How to Unlock Soundscapes

Learn how to unlock all 24 soundscapes in Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Happy Home Paradise DLC. Follow our guide to add immersive sounds to your vacation homes!

Hey there! So, you're diving into the Happy Home Paradise DLC for Animal Crossing: New Horizons and want to make those vacation homes sound as good as they look? Awesome! Adding soundscapes is a fantastic way to bring your designs to life. Let's get you all set up to unlock them all.

The first step to unlocking soundscapes is all about your decorating hustle. You'll need to design a total of 17 Vacation Homes for your clients. Once you hit that milestone, head back to the Paradise Planning HQ. Lottie will mention that Wardell is taking a break and suggest you go find him. You can usually find him chilling on the northeast beach, over to the right of the cliffs where the ruins are.

Go chat with Wardell, and then join him for a little sit-down on the log. He'll share some thoughts about nature's sounds, and after he leaves, you'll get a brilliant idea to add soundscapes to your vacation home designs! It's a neat little moment that really ties into the atmosphere of the DLC.

Once you've unlocked the ability, adding soundscapes is super easy. While you're in decorating mode, just press the button to open the menu (it's usually the button you use to open your inventory or tools, check your controller prompts if you're unsure!) and then navigate to the soundscapes tab. From there, you can pick and choose the perfect ambient sounds for your clients' homes. You can use these sounds for your own home too, and later on, you'll even be able to remodel your regular villagers' houses with them!

All 24 Soundscapes You Can Unlock

When you first chat with Wardell after designing those 17 homes, you'll unlock a starter pack of eight soundscapes. These are your foundational sounds:

But that's just the beginning! The game is designed to give you more as you keep decorating. After you've decorated a few more houses beyond the initial 17, you'll get another prompt to take a break and look for Wardell again. This second encounter will inspire you to learn more soundscapes. This whole process of finding Wardell and getting inspired happens a total of three times, each time unlocking more sounds. In total, you'll be able to unlock 24 different soundscapes (3 sets of 8).

Level 2 Soundscapes

After your second Wardell encounter, you'll gain access to these eight sounds:

Level 3 Soundscapes

And after the third and final Wardell inspiration, you'll unlock the last set of eight:

So keep designing those homes, and you'll soon have the full collection of ambient sounds to really enhance your island life!