Hello Kitty Island Adventure on Switch feels like poor man's Animal Crossing

When Hello Kitty first embarked on a tropical vacation to a peaceful remote island, it was a novel idea for a platform that didn't particularly specialize in cozy games. Hello Kitty Island Adventure was a game that did not have particularly high expectations attached to it and quickly proved to be a pleasant surprise. As an Apple Arcade title, it turned out to be a brilliant use of the beloved Sanrio license. The time has come for the game to come to Nintendo Switch and there are still a lot of positive things to say about it, even if it's probably going to sit in the shadow of a titan at the end of the day.

Hello Kitty Island Adventure begins with a peaceful flight to a vacation island. As the plane makes a rough landing, players create their custom animal character and land on a tranquil island paradise. The avatar system is simple, bordering on rudimentary, with a few options and a preview of unlockable items that can be picked up through natural gameplay progression. Upon getting settled, it's time to become a social butterfly and meet the various recognizable faces from Hello Kitty lore like Chococat, My Melody, Badtz-Maru, and Hello Kitty herself.

The idea is to raise individual friendship levels by socializing with each character, offering gifts, and completing various quests for them. These often turn out to be simple fetch quests, but some will take players across the island world and introduce interesting exploration missions, puzzle sections, and various activities like fishing, cooking, and crafting.

There's a lot to do in Hello Kitty Island Adventure and the best thing that this game has going for it is that, like the character creator, it's all simplified. Developer Sunblink is aware of the target audience, which is younger kids and those who have an affinity for the license. This isn't exactly for the hardcore player, which is why it's nice to have features like a waypoint system that points the way to the next quest objective and friendly tutorials.

What's most remarkable about Hello Kitty Island Adventure is the number of activities available. There's a lot to do across the world with new quests popping up regularly, but there's no pressure to do it all at once. In fact, the game is perfectly fine with players taking breaks and enjoying its offerings a little bit at a time. The systems all work wonderfully, there's a full day-night cycle and multiple seasons that offer different content, and there are even regular events like the recent Valentine's Day celebration to keep things interesting.

As a Switch owner, it's fair to ask if Hello Kitty Island Adventure does anything that helps it stand out from the cozy juggernaut that is Animal Crossing: New Horizons. After all, both focus on being a heavenly slice of life living amongst anthropomorphic animals. Ultimately, it's that sense of simplicity that makes Hello Kitty's island a pleasure to experience. It's fair to describe it as an introduction to the cozy gaming genre, something to help prepare for something a little more involved like the Animal Crossings and Disney's Dreamlight Valleys of the world.

Of course, there's absolutely nothing wrong with sticking with the Sanrio universe, because Hello Kitty Island Adventure has a lot going for it. One of the lone negatives is that the issue of performance hitches that plagued the original Apple Arcade version hasn't really been fixed with the Switch. Some long load times can also cut into the relaxation time. Outside of that, there's plenty of reason to take a load off with Hello Kitty and friends, whether it's at home or on-the-go with the Switch's Handheld Mode.

These impressions are based on a Nintendo Switch code provided by the publisher. Hello Kitty Island Adventure is available now on Nintendo Switch for $39.99 USD. It's also available on Apple Arcade and PC. The game is rated E.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?