Tips for Evicting a Villager in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Knowing how to evict a resident in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is crucial, especially when certain villagers start to disrupt the harmony of your island. Sometimes, they just don’t fit in anymore, and you’re eager to make room for a new face.

Here’s the scoop: it is possible to evict a villager, but it’s a lengthy process, not guaranteed, and can be quite unpleasant. Essentially, you’ll need to adopt a rather unfriendly approach to encourage them to leave. If you thought this game was all about cute critters and peaceful living, welcome to the darker side of island life. Here’s how to successfully evict a resident in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

The simplest way to make a villager feel unwelcome is to ignore them completely. Don’t engage in conversation, brush them off if they try to get your attention, and avoid sending them any mail. Essentially, act like they’re invisible. If you maintain this for about a week, keep an eye out for them wandering around with a beige thought bubble above their head. This indicates they’re contemplating leaving.

Your villagers often have a better grasp of the island’s dynamics than you do, so while you’re ignoring the targeted villager, make sure to chat with everyone else. They might share rumors about the ignored one wanting to leave, which will only emphasize how isolated that villager has become.

While it’s not guaranteed to work, you can also give the unwanted villager a few whacks with a bug net to make them feel sad or angry. I’ve tried this daily for ten days with one villager, and while it made me feel like a total jerk, they still didn’t leave. Instead, another villager packed up and left. They definitely notice your actions.

Again, this isn’t a surefire method, but if you combine the above tactics with sending them letters filled with undesirable items like tin cans, tires, or rotten turnips, they should get the hint.

It’s important to remember that while you can discuss a troublesome resident with Isabelle, she doesn’t have the authority to evict anyone. Talking to her about a villager’s outfit or name will just reset them to their default settings, in case they’ve made a fashion faux pas.

Villagers can decide to leave on their own, even if you’ve been nothing but polite. Typically, they’ll give you a chance to convince them to stay, but you can also tell them to take a hike. This keeps your island’s population feeling fresh, but it also makes it trickier to target a specific resident for eviction.