Animal Crossing: New Horizons – How to help Wisp

You can find different things on your island in Animal Crossing: New Horizon depending on the time of day. Some critters like the football fish and tarantula only come out at night, so you'll want to spend some time wandering around after dark to add them to your collection. While you're at it, you might come across one of the island's strangest residents: Wisp.

Much like the shipwrecked sailor Gulliver, the ghostly creature Wisp randomly appears on your island every few days, though you'll only find him at night. You're likely to encounter him for the first time soon after starting the game. Once you spot him, walk over and press A. He'll be so startled that he'll fall apart, with five pieces of his spirit flying off in all directions.

Finding the pieces

Luckily Wisp is a friendly ghost and will introduce himself. He's not a fan of the way he looks while his spirit is scattered, which is less like a cute smiling ghost and more like a glowing teardrop, so he'll ask you to do him a favor and help him pull himself back together.

Start wandering around the island again, and you'll find pieces of his spirit floating about. You can catch them in your net the same way you would with a flying bug. Once you've collected all five pieces, head back to where you spotted Wisp the first time. Like Gulliver, he wanders around but doesn't stray too far. You'll need to deliver all the pieces that night or they'll disappear from your inventory, and you'll have to do the quest all over again the next time you meet him.

Choose your reward

Once you turn in the quest, Wisp will put himself back together and offer you a choice of reward: something you don't have yet or something expensive. Unfortunately, Wisp isn't great with money, so he's not super clear on what's expensive. I chose that option and got a wild-wood wall. It sells for 1,800, which isn't all that impressive. You're better off using the quest to guarantee you can fill out your collection.

As a bonus, helping Wisp for the first time will reward you with some Nook Miles, and you'll get more once you've done his quest 10 times. Tom Nook doesn't want to scare away new customers, so he advises you don't tell anyone else the island is haunted.

Don't be scared

Wisp doesn't really get used to your presence and will freak out every time you see him, giving you the opportunity to do his quest all over again. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is so relaxing that it's particularly pleasant to grab your Switch with your favorite Animal Crossing accessories and play right before going to bed.

With the new Nightowl Mandate you can issue in the 2.0 update, there are more options of what to do on the island after dark, but this is still the perfect time to see if you can find Wisp. Just make sure to finish helping him before you nod off!