend before.

The festivities of Toy Day takes place much later. Jingle typically visits the islands around December 23-24. Therefore, it is still over a month away when that update is available for download. For now, that’s all we know for sure. Nintendo is yet to drop an official announcement for these upcoming events. Meanwhile, the community is anticipating a new trailer to roll out in the coming days.

Potential gameplay elements to expect from the late November update

Mayor Mori discussed some data-mined findings, speculating on what the Harvest Festival could look like. Data miners revealed several abbreviated keywords that suggest the impending addition of cooking items.

Although not confirmed, some in the community believe those to include a cooking utensil, a fork and knife, and a frying pan, amongst others. Earlier data mines also revealed clues that vegetables, including tomatoes, carrots, and potatoes, would become available with a future update.

In the previous Animal Crossing titles, Franklin stops by the islands to cook a Harvest Festival feast in honor of the celebration. He basically asks the player for help in preparing the food.

With all that information in mind, it seems likely that the late November update introduces Franklin, who then hosts the event that could see players collecting vegetables or using kitchen equipment.

The inclusion of a cooking mechanic that uses those potential items added to New Horizons and lets players prepare their own dishes and similar things remains another possibility. Furthermore, players will probably see some Harvest Festival-themed furniture added to the game, much like the other limited-time events and holidays so far.

For now, all of this is speculation, and we look forward to more information in the coming days. Overall, it’s interesting to know both Franklin and Jingle are headed to the New Horizons islands, bringing some classic events with them.

Mayor Mori also discusses clues about the Toy Day event and what Animal Crossing: New Horizons players could expect from it. Check out his video above and let us know your thoughts about the upcoming free update in the comments below!