How to unlock Reactions (Emotions) in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Emotions, Reactions and Emotes (or whatever you want to call it) are a cornerstone of the Animal Crossing community and thankfully return in New Horizons for players to show off how they feel about certain aspects of their newfound life.

Unlike in previous games, though, they aren’t as painful to unlock and won’t require you to do anything stupid or time-consuming to get them, as they unlock fairly early in New Horizons so long as you know what to do and where to go to get them.

A few days into your island life, some of your animal residents might approach you with a gleeful expression on their faces. They will scream your name and stay by your side for a few short seconds until you talk to them.

When you talk to them, several things can happen. They could give you a gift, play a game with you, or unlock the first set of reactions to use in-game. These four reactions are Surprise, Greetings, Delight, and Joy.

It’s a nice set that gives you a lot to use as you visit other towns, talk to villagers, or react to your decisions in-game, and there are plenty more that you can also unlock. If you want to get more, the same rule applies. Wait for an animal resident to run up to you shouting your name, and they will give you one of the many random emotes in the game to use at your leisure. You have no control on what emotions you can get though, so pray you get the one you want most of all.