If you accidentally told your favorite villager that they should move out in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, don’t cry yourself to sleep just yet – there’s actually a way to reverse their decision and force a change of heart.

We all know the pain of having an adored character ask to move out. It feels like an act of betrayal – after everything you’ve done for them to make them feel welcomed and loved, they just want to up and leave like it’s nothing. Luckily, you can deny their request and ask them to stay, but sometimes, a slip of the finger means you pick the wrong dialog choice.

Before you shed some tears into a pint of ice cream, though, you should know that there’s actually a simple way to reverse their decision to move out that’ll make your favorite villager have a change of heart, Phantom Thieves style. Reddit user ‘Deenew‘ is the genius behind the method, so kudos to them.

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How to stop Animal Crossing villagers from leaving

If a character is set to move and you don’t want them to, make sure that firstly, you don’t time travel or shut your system off until tomorrow – it needs to be the same day they ask to leave. This is very important because if it isn’t, there’s nothing you can do and it’s bye-bye villager.

Secondly, you’ll need to either create or load up a second character on your island. If you have to make one, don’t worry as you can delete their house (and entire existence, in fact) afterwards so there’s no permanent damage done.

Once that’s done, use your second person and run around town until you see the desired villager with a speech bubble over their head. They’ll ask if they should move, and you can tell them to stay this time.

Gone are the days of accidentally sending your favorite villager off to another town.

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You’ll know the trick has worked when you return to your main character – simply walk around until you find them, and they should automatically ping for your attention.

The villager will tell you that they’ve had a change of heart and are no longer moving because they were asked not to by your second account, meaning you no longer have to mourn over their departure.

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