Animal Crossing: New Horizons dataminer discovers a heap of unreleased content

A dataminer has discovered a cache of unreleased content hidden in the code of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, pointing to a slew of new features that could be headed to the game sometime in the future.

But as with any datamine, it's best taken with a grain of salt. This datamine comes from Twitter user Ninji, who states that while code exists for a number of unreleased features, this could simply be leftovers from cancelled content. Still, the code hides some intriguing secrets which you may want to avoid if you are wary of spoilers.

Ninji's efforts have dug up evidence of two new museum upgrades for the game, as well as art sections for all three levels following the tent. There also appears to be two standalone buildings - a museum shop and museum cafe, the latter of which incorporates a Gyroid section.

For those who aren't Animal Crossing afficionados, Gyroids are mysterious items that can be found buried in the ground after a rain. While these appeared previously in the series, they are currently missing from New Horizons.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf character Redd - a fox who sold paintings - also appears hidden in the code, with Ninji finding references to a ship which docks on a secret beach at the northern end of the island. In the code this area is referred as "Nつねきち", a slight variation on Redd's Japanese name "つねきち".

New bushes and vegetables are mentioned as well. For bushes, these come in the form of azaleas, hibiscus, holly, hydrangeas, camellias, and osmanthus. On the veggie side of things, Ninji found tomatoes, wheat, sugar cane, potatoes, carrots, and pumpkins.

Swimming is also mention, along with a new diving mechanic for obtaining seaweed and fish. We last saw diving in New Leaf, with players being able to don a scuba suit to collect seafood.

So if we're going to see any of these additions, when will it be? Well, a new update for New Horizons is expected to arrive soon, as well as an Earth Day event slated for April 22. Until then, we wait. In the meantime, if you’re just getting started, be sure and give our Animal Crossing: New Horizons guides a look. Here’s a Bug List which also tells you when to find every bug and here’s one on fish; this one on how to acquire resources, and plenty more.