Hogwarts Inspired Design Ideas & Tips in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Thanks to the level of customization available in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, players are able to express themselves in new and unique ways through their island design and bring in elements and themes from their other fandoms. Because Animal Crossing: New Horizons allows players to create, import, and share designs through the Custom Design Portal, it is easier than ever for players to recreate locations, scenes, and styles from their favorite movies and shows. For players who have always wanted to be a witch or wizard and attend Hogwarts, they can now create their very own version in Animal Crossing.

Most designs based on other properties and fandoms centers on custom clothing designs. Players will create and share outfits modeled after superheroes, or Star Wars, or even Harry Potter. The player’s character can wear these outfits, or they can give the outfits to other villagers to wear. Beyond just clothing, players can transform their Animal Crossing: New Horizons island into Hogwarts using Terraforming and custom room themes. Here are some ideas for players to use to transform their deserted island into a haven for young witches and wizards.

Create and Share Custom Wizard Costumes in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

One of the easiest ways to incorporate the aesthetic of Harry Potter into Animal Crossing is still through the use of clothing. There are hundreds of codes available for custom Harry Potter outfits, from standard robes to House pride and Quidditch gear. Players can also create their own designs.

Players can encourage villagers to change their clothing by gifting them an outfit. It helps to fit the villager’s personality and tastes, or that villager will not wear the custom outfit. Players should keep in mind the kind of clothing each villager likes wearing based on their personality. For example, Jock villagers will likely prefer activewear to a suit. Players can apply a custom design to that clothing item to have a better chance of the villager liking and wearing the clothing item.

Thanks to the introduction of Wands in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, players can collect Star Fragments during meteor showers and craft and collect all the possible Wands. They may even be able to gift these to villagers and friends to further immerse their island in the Hogwarts theme. While these Wands won’t perform traditional magic, players can load outfits into the Wand to change on the go. This is especially helpful for the Harry Potter theme, as players may want to switch from traditional wizard robes to their Quidditch gear when walking around outside.

Turn the Island into Hogwarts Grounds in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Because players can’t necessarily build massive structures in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, they will need to get creative about replicating Hogwarts. One way to do this might be to recreate the castle grounds, including the lake and Forbidden Forest. To do this, players would need to designate a forest area to place a variety of trees and rocks. Because there is a better chance of catching rare creatures that enjoy settling on trees when it rains, weather can add to the ambiance of the Forbidden Forest. Players can use Terraforming tools to recreate the lake, though they, unfortunately, won’t be able to have a Giant Squid. They can also designate a large tree to stand in as the Whomping Willow.

For an added effect, players may consider transforming one of their villagers’ homes into Hagrid’s cottage. Villagers who already enjoy the nature hobby would be ideal for this, as placing them near the forest and around creatures would likely make them happy.

Players could also easily recreate the Quidditch Pitch. Harry Potter fans have already begun doing this, using nets as the Quaffle rings and creating checkered spectator boxes in the different house colors.

Players can also add train tracks using custom designs, providing a place for the Hogwarts Express to ride through town.

Build Hogwarts Castle in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

The boundless creativity of Animal Crossing: New Horizons players has already led some to transform their home and homes from alternate accounts into parts of Hogwarts castle. Players have added spires to their character’s homes to emulate the castle on the island. Inside, they have transformed their rooms into everything from classrooms, the library, and common rooms to the Great Hall. With a few tables and candles, a podium, and some gnomes, players can recreate the first day of school Great Hall feeling from Harry Potter.

Players can also create custom photo canvases, perfect to recreate the moving paintings characteristic of Hogwarts. They can import existing images, so these paintings can be the exact versions of the movies.

Players can really get creative and dig into House pride with the common rooms and classrooms. They can build the ultimate study and stargazing area for Ravenclaws, the coziest common area for Hufflepuffs, a familial space to chat, and play chess for the Gryffindors, or a basement room fit for the most passionate Quidditch fans for Slytherin. With so many items to buy and make, and so many opportunities to add custom styles to items, players can really have fun expressing themselves within the homes that make up their replica Hogwarts castle.

Some players have taken to creating multiple alternate accounts for the same island to have more customization options and more possible rooms for the castle. Others use this option to create areas like Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley. One player, u/moondawg422 on Reddit, even turned one home into Ollivander’s Wand Shop to showcase all the Wands in the game.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available for the Nintendo Switch.

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