A surprisingly fun island-hopping adventure that mixes Animal Crossing with Legend of Zelda, the latest Hello Kitty game is easy to recommend.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure starts with a plane crash which, uh, IT’S NOT THE WEEK FOR THIS. Whew. On their way to an island, the plane’s cabin and engines inadvertently fill with flying food, causing an emergency. The characters, one of which is our own creation, leap from the plane one by one a la Fortnite and fly down onto the island’s main square. It’s a wild start to a family friendly game, but one that immediately lets us know that this isn’t going to be a passive experience.
To say that I’ve been surprised by Island Adventure is an understatement; frankly, this game is great. It scratches several varied itches, and brings together concepts that I didn’t know could work as well as they do.
The main hook is the availability of Sanrio’s characters of course, and that includes Hello Kitty, Kuromi, et al. There are cute customizations relating to houses and friendships. We can find or craft furniture, decorate our abode, hunt for shells and stones, and give presents to the other anthropomorphic citizens of the isle. There are unique biomes around this place, too. From a sandy beach to a volcano to a spooky area and a maze, there’s plenty to see. It’s extremely colorful and attractive. This started life as an Apple Arcade game, and the transition to the Switch (and PC, though we reviewed it on Nintendo’s aging platform) has brought with it fidelity improvements. There are no touch controls here; this is just a standard stick & button interface. Instead of mountains of menus to sift through there is a nice quick selection ring that pops up, letting us swap our main action button to whatever we need to do next.
But we also have a dedicated button to jump, and that’s where things get REALLY interesting. This isn’t just a town decorating game. There is a considerable amount of action involved, as we can traverse vertically, swim, climb, and explore all around the island. Because of the vantage point and the adventuring I get an almost Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening vibe to the experience. In order to unlock all of the tools and locations, we need to undertake tasks, mazes, and even some mini puzzle dungeons (they’re EXTREMELY easy, but enjoyable). There are even mine cart rides! That freedom means that the camera and controls aren’t perfect, though.I keep getting caught behind stuff and the camera often has to reset. Also, we can’t really run, but at least there’s fast travel to get us around the huge island.
There are some mobile trappings, though. Things are set up as daily tasks, and we can only help each island friend a certain amount of times per day. And then we have to wait real human days before we can do things like give presents or advance our friendships. That means that it can quite literally take over a week before the game actually opens up. Just don’t time travel using the Switch’s calendar settings. Sanrio warns us that we”ll go to video game jail. All of this means that I end up not feeling as connected to my character and the townsfolk on a personal level as I do in other similar games, and that’s mostly because this is more about doing stuff rather than enjoying stuff.
There are a LOT of things to do, though, so even if we’re waiting on one thing we can go do something else in the meantime. At least there’s no traditional currency. We get new items by trading, especially things we find around the island like shells or stones.
Hello Kitty: Island Adventure does the Sanrio IP justice. There are great, recognizable characters, a lot of cool locations, and plenty of adventuring to tide us over in between daily tasks. It’s an easy cozy recommendation, especially now during the Winter months. Now if you’ll excuse me, my stylish little bird fella needs to go deliver some gifts and climb a volcano.
This review is based on a Nintendo Switch eShop code sent to SideQuesting by the publisher. Portions of the video originally appeared on The SideQuest LIVE for February 2, 2025. Images and video courtesy publisher/developer.
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