The new Pro Camera has me falling in love with Animal Crossing all over again

For many fans, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is about the little details. As players design their islands, it’s clear just how much care fans put into meticulously crafting these islands. Whether it’s bending the perspectives of visitors through carefully placed objects or custom-made items or incredibly detailed interior home decor, the creativity of players is seemingly bottomless.

Before the new 2.0 update launched Wednesday, we mainly got to see these worlds from the top down — each stunning island functioning as a little diorama, an encapsulation of island designers’ visions. Now, the new Pro Camera app — which you can unlock now — allows fans to take that appreciation to a whole other level, by giving players the chance to see from a first-person perspective.

For the first time ever, we as players get to see the worlds in first-person and experience just how big beautiful and detailed each island truly is. We get to zoom into the level of our short, stubby villagers and occupy their space. For the first time, we get to step into the dollhouses we’ve created. And players have posted just how beautiful it can be.

Go to the museum and use the camera right now

The museum in New Horizons was always special. The space — which used the iconic theme from previous games — quickly became the go-to place to hang out at the beginning of the pandemic. Among all the offerings on the island, it stood out. Mainly because the carefully designed and curated space imbued a certain kind of reverence, evocative of a real-life museum. A reverence that only feels more powerful now that we can actually move through the space, and take a look up at the glowing pavilion as butterflies flutter around us.

While Animal Crossing has always looked lovely and filled with detail, now we literally get to zoom in. Here, we can even see the dots in the pointillist painting inspired by Georges Seurat’s “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte.” As the camera pans, we get to see the warmth and depth of the space, and for the first time, we truly get to take in the fruits of our labor from our own perspective.

Homes have never looked better

The camera doesn’t just work well for the museum — it’s a near-perfect fit for home tours. Now, for the first time, we can explore your and others’ homes in full 3D. This is immensely practical and also allows us to see how space does or doesn’t work. What’s more is while inside your home, you can fully turn around to see what you made.

Similarly, zooming in on some of the household items shows a striking level of detail in their designs.

The camera isn’t limited to zooming in or going first-person either. Another key addition is players can now capture their islands from a true a birds-eye view, and also alter the angle of the shot. So now you can get stunning overhead views of outdoor areas, if that’s more up your alley.

But getting the camera isn’t just about showing off these grand old spaces. It’s also about seeing friends — both old and new — in a different light. The new options allow us to capture our friends on the move and see what the world you built for them is really like. You get to see how truly oversized those sunglasses you gave your villager are — and how their smile takes over their oversized head when they see you. We finally get the yearbook of our time on the island.