Nintendo Explains How Swimming Will Work In Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Update: The summer update is now live. Hit up our full guide on how to swim in Animal Crossing: New Horizons for more on where to get a wet suit, how to swim and dive, and what to do with the new sea creatures you find.

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons's first free summer content update arrives on July 3. Not only will the update bring back another returning character, Pascal, it will also introduce the ability to swim, and Nintendo has revealed a bit more about how that will work.

Much like in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, you'll need to have a wet suit to swim in New Horizons. Following the summer update, you'll find wet suits for sale in Nook's Cranny alongside the other tools. After you purchase one, simply put it on and you'll be able to take a dip in the ocean around your island.

While swimming, you'll also be able to dive underwater and catch new sea creatures like sea stars and garden eels, which you can then donate to Blathers to display in the museum. If you find a scallop while diving, the aforementioned Pascal will pop up, and you can trade it to him for a new mermaid DIY recipe (and a kernel of otter wisdom).

A second free summer update for New Horizons is coming this August. Nintendo hasn't revealed what that update will contain, but the graphic that accompanied the announcement featured fireworks. Longtime Animal Crossing fans will remember that there would be a fireworks show every Sunday evening in August in previous games, so it appears the fireworks show will be making a return as well.

In the meantime, players in the Northern Hemisphere can still find summer shells, a limited-time seasonal material that can be used to craft summer-themed DIY recipes. Nintendo Switch Online subscribers can also still claim an exclusive free rug for Animal Crossing.