| Quick Verdict: Hello Kitty Island Adventure isn’t the type of game where you can play as long as you’d like. There are stopgaps that keep you from progressing because it was built on a mobile model. Instead, you’ll get something you can come back to daily and progress with at a more sedate pace. |
| Game: | Hello Kitty Island Adventure |
| Developer(s): | Sunblink |
| Publisher: | Sunblink |
| Review Score: | 9 |
| Cozy Score: | 10 |
| Price: | $39.99 |
| Pros: | This game is adorable with bright colors and fun music. While in some ways it’s a bummer not to be able to binge the game, you do learn to appreciate adding it into your daily routine. |
| Cons: | You can’t play ad infinitum. There are daily roadblocks that require you to come back daily to progress. The Deluxe pack isn’t worth the additional $20 price tag, especially when it was free for mobile gamers. |
| Platforms: | PC, iOS, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 5. |
| Genres: | Exploration, Adventure, Life Sim |
Hello Kitty Island Adventure initially got popular when it was exclusively out on iOS systems, but has since made an even bigger splash by coming to PC, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation. In Hello Kitty Island Adventure, you get to bring the magic of Sanrio to your fingertips by making a character of your own to immerse yourself in the world.
At the beginning, you find yourself on a plane filled with other Sanrio characters on your way to a vacation destination. Before you can land, you all have to bail out of the plane and float down to the seemingly abandoned paradise island below. Well, abandoned except for Nuls, which are almost slime-like creatures that meander around, that you can give hats to and will help tend to stores.
Later, you can give a basket to one to wear on their head. By doing this, you can assign a resource to them to pick up. They’ll gather all of that resource that they can and it will be available for you the next day.
Unfortunately, when you jump out of the plane, you don’t all land in the same area, so you’ll have to explore the island to find your new friends. Along the way, you’ll be met by obstacles that will require your attention in order to move forward.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure exists in two forms. You have your main story plot and your daily tasks. With how the game is set up, there is still tons of gameplay availability long after you’ve completed the main story arc.
To not give spoilers, I can vaguely say that there is technology scattered around the island and mysterious characters that pop up every so often that reveal a life that existed before you arrived and will need your continued help in order to flourish again.
You’ll have various lands to explore, dozens of items to collect, various quests to attend to, and so much more. The one thing that Hello Kitty Island Adventure excels at is giving you a massive amount of things to do, even when you’ve hit a roadblock to the main plot.
I’m nearly 27 hours in and I have completed very little.
In this game, you’re kind of on the rails in terms of furthering the story. Quests are given by the Sanrio characters, but to get those main story plots, you’ll have to level them up. You do that by gifting them items they like three times a day. There are items that you can use in order to reset that timer, but they’re really not necessary.
If you’re not the type of person to binge-play, then you’ll probably never need to use the items that reset the gift meter. However, if you’re like me, then you’ll get a couple of hours of gameplay in the beginning before you’re limited to an hour or two daily if you stretch things out.
I’m sure that if you’ve got your eye on this game, you’ve seen that little extra deluxe pack that you can add on. I’m telling you now, you do not need it. The only reason to buy it is if you can’t live without the clothes and furniture. The pack will give you the flowers you use to reset gifts, but you get those throughout gameplay anyway.
I honestly do not see the value in it, especially not when this was given for free to mobile gamers before it was ported to consoles and PC. You truly don’t need it. This game is set up to keep you coming back day after day and while it was a little frustrating at first to hit a roadblock, I actually enjoyed having a reason to make time for it in my daily schedule.
If you don’t have that flexibility in your schedule, you could spend the extra money. But I’m stubborn, so that’s not my journey.
Even without the deluxe pack help, I got through the main storyline in about two weeks. However, that doesn’t mean that the quests have stopped coming and that I don’t have anything to do. I’ve still got friendship-related quests, daily and weekly quests, collections to finish, and even more land to explore.
Watch the trailer for Hello Kitty Island Adventure!
There’s a hidden land that I didn’t even open up until after I finished the main story plot and there are areas that still aren’t open as I write this because it’s based on furthering my friendship with the character that lives there.
All that to say that there’s a ton of value in having Hello Kitty Island Adventure on your gaming shelf.
If I had to liken it to any game, I’d have to say that it feels like a blend of Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Disney Dreamlight Valley. All the crafting aspects and being on an island feel very Animal Crossing, while the way you tend to the land and do quests feels like Dreamlight Valley.
When you’re not dealing with the character gifting or quests, you’ll explore a multitude of things. There are various places to fish and deep dive, so you can explore the underwater biome. You can scavenge for resources in order to craft things. You’re able to create food items by baking pastries, mixing sodas, brewing lattes, baking pizzas, or whipping up ice cream. You can catch critters to put in the nature preserve or brew potions with Kuromi.
