This DLC fills a gap in the gameplay loop of the main game and should've been there from the beginning. Imo this DLC + the 2.0. edition of the main game as one package would've been a worthy successor to New Leaf. But as it stands right now, it's all a little too late to keep me invested in the game long term. It's very fun while it lasts tho.

I actually have only one big problem with this: Reaching the 30 completed interior designs necessary to "complete" the DLC gets a little tedious, sadly, because the themes you get are just so similiar to each other. There are a lot of requests just asking for design themed around sea or plants or the vague word 'relaxation' where you kinda get the same furniture to design them with. It's helpful you can pick between five different requests because, especially after 20 designs or so, like 3 of them are something you already kinda did - which can get very boring if you are forced to do them (which I was three times).

There are some very fun themes tho, and the designing process is a blast, especially after unlocking all the tools the game adds to the editor. On that front, they really outdid themselves: everything is easy to use, intuitive and you have all the features you could possibly want - except being able to decorate partition walls, please, let me decorate partition walls. The story this time around is also very cute.

Un buen DLC que añade la posibilidad de viajar a una isla a trabajar diseñando casas para los animales. Aunque la jugabilidad quizá no es para todo el mundo, yo me lo he pasado sorprendentemente bien diseñando tanto los hogares como las instalaciones que poco a poco van enriqueciendo nuestra isla. Con unos personajes bastante memorables, un argumento divertido y una gran cantidad de posibilidades a la hora de decorar las casas, creo que este DLC es bastante completo y está muy bien integrado con el juego base; y lo recomiendo a todos los que se hayan quedado con ganas de más Animal Crossing. Aun así creo que es un poco caro (25€) para el contenido que ofrece. 8/10
(05/2023)

This is a great sequel in the Happy Home series. I was hesitant to buy any paid DLC, because most DLC doesn't seem worth the price, but comparing it to the original Happy Home game, it was pretty much worth it, I also had a couple gold coins saved up and it knocked off $4 for me.
The amount of things you can do now doesn't feel so limited. In Designer, you couldn't really change much of the home layout on the fly, but you can do that now in Paradise. The fact this is connected to the main game and not separate makes this better, because you can now earn items in the DLC to take back to your island.
This is the thing that got me back into playing a game I felt was unfinished at launch. Along with the huge update, I do believe without Happy Home Paradise being in development, we wouldn't have gotten what we have now.

i feel like some of this content should have been in the 2.0 update to the base game as opposed to dlc only. the furniture store, for example, feels kind of egregious since people have been asking about a nook's cranny update or gracie's return since launch.

it's fun. a little over-priced, and slightly too long, but the charm is all there and i had a big, goofy smile on my face when i saw what they did for the credits. designing facilities in particular was very, very fun. i wish we could do that on our main island, but i get the limitations with that.

the aesthetic island tours would be lit beyond belief tho

DLC to the degree that Happy Home Paradise is, always stumps me in a matter of whether it should be consider a full game or not. While I don't think most people would have bought this game as a standalone, as DLC it absolutely works despite the fact it's also effectively it's own game. And in that sense, it kinda dives into a deeper problem with the way DLC has been opt'd in compared to the far superior "expansion content" that we yearned for in yesteryear. I don't want to go into a big debate about it, but download content like Happy Home Paradise works far more as an expansion of Animal Crossing: New Horizions and succeeds as it's own story and narrative to tell.

So much of Happy Home Paradise works because the way it expanses both New Horizons gameplay, and the previous game spin off, Happy Home Designer. Happy Home Academy was an interesting spin off that focused on home decor, but it honestly just didn't encourage the player to stay too much in the lines of what the client wanted, and due to having a lower amount to customize both inside and out, became repetitive around the half way point. While HHP still has the problem of repetitive design making, the pacing itself is spread just enough to keep you interested till the campaign itself is actually done. From simply withholding certain abilities, to gaining access to certain villagers, and mostly just expanding the catalogue that you have to fill each villagers vacation homes.

