Will You Lose Progress if You Go Back in Time in Animal Crossing?
No, you will not lose significant progress if you time travel backwards in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. While the game has some specific reactions to time manipulation, most of your accomplishments, acquired items, and island progress remain intact. However, it’s not a consequence-free action, and understanding the nuances is crucial to avoid unintended setbacks. The core mechanics of Animal Crossing are designed to allow for time manipulation without causing you to lose the core progress you’ve worked hard for.
Understanding Time Travel in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Time travel, also known as time skipping or TT-ing, refers to manually changing the date and time on your Nintendo Switch console to manipulate the game’s clock. This is a common practice among Animal Crossing players for various reasons, such as speeding up construction, catching specific bugs or fish, or simply experiencing events at their own pace. While Nintendo doesn’t officially endorse it, they’ve built the game in a way that accommodates it without triggering serious irreversible penalties, though some elements of the game are negatively impacted.
What Happens When You Travel Backwards?
When you travel backwards in Animal Crossing, the game recognizes that you’ve changed the clock. This triggers certain in-game effects. The most notable of these is the instant spoilage of turnips. If you have any turnips in your inventory and you move the game’s clock backwards, they will immediately rot, rendering them worthless for selling.
Negative Effects of Going Backwards in Time
- Spoiled Turnips: As mentioned above, this is the most immediate and impactful downside. All turnips you possess will become rotten, turning a potentially profitable investment into zero.
- Anti-Time Travel Protections: The game has anti-time travel measures in place. If you go back in time, things like saplings dying, special events not occurring as intended will come into play.
- Weed Overgrowth: Weeds will still spawn daily. If you move backwards multiple days, then return to present, the game will register this as several days of weed growth.
What Stays the Same
Despite these negative effects, a lot of your progress remains safe:
- Collected Items: You keep all your tools, furniture, clothing, DIY recipes, and other collected items.
- Villager Relationships: Your relationships with your villagers won’t be negatively affected. They will, however, acknowledge that you’ve been gone if you skip multiple days.
- Island Progress: The layout of your island, buildings, bridges, inclines, and other infrastructure will remain as they were.
- Completed Projects: Any completed DIY projects, island upgrades, and other achievements will not be reversed.
The Exception: Villager Moving In
Interestingly, one aspect of the game makes progress even when going backward. If a villager is in boxes and you go back a day (and then move the clock back to the present), that villager will have already moved into their new home. This is an exception to the rule that time travel backwards does not make any progress.
Strategies for Time Travel
While moving backwards can lead to some minor inconveniences, knowing how it works can help you manage the game according to your preferences. It is essential to understand the timing of the negative effects. For example, if you are only interested in a very specific event on a specific day, you can go backwards and forwards after that to be able to get the items you may be seeking on that day.
Why Players Time Travel
Time travel is often used for:
- Speeding up construction: Players can jump forward to quickly see buildings completed.
- Catching rare creatures: Certain bugs and fish are only available during specific times of the year.
- Acquiring desired items: Players may use time travel to fast-track the acquisition of items or furniture.
- Experiencing events: Time travel can allow players to see events that they may have missed.
Time Travel: Cheat or Not?
Whether time travel is considered cheating is a common debate among the player base. While it goes against the intended design of the game, it is enabled within the game’s settings. Some players are against time travel because they consider it a way to shortcut the experience of the game. Others take the approach of play how you would like.
The core aspect of Animal Crossing is that it is designed as a very mellow and relaxed experience. That is the fundamental aspect of the game, no matter the playstyle.
Conclusion
While time traveling backwards does come with minor setbacks, you will not lose any major progress. The only immediate negative impact is the spoilage of turnips. With careful consideration, time travel can be used as a tool to manage your island according to your preferences, allowing you to customize your gameplay experience. So, feel free to explore the temporal possibilities of Animal Crossing, but remember the golden rule: don’t travel back with turnips in hand!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Can I get banned for time traveling in Animal Crossing?
No, you will not be banned for time traveling. Nintendo has not implemented any bans for this practice. They try to curb time travel by releasing events as game updates so they don’t show up when you go back to the past.
2. What happens if I don’t play Animal Crossing for a long time?
Your island may become overgrown with weeds. Your villagers will wonder where you have been, and there will be more than a few weeds on your island as well as other minor consequences such as cockroaches in your home.
3. What is the furthest I can time travel in Animal Crossing?
The furthest date supported by the system is December 31, 2060. Going beyond this date will result in an error message. The game can progress to January 1, 2061, but going beyond that will result in the error.
4. Will a villager move in if I time travel backwards?
If a villager is in boxes (moving in) and you time travel back to the present, they will have moved in already. This is an exception to the rule of no progress when going backwards.
5. What happens if I time travel backwards with turnips?
All your turnips will spoil. This is one of the immediate consequences of going back in time with turnips in your inventory.
6. What happens if I don’t play Animal Crossing for a week?
You may find some weeds growing around the island. Villagers will get a little curious about your absence but nothing significant will occur within a single week.
7. What happens if I don’t give Wisp his spirits?
The spirit pieces will disappear, and Wisp will be back the next night for you to start all over again.
8. Is time skipping considered cheating in Animal Crossing?
This is a point of debate within the Animal Crossing community. Nintendo does not implement a system that punishes you for it, so it is up to the player to decide whether or not they consider it cheating.
9. What happens if you don’t play Animal Crossing for a day?
There won’t be a major impact for one day of absence. The most significant change is more weeds will have grown.
10. What happens if I don’t play ACNH for a month?
You will likely have an overgrowth of weeds. Villagers may start to consider moving out, there will be some cockroaches in your house and other minor effects.
11. How many years can you play Animal Crossing?
You can play Animal Crossing: New Horizons up to the year 2060.
12. What happens if I don’t play ACNH for a year?
While certain effects are in place, there are no long-term consequences to not playing for long periods of time.
13. Does ACNH have an end?
No. Animal Crossing games do not have an ending. There is no point where the game will recognize that you have finished it.
14. Can I unspoil my turnips?
No, there is no way to unspoil turnips that have been spoiled by going backwards.
15. Does time travel affect villagers moving in?
Yes, but only if the move in is in progress. If you have a sold plot and go back a day, the villager will have moved in. Time travel does not affect a villager who was already moved in.