How Long Does Animal Crossing: New Horizons Take to Beat?

As an avid gamer and content creator passionate about the Animal Crossing series, one of the most frequent questions I see is "how long does it take to beat Animal Crossing: New Horizons?" As with any self-paced life-simulator type game, there‘s no definitive answer, but based on player data we can estimate playtime for certain milestones.

What Does It Mean to "Beat" Animal Crossing?

Unlike story-driven games, Animal Crossing has no final boss or credits scene. Instead, the open-ended nature means goals and completion status is up to your personal pace and interests. But we can break it down into some metrics:

Main Story Progression

This focuses just on central island progression goals set by Tom Nook and the Nooklings, like:

• Upgrading Resident Services tent → building
• Unlocking island shops
• Developing housing plots for villagers

I‘d estimate around 50 hours focusing solely on these core objectives.

Completion of Main Activities

Beyond the story, there are various activity completion targets, such as:

• Furnishing home interiors
• Completing the museum‘s collections
• Achieving max island development

Including these, playtime is around 150 hours for what I‘d call typical completion.

100% Completion

This involves completing every achievable goal, to a completionist level. Goals include:

• Obtaining all DIY recipes
• Cataloging all furniture
• Catching all fish/bugs/sea creatures
• Earning all Nook Miles achievements

Playtime rockets up to 500+ hours for this level of dedication!

So while the main story/goals will only take around 50 hours, for full completion status there‘s potential for 500+ hours of things to accomplish at your own pace.

Main Gameplay Hours Estimate

Based on crowdsourced data from players tracked on completion tracking sites like HowLongToBeat, here is breakdown of the reported average gameplay hours:

So realistically, getting through the main story and content takes approximately 100 hours. Those pursuing 100% completion are looking at 600+ hours though!

Let‘s explore what kinds of goals make up those playtime hour totals:

Main Story Playtime Deconstructed

Focusing solely on central progression unlocks with Tom Nook, villagers and island infrastructure, you‘re looking at around 38-50 hours. Exact times will vary by player. This includes milestones like:

• Paying off initial moving fees
• Analyzing island layout maps
• Crafting tools/furniture for housing plots
• Establishing Resident Services tent
• …and eventually developing this into a Service Center Building

After unlocking infrastructure like Airport, Museum, Nook‘s Cranny shop, Able Sisters‘ tailor shop, players have completed main island progression in roughly 30-40 hours.

Core gameplay then revolves around enjoying at your own pace while aiming to:

• Upgrade house, adding rooms
• Meet & befriend recruited villagers
• Begin collecting furniture sets

This brings the approx. time up to 38-50 hours for what could be considered core story content.

I‘d classify this initial duration as a relaxed yet purposeful gameplay experience – not too rushed, but with central goals to motivate that core gameplay loop.

Completionist Playtime Goals

For gamers striving toward 100% completion status though, New Horizons offers an almost overwhelming array of achievable goals. After adding up all of these elements, the 500-600 hours playtime begins to make sense!

All completionist goals can be grouped into certain categories:

Collection Milestones

• Catch individual species of fish/bugs
• Unearth & collect all fossils
• Collect songs for stereo catalogue
• Finish Art wing exhibits

Harvesting & Crafting Targets

• Plant various fruit trees
• Grow flowers of all genes/colors
• Learn total DIY crafting recipe list

Progression Maxing

• Fully upgrade & customize house
• Complete encyclopedia of catalogued items
• Purchase all shop offerings
• Help residents acquire their personalized home

Nook Miles Completion

• Finish all Nook Miles+ daily challenges
• Complete long-term Nook Miles achievement list

When looking at the sheer volume of completionist targets like this, it really puts that 500+ hours of gameplay into perspective!

And actual completion times reported by players supports this as well:

"After 430 hours, I‘m still missing several fish/bugs to complete the Critterpedia museum collection. There‘s so much to accomplish!" – Player account from Reddit

Why So Much Replay Value?

As someone who has put 200+ hours into New Horizons myself, I can say the relaxing blend of activities gives this entry incredible long-term value through ongoing play. Reasons it avoids boredom and burnout include:

Real-Time Events – Special events and NPC visits tied to real calendar keeps gameplay fresh and surprising.

Multiplayer Appeal – Playing with others triples replay fun. Social islands and mini-games greatly extend appeal.

Creative Freedom – With terraforming, landscaping tools, and vast interior design options, you have endless flexibility to keep perfecting your island paradise.

Novelty – Special characters like Redd introduce new collectibles in the form of artwork and statues for viewing pleasure.

Developer Updates – New content additions like cooking are patched in, meaning fresh gameplay systems to dive into.

Relaxing Pace – Laidback real-time pace makes dipping in daily feel pleasant versus a grind. The charm and personality provide a consistently comforting escape.

While gamers can complete story content in as little as 50 hours, the wealth of post-game goals, real-time events, creativity, and ongoing updates result in an incredible amount of potential playtime. With 600+ hours, completionists still have plenty to accomplish over 1-2 years of devoted commitment to the island life!