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Animal Crossing fans were surprised when a huge update to the game dropped a day early!

The 2.0 update to Animal Crossing: New Horizons was announced in a special Nintendo Direct last month, where makers Nintendo confirmed, to some fans' disappointment, that this would be the last free update to the game.

So that means although there will be future updates, gamers will have to pay for them.

However, the final free one is a biggie. It sees more than 9,000 new items added to the game, like fairy lights and swords, as well as new villagers, and fan-favourite characters like Brewster.

Here's our round-up of six things you need to know if you like to play this game.

Brewster's here!

Many fans have been excited about the arrival of Brewster in the new update.

Brewster is a pigeon character who runs a café called The Roost and was very popular in previous Animal Crossing games.

Players can find his cafe in the Museum, where they can pay 200 Bells (the game's currency) for a pigeon milk latte with other players, or their own villagers.

New villagers

Along with new characters, 16 new villagers have also been added to the game, who you can try to persuade to live on your island.

Eight are completely new villagers, like Sasha and Ione, and the other eight are returning villagers from classic Animal Crossing games in the past like Ace and Rio.

Here are all the new villagers: Sasha the bunny, Ione the squirrel, Tiansheng the monkey, Shino the deer, Marlo the hamster, Petri the mouse, Cephalobot the octopus, Quinn the eagle, Chabwick the penguin, Zoe the anteater, Ace the bird, Rio the ostrich, Frett the dog, Azelea the rhino, Roswell the alligaotor, and Faith the koala.

Ahoy! Kapp'n's boat tours

Next up Kapp'n has been added to the game!

Kapp'n is a turtle sailor who hangs out at the pier and serenade you with a sea shanty or two!

He can ferry players to mysterious islands - for a fee of 1,000 Nook Miles - which might even have a different season, plants or creatures on it.

This is useful for those who might have missed limited seasonal items.

Harv's Island - new Open Market

Harv's Island has had a big update, and is no longer just a photo shoot area.

Behind Harv's house an area has been cleared for the Open Market.

Players can donate Bells to help encourage sellers like Saharah and Redd to set up a permanent shop on the island instead of the occasional visit to your island.

As well as familiar sellers like Kicks, other sellers include Katrina who can read your fortune, and Harriet who can teach you some different hairstyles.

Vegetables and cooking

Players will be able to grow their own vegetables and cook meals with them in the new update.

Veggies like tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, wheat and sugarcane can be grown in special vegetable patches.

Players can then learn how to make DIY recipes of dishes like tomato curry and carrot pottage.

Gyroids

Finally players will be familiar with digging up fossils on their island, but now they can find Gyroids too.

Gyroids are little cactus-like creatures, that you can customize.

They also make unique sounds and bop along to music.