Hello Kitty Island Adventure Review
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Hello Kitty Island Adventure Review

I discovered a number of pleasure in Hello Kitty Island Adventure after I first began taking part in its closed beta for IGN’s information, method again earlier than it hit Apple Arcade in 2023. Attending to create my very own little Sanrio character and run round a tropical island accumulating fine details to reward to my new animal associates was fairly stress-free and enjoyable. However daily, that motivation to finish all my quests, discover lacking associates, and unlock new areas began to put on off. At a sure level it felt like a chore to log in, spam associates with presents till I hit obnoxious every day limits, and hope I’d be allowed to progress my friendship ranges a little bit additional. Sadly, it’s the identical scenario on Change and PC a yr and alter later: this island continues to be simply as giant, colourful, and geographically various because it was on my iPad, nevertheless it’s as frustratingly gated, repetitive, and rancid too.

Don’t get me flawed, there’s a lot to love about Hello Kitty. The crafting, for example, feels easy and intuitive. There are various various things you may make, from quite a lot of meals objects to cute plush friends. However on the finish of the day, the primary goal of crafting is to get higher presents on your island associates. The higher your presents, the faster you’ll advance friendship. Which means there may be little or no incentive to craft issues exterior of reward giving or unlocking the following step of the very gentle “story.”

Gifting is what makes the world go ‘spherical in Hello Kitty Island Adventure. The whole lot revolves round giving your island residents presents and receiving sources (which you’ll use to make higher presents) in trade. Development within the story is basically locked behind totally different Friendship ranges, which could be a slog to get via until you’re gifting your residents two- or three-heart objects – however the catch is that you simply received’t even be capable of craft these increased degree objects till you’ve hit sure Friendship ranges. It looks like a fastidiously curated maze of roadblocks to maintain you from progressing too far too quick.

Though discovering the very best order to degree your residents whereas attempting to determine every of their favourite three-star presents could be a enjoyable problem, gifting ultimately begins to really feel extra like a tedious chore. You’ll be able to’t even ship a number of of the identical reward directly to rush up the method. And since gifting no matter earns you probably the most Friendship factors is the one right choice, there’s nothing artistic or rewarding about it – it’s a thinly veiled spreadsheet color-coded in brilliant, bubblegum pink. Even the dialogue triggered by gifting stays largely the identical from good friend to good friend, solely various relying on the “tier” of the merchandise you give.

The characters are tremendous cute, however speaking to them every day feels fruitless.

The characters themselves are tremendous cute, and are certain to spark some nostalgia for longtime Sanrio followers. They’ve a little bit of spunk to them, with the odd second of humor which livens up otherwise-dull dialogue interactions. Apart from that, although, speaking to the island residents every day feels fruitless. You don’t actually get any new interactions with them as time goes on. You simply should maintain plugging alongside giving reward after reward to unlock their quests in case you hope to see something new or totally different.

So if Friendship and gifting are merely the keys, certainly the questing door they open is the place extra fascinating or partaking experiences should be hidden… proper? Sadly, all that awaits you is much more flavors of busy work. From quests unlocked by reaching new ranges of Friendship, to the story quests which reveal the “thriller” of the island, these aims are one other unending listing of to-dos, with little or no selection within the easy puzzles, object fetching, crafting, and extra they ask of you.

Which means quest duties get repetitive quick, and I had little or no motivation to finish them exterior of unlocking extra of the story (which itself is filled with dialogue that usually falls flat) as a result of rewards felt both minimal or inconsequential. We’re speaking a few crafting materials right here, a “spooky” furnishings merchandise there – nothing that modified something about the way in which the following job would unfold.

That’s as a result of furnishings and adorning are simply as underwhelming because the crafting and accumulating that precede them. You’ll be able to beautify your individual island dwelling, plus the opposite houses you unlock to draw new Guests, utilizing the friendship and quest rewards. Should you’re fortunate, you would possibly discover one thing in a random chest hidden across the island. It’s some time, although, earlier than you’re in a position to craft your individual furnishings.

When you’ve unlocked some selection, the choices are… okay. When you may combine and match, the decor isn’t very versatile, leaving little room to get artistic and design your individual type exterior of the “themes” every furnishings set is available in as a result of they simply don’t play properly collectively. What am I imagined to do with a Hello Kitty bookcase, a Spooky Candelabra, and a Pirate chair? I can’t make my home appear like a bookstore, or a restaurant, and even redecorate for an upcoming vacation with such restricted choices. Heck, you’ll be able to’t even rotate furnishings at quarter turns or place objects on tables! General, until you want adorning your homes in full-on Kawaii kinds, you’re out of luck.

One of many areas the place Hello Kitty Island Adventure’s customization is extra profitable is its character creator. I like that you simply get to construct your individual little Sanrio character, relatively than the Animal Crossing strategy of you being the one human on an island stuffed with sentient, speaking creatures. There’s a pleasant number of totally different animals to select from, together with birds, bunnies, and even sheep (although I’m bewildered that it doesn’t have frogs as an choice). As you play extra and degree up your Friendship, you unlock much more “avatar” colour choices to select from.

An absence of fascinating hooks is why my motivation began to wane.

Tuxedosam has some cute garments out there to buy at his island store, and also you’ll get the odd outfit