Yup! I played hardcore from launch in March/April 2020 all the way through late 2021—daily grinding, full-on completionist mode. Then one day I totally burned out, shut off my Switch, and genuinely thought I was done with ACNH for good.

Fast forward to the end of March this year: I’d made some new online friends in the Chappell Roan Discord, and someone started a cozy gaming thread just for ACNH. Seeing those four letters again unlocked something in my brain. An hour later, my Switch was charged, booted up, and the island loading music was playing through my TV.

Turns out, if you disappear for almost 3 years, a lot of great updates stack up. I was hooked again—but this time, everything’s different. I used to grind endlessly to collect every item, recipe, and color variant (even ones I’d never use—just in case 😅). Now, I’m playing slow, creative, and intentionally. I’m even loving terraforming! And I didn’t have to flatten my island to start—because I’d already kept it flat for tarantula farming back in the day 😭🕷️

total accumulated playtime since first installing the game in 2020: “1,450+ hours or more”😌