In an interview with IGN at E3 2019, Aya Kyogoku and Hisashi Nogami of the Animal Crossing: New Horizons development team confirmed that Isabelle will be in the upcoming game and her appearance depends on your progression.

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“If Tom Nook is a great recruiter, and if he succeeds with the Nook Inc. Deserted Island Getaway Package PR, then she may come back,” Kyogoku said.In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, players start their adventure on a deserted island with a tent and only two other animals rather than an established town. To progress, players must work toward improving the island.Isabelle’s appearance “may” also depend on how much debt the players have paid back, Nogami said. While players aren’t required to upgrade their tent, Kyogoku said that Tom Nook may not see certain facilities as a necessary upgrade.“If the player chooses to stay in the tent, Tom Nook may say ‘Hey, actually, that guy likes living more of an outdoorsy, wild life,'” Kyogoku said. “So he may not see the necessity of adding new resident support services. But then if you do upgrade to a house, he may see a need for some sort of new facility.”Nogami added that it’d probably be odd if the player lives more of an outdoorsy life and gave the example that if someone were to live in the mountains in a more humble shack, you can’t just suddenly build a convenience store right next door to his house. Tom Nook is paying attention to those sorts of things and makes sure he’s providing what the resident needs and will develop as he sees fit.So, if you want Isabelle to potentially appear in your town in some manner – it’s not quite clear what kind of role she'll play – then you’ll want to make sure you keep upgrading. Animal Crossing: New Horizons was delayed to March 20, 2020 . For more on its newly announced features, be sure to read our breakdown of the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Treehouse live presentation

Miranda Sanchez is an executive editor at IGN, and she's super excited for New Horizons. You can chat with her about video games and anime on Twitter