Animal Crossing: New Horizons – When does the Day Reset

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is unique in its use of a real time calendar and clock. Some other titles offer a similar feature, but few rely on it so heavily. Almost everything in the game is based around what time or day it is, including events and much of the early missions you are tasked with during the introduction of the game. And while you may think there is a deadline of midnight, it’s not like new villagers will be moving in during the dead of night. So players have wondered just when does the day reset in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

When does the Day Reset

As I said, most players think you need to be wrapped up by midnight, but this is not the case. The Animal Crossing day actually resets at 5am, giving you extra time to wrap up tasks and meet key requirements. Want to expand your house one more time before the new day begins? Get your loan paid off by 4:59am and it will be ready as soon as the clock changes. Sometimes it’s a good idea to give a solid buffer here though, as dialogue can take you past the deadline and cause issues. You may also want to make sure you save and quit, if you’re playing this early/late.

With a 5am cutoff for hitting requirements you can stay up longer and try to finish things up. This helps as any time you reach a big milestone, like opening the museum, many things close down until the full building is ready. So if you’re close to meeting a cutoff you might want to push through and check that last box. This will basically jump you a day ahead of where you would have been had you waited until after 5am to make it happen. So that’s the answer to when does the day reset in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.