How To Get And Use Reactions In Animal Crossing New Horizons

Express yourself with more than words through Animal Crossing New Horizon's Reactions feature.

Being able to display your emotions through reactions is one of the neat social features introduced in Animal Crossing New Horizons. These reactions can be unlocked through a number of ways including performing tasks for the NPC villagers on your island.

You will be able to express how you currently feel using these emoji-like reactions that are like small emotional snapshots of expressions. In case you want to learn how to express yourself more efficiently in Animal Crossing New Horizons, you have come to the right place. I will guide you on how to unlock all of these reactions with relative ease in this guide.

How to unlock Reactions in Animal Crossing New Horizons

You will be able to unlock your Reactions ability on Day 3 while exploring your Island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. You will hear a random NPC villager calling out your name as you walk past them. Simply go up to that villager and talk to them. In our case, this villager was Phoebe.

During your conversation with the NPC, the villager will ask you if you have been told about Reactions and will then display those reactions, such as joy, and describe them to you.

ACNH Reactions

The villager will also guide you on how you can access the reactions by simply pressing the XR button in ACNH. At the end of the conversation that specific villager will ask you to meet other villagers so that you can learn about other reactions as well. Once your conversation ends you will be able to use Reactions in Animal Crossing New Horizons to express your feelings.

You can open the Reactions menu and there you will notice that you have access to 4 reactions at the start of your adventure. These will include Joy, Delight, Geeting, and Surprise. Moreover, the 2.0 Update for ACNH added 11 additional Reactions for you to experience and use.

You can purchase event-related reactions from the Nook Stop. If you don’t have the required amount of Nook Miles to purchase these reactions you can always indulge in other activities such as Group Stretching. This way, you will be able to learn newer reactions at the start of your adventure.

How to use Reactions in ACNH

You will be able to unlock more than 40 reactions in your pocket in Animal Crossing New Horizons. These reactions can include day-to-day reactions such as; ‘greet’ and ‘laughter’ and can move to emotions that are a bit more complex such as ‘aggravation’ and ‘distress’. If you use these reactions close to another person, you will be able to interact with them.

FYI

You will need to work on improving your Friendship level in ACNH and have it enhanced all the way to Tier 5 (Friendship) by interacting with the villagers and completing tasks for them. Once you reach this specific tier, the NPC Villager will teach you a special reaction. This reaction will be unique compared to their four other reactions.

You can use these reactions according to what’s happening in your environment. Use the fearful reaction if you see a tarantula or the glee reaction for a butterfly, etc. It is very easy to make a collection of these reactions as it can be done by simply talking to the villagers close to you.

Once you have learned the reaction for a Villager, you will be able to access all your reactions by pressing XR on your Nintendo Switch controller. This way you will open a quick access wheel that will have eight reactions that you can use.

Just select the reaction you wish to express, use your left joystick, and then press A to express it. If the number of reactions you own has increased then then press Y, and all of them will be visible to you.

All reactions and how to get them

ACNH Reactions

There are a total of 88 reactions that you can unlock and access in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. You will be able to learn 44 of these Reactions by speaking with different types of NPC Villagers. You can find all of them listed in the table below:

ReactionsNPC Villager (Type)
GreetingSpeak with any Villager
AgreementSpeak with a Cranky Villager
DisagreementSpeak with a Sisterly Villager
PleasedSpeak with a Normal Villager
HappinessSpeak with a Peppy Villager
JoySpeak with any villager
GleeSpeak with a Normal Villager
LaughterSpeak with a Sisterly Villager
LoveSpeak with a Snooty Villager [Tier 5 Friendship]
ConfidentSpeak with a Sisterly Villager [Tier 5 Friendship]
ShowmanshipSpeak with a Smug Villager [Tier 5 Friendship]
FlourishSpeak with a Jock Villager [Tier 5 Friendship]
PrideSpeak with a Lazy Villager [Tier 5 Friendship]
EncouragingSpeak with Jock Villager
DelightSpeak with any Villager
ApologeticSpeak with Sisterly Villager
BewildermentSpeak with Cranky Villager
CuriositySpeak with Peppy Villager
SurpriseSpeak with any Villager
AmazedSpeak with Snooty Villager
InspirationSpeak with Cranky Villager [Tier 5 Friendship]
ShockedSpeak with Jock Villager
MistakenSpeak with Lazy Villager
BashfulnessSpeak with Lazy Villager
ShynessSpeak with Lazy Villager
SheepishnessSpeak with Cranky Villager
SmirkingSpeak with Smug Villager
MischiefSpeak with Peppy Villager [Tier 5 Friendship]
ResignationSpeak with Smug Villager
DaydreamingSpeak with Normal Villager [Tier 5 Friendship]
ThoughtSpeak with Snooty Villager
SleepySpeak with Peppy Villager
DozingSpeak with Smug Villager
WorrySpeak with Cranky Villager
SighingSpeak with Snooty Villager
SadnessSpeak with Normal Villager
HeartbreakSpeak with Smug Villager
SorrowSpeak with Lazy Villager
IntenseSpeak with Snooty Villager
AggravationSpeak with Peppy Villager
Cold ChillSpeak with Sisterly Villager
DistressSpeak with Jock Villager
FearfulSpeak with Normal Villager
SneezingSpeak with Jock Villager

How to get extra reactions in ACNH

You can get those nine extra reactions in ACNH by performing some actions and indulging in certain activities.

Extra ReactionsActivities
HauntGift Candy to Jack during Halloween
ScareGift Candy to any Villagers during Halloween.
Posture Warm-Up50 Days of Group Stretching
Arm Circles50 Days of Group Stretching
Side Bends50 Days of Group Stretching
Body Twists50 Days of Group Stretching
Wide Arm Stretch50 Days of Group Stretching
Upper Body Circles50 Days of Group Stretching
Jump50 Days of Group Stretching

Purchasing Reactions in ACNH

The rest of the 35 (extra reactions) can be acquired by visiting the Nook Stop in Nook’s Cranny. You will be able to purchase certain collections such as the Hip Reaction Collection, Viva Festivale Reaction, etc. to get these extra reactions in ACNH.

These will also include the new reactions that have been added as part of the 2.0 Update, along with the Happy Home Paradise DLC for Animal Crossing New Horizons. You can learn all about these extra reactions in the table below:

Nook ShopPrice (Nook Miles)Extra Reaction
Hip Reaction Collection2700Ta-da, Sit Down, Wave Goodbye, Take a Picture, Excited, Sniff Sniff, Work Out, Yoga, Here You Go
Viva Festivale Reaction Set19800Confetti, Viva, Let’s Go, Feelin’ It
New Reaction Notebook (Update 2.0)3300Flex, Work It, Act Natural, Double Wave, Stretch, Jammin’, Listening Ears, Say Cheese, Behold, Eager
Rolling Credits (DLC: Happy Home Paradise)Hula, Grooving Hop, Grove Right, Grove Left, Soak It In, Side to Side, Island Stomp, Airplane, Twisty Dance, Shimmy, Turnip Patch, Arm Swing Dance
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Decade-long gaming enthusiast turned guide author, sharing insights on SegmentNext to improve your gaming experience.