By the time that you feel like you know everything there is to know about designing, the game basically opens up to the point where you can simply choose villagers that you like, and make their home for them. While I can't say Happy Home Designer didn't try to make the novelties from Paradise work, as the game is mostly a blur to me, the bigger part to why Paradise works so well is how it expands the list of things you can do in New Horizons itself. By the simple part that HHP is meant to be more of a expansion of New Horizons, so to would it give you more things to do in your New Horizons island. From simply making vacation homes for your villagers, buying new furniture, and of course, designing their homes on your island. On top of all this, Paradise even makes use of the facilities that you make on the island by giving you various rewards for checking in daily or simply just new places to hang out. In a lot of ways, Paradise is a much better sequel to Designer on the simple fact it actually feels rewarding to do your job and earn new stuff for your island compared to just making something pretty.

I think Happy Home Paradise could only simply be a expansion on New Horizons, and never a standalone game for the simple reason that you want to feel like the game is rewarding. While I understand a lot of people will simply love the amount of customization you can do in this content, the major selling point for most will be all the added features that help New Horizon islands. In that way, Paradise easily surpasses Designer's legacy by giving me more to care about aside from a small narrative story. While Paradise does have a nice little narrative story on it's own, the simply truth is that it never really gets to an interesting point that would really make you yearn for more. Happy Home Paradise is completely something that only fans of New Horizons would want, and in that respect, it absolutely delivers.

I'm kind of lumping in the DLC with the update, especially since I'm not 100% sure which parts are which. At least not totally.

A rundown of everything between the two and a quick summary of my feelings:
more items returning and new - should've been quicker to add these, but better late than never
cooking - largely pointless, but additional stuff to craft and farm is mildly appealing.
newer and returning villagers - some of the best looking villagers to date
some additional QOL improvements beyond what was already in the first - same as the more items situation
Harv's island, giving more permanent fixtures in case you miss the daily visiting vendor(though not all) - wish it was everybody and refreshed stock more than the once a week or whatever it does currently. nice that you get more haircuts too. wish you could see from your inventory what things are only customizable by cyrus instead of bringing objects to him only
A second nook miles island- afaik only way to get gyroids. 1-2 fragments or full gyroids. also has veggies and such. No villagers afaik, but im not sure what the original has vs. this or if they both can contain both, minus the gyroids.
gyroids returning is sick
custom design portal anywhere is very useful, especially in the DLC
brewster. Kinda fun. I don't know if it has a long tail, as I never did much of brewster back in NL. I know you could get orders for villagers, but I don't think that necessarily happens here? He did start asking me if I wanted the ethically questionable pigeon milk addition to my daily coffee, so since it has some modifiers that may start happening but I'm unsure of it as of now. If it doesn't, it's pretty weak to have amiibo be the only way to see villagers in there, and on top of that no newer interactions beyond the basic from having them arrive.


Designing homes- I like it because it gives you some structure and allows you to have a blank canvas that matters a little less, so you can make whatever without altering your own stuff that you're satisfied with. Excellent that they allowed you to bring that stuff back to your island and do it to your islanders. The narrative isn't anything amazing, but that's obvious if you've played AC at all. It's got some cute stuff and moments, but obviously it'll roll out new features. It could have been just a wee bit shorter since it requires 30 homes modeled and then after you have all your features, you can keep doing home modeling still. So doing 30 is not necessary. Some also were fairly similar to one another. Designed a total of 3 cafes and 2 sort of different robot themed buildings. Which out of 30 different types of decor concepts, that's not bad, and has a lot to do with who you pick. When using amiibo for this, it helps you with a variety of things you wanna do, but it's kind of annoying making one using a spoofer to then not know. Probably even more so hunting down the amiibo card.

It also shows that it needs a search function for the catalog. It's very difficult to find an item if you don't know its exact name. For example, I was looking for a "busted" seat but that doesn't exist. I meant "ruined" and had no way of knowing. I was going to search it on the internet, but did stumble upon it. There's really no reason to not have a search option

So was it still slightly lacking? sure. just like the original NH. It definitely has a ton of extra stuff to do layered onto the base game, so I won't complain. I had a lot of fun with the stuff and plan to continue to here and there.