Dotted around the island are doors that you can open and have puzzles of varying types and difficulty inside them. By completing the puzzle, you will be given a rare item. Every so often, there will be events that have special things you can do. You could go in search of the various hidden treasure chests, comic books, or soundtrack discs. In addition to the chests, there are special pink chests around that can only be opened by trading trash for keys underwater.
Once you have the watering can, you can find all the closed buds across the lands to water to encourage a flower to grow, which will pop out a reward. You can play mini-games that are manned by Nuls for special rewards or fix up cabins to visitor specifications so they’ll come to the island. You can work on finishing your various collections, like fish, comics, or critters, and there are even some challenges you can do once the plot is finished. Or, you can run around with your camera looking for the hidden Gudetama figures lying around.
Gudetama is my favorite! So, while I wish he existed as a character, I still appreciate his inclusion.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure is massive in what it can provide the player and it’s hard to detail it all without feeling like you’re rambling. Hell, there is even a multiplayer function that I never tried out because I lack friends. But that won’t stop you from palling around with a few buddies and exploring the lands together.
I want to veer off a little and talk about customization and what you get from characters by leveling up your friendships with them. In truth, I found the customization of your Sanrio-esque character to be fairly vast. You get to pick from a few different animals, facial features, clothes, color palettes, and even fur patterns.
It felt like I could make something that I was truly happy with. I ended up going with a harlequin bunny, but I was really tempted by the sheep. In terms of the clothes, things were a bit limited, but with Tuxedosam running a clothes shop, you can quickly change up your style to suit you. And, while the color palettes were nice, they felt limited, which brings me to the joys of friendship.
It’s not just questlines that you get for furthering your friendship with the characters; you can unlock furniture, blueprints, abilities, and color palettes. Generally, these color palettes relate to the character in some way, but you’ll get two or three from each character as you level them up. This means that you’ll constantly be able to change up your look! And, you can switch out all the features you chose at any time, so if you want to be a bunny for a bit and switch to a sheep, you can do that!
In terms of abilities, each character will have two different abilities available for you to use once you’ve unlocked them. However, you have to have them as a companion in order to activate it. If you’re savvy, you’ll likely switch them around to suit what you’re doing, like Badtz-maru will make fishing easier, or Pochacco will let you run faster.
Everyone is helpful, but my girl, My Melody, is out here doing the most.
Personally, I think My Melody is the most important companion to pay attention to, especially in the early stages of the game. When you give gifts to the characters, you’ll get something in return, like strawberries, tofu, etc. When you have My Melody equipped, there’s a chance that you’ll get an extra of that item.
Ironically, she’s most important to use on herself. There are only two ways to get flour in the game, which is essential to baking at Hello Kitty’s bakery. Every day, there is one flour on the workstation in the bakery, and you can get it as a reward for giving My Melody gifts. So, having her as a companion to get more flour is super helpful.
The last advantage to leveling up friendships is that when you become best friends, you’ll get a unique reward. Friendships can max at 15, 20, or 25. So far, I’ve only maxed out Keroppi, so I’m unsure if all friendship bonuses will give you the same thing, but by maxing out with him, I was given exclusive furniture recipes and a unique outfit to wear so that we could match.
Lastly, I want to talk about visitors. Every so often, you’ll be told that someone is planning to come visit. This is where the extra cabins come in, which are placed throughout the map. Each visitor will have a specific way they want a cabin to be decorated in order for them to come stay there.
This ranges from wanting specific furniture, location, or food items. If you successfully make up a cabin, they’re more likely to drop by. By interacting with them, they’ll give you a food item and have their own little quest.
Over time, they may decide to stay, but I’ll be honest, I have no clue at what point they decide to do that. I’ve had Dear Daniel on my island multiple times and he just tells me if we were better friends, he’d consider staying.
Damn, Daniel! Back at it again with vague promises
Even still, I love that this adds even more things to juggle with the opportunity of having more obscure Sanrio characters on your island.
Overall, there are 16 main Sanrio characters, with an additional 23 lesser-known Sanrio characters who can come around for a visit.
I’ve always thought Sanrio was cute, but I was never the type of person who could tell you much about the character or even really cared. This game has changed that for me. I know far more about the universe and I’ve grown a fondness for it.
Overall, I’ve vastly enjoyed my time playing Hello Kitty Island Adventure and even though I think the deluxe pack ordeal is kind of shitty, I still had a good time without it. If you’re looking for a game that you can play a little bit of every day, then Hello Kitty Island Adventure needs to be in your gaming library yesterday.
If you’d like to try out Hello Kitty Island Adventure for yourself, you can get it on Steam, iOS, Nintendo Switch, or PlayStation. Otherwise, you can stick around a little longer and check out some of my other reviews, like Is This Seat Taken? and Whimside.
