Hello Kitty Island Adventure Review (iOS)

Hello Kitty is a franchise that has branched out into many different mediums. Among these many mediums are games based on the iconic franchise. These games often feature a lovable cast of Sanrio characters and are typically quite solid titles. Released July 28th, 2023, Hello Kitty Island Adventure is no exception to this rule. The lovingly crafted life sim allows players not only to experience life alongside their favorite Hello Kitty characters. But allows for this without sacrificing the integrity of the game. This is an essential aspect to understand with a title that has to balance being accessible and being in-depth enough to hold players' attention.  So, to learn more about this fantastic world, as well as its characters. We bring to you our review of Hello Kitty Island Adventure.

A Wonderful Start

Nailing the opening moments of any game can be difficult. This is due to the fact that games, a lot of the time, can live or die by their opening moments. This makes grabbing the player's attention, with either story beats, or gameplay mechanics vital to a game's success. In this regard, Hello Kitty Island Adventure absolutely nails it. The game takes its time to not only introduce each character, as well as their purpose to the player. But also does so in a way that is fun and intuitive. It is plain to see in simply these opening moments, that the developers behind this title simply didn't rest on their laurels. This is great, as they simply could have allowed the Hello Kitty name to carry the experience.

This is absolutely fantastic, to help illustrate this point, I will briefly summarize the opening moments of the game to highlight what makes it a great opening. Players, after creating their character, are placed into the opening cutscene. Here they will find themselves on an airplane with the adorable Hello Kitty cast. After a malfunction, players will end up on an island and have to piece together what happened to everyone. This serves not only to separate the group, requiring the player to explore more of the island but also serves as a great motivator for players to jump in and help.

Many of the game's early quests manage to feel really rewarding, especially in regards to gaining island resources. Players will be able to unlock new areas and characters, which feels quite exciting at first.

Opening Moments on the Island

After players get acclimated to their environment. Players will meet characters slowly but surely, and many of the game's systems are explained, such as Friendship levels and Gifting. This is a great way to introduce these systems. As it doesn't overwhelm the player with things to do right away. One of the strengths of Hello Kitty Island Adventure is its pacing. Which walks a fine line beautifully between easy-to-understand and in-depth enough to care about the moment-to-moment gameplay.

Once players have completed the first few quests, they not only will have an understanding of the game's core gameplay loop. But they will also understand the daily loop of the game. Players are rewarded daily for giving Gifts to their islanders. This is great, as it easily incentivizes players to hop on and play. This is done in a way that is not very intrusive or too demanding as well, which is nice. This also allows players to simply sink into the rhythm of the game and doesn't demand too much of players early on.

Maintaining this momentum from the early moments of the game really could've helped this game maintain its magical feeling. While later content in the game does essentially follow the same formula. Due to its relation to progress that players can see, it feels somewhat lacking. This certainly won't keep every player from reaching the game's later moments. But it does severely hurt the moment-to-moment gameplay loop the further you get into the game.

Minor Missteps

With so much to praise about the early-game experience in Hello Kitty Island Adventure, the shoe has to drop on the other foot at some point. Where the game does have most of its failings is within systems such as the character customization, and housing design. After playing for a while, players will be able to outfit homes for visitors to their island to stay in. However, the customization of the interiors of these homes is absolutely abysmal. And it manages to feel a bit clunky and stiff in a game that otherwise controls quite smoothly. Players can only rotate items before placing and the base layouts of the homes are quite similar. And while we realize that there are certain limitations, this does take away from the game's core magic.

Up until this point, players are completing tasks for various islanders. All the while making their way around the island, which is exciting. However, once you hit this point, it feels like the creativity and freedom given to the player initially is stripped away a bit. While this doesn't entirely take away from the experience, this coupled with the limited character customization, does detract from what otherwise is a rather magical and comfortable experience. Speaking of the character customization, this could have been an early moment to grab the player with a plethora of options for self-expression. Instead, players are made to choose from paltry pickings and default looks.

While certainly there is only so much content and resources set aside for this opening part of the game. But if players aren't satisfied with your character customization options. It can really dampen what could otherwise be a fantastic experience in its early moments. To close this section of the review, a lackluster character customization experience hurts this game.

Cozy Characters

One of the best aspects of Hello Kitty Island Adventure is its characters. Each of the Sanrio characters depicted in the game is true to their inspirations and origins. This makes the game feel like playing with some of your favorite toys. This is an aspect that really works well for the game. As each character has its own charming identity and feels unique. For example, My Melody, who runs a furniture shop in town. Feels completely different from Hello Kitty, who owns a bakery, and so on and so forth. This individuality makes each character feel like they have their own distinct role in the game, and have their own niche they cover. And while these characters do stay true to their roots and shine whenever they are on screen, there as gameplay elements around them that certainly could have used more fleshing out.

Here is where we will discuss Story Quests in the game. For those unaware, Story Quests in Hello Kitty Island Adventure, sees players unlocking certain game mechanics such as Fishing, Baking. While there is a surface-level appeal to these quests, beyond this, they fail to do much for the characters themselves. This makes it so that even if you are excited about spending time with a particular character. Much of your time together will boil down to giving Gifts and completing quests to receive a limited number of items. This is a section of the game that really could have been fleshed out more to include deeper stories about the game's characters. This, in turn, would've brought us close to them. And while the game does offer this on a surface level that is certainly serviceable, there is a lot of untapped potential.

A Cheery Conclusion

For the ending section of this review, we hope to highlight many aspects of Hello Kitty Island Adventure that absolutely shine. The core gameplay loop is one that players can easily play day in and day out if they so choose. However, it feels that the rewards for doing so are somewhat lacking. That said, this game certainly provides a great experience for perhaps younger children. Or simply adults who really love the Hello Kitty franchise. This is due to the fact that each character in the game is true to their source material. And the activities in the game are your standard cozy game fare, which is typically soothing to play.

So, if you are someone who is looking to get into Hello Kitty Island Adventure, it is an adventure well worth it, given you are invested in the characters. While the daily gameplay loop does have its missteps. and character customization does lack severely compared to other titles on the market, you can tell there was a lot of love poured into this game. This is evident from the gameplay systems, as well as the attention given to the game's characters.

And while the game's Story Quests certainly won't blow anyone away, they are serviceable and fun, to say the least, which is all they really have to be at a core level. no matter your reasons for wanting to get into this game, whether it is a sense of escapism or the pure fun of it, this game is great. In conclusion, Hello Kitty Island Adventure is well worth your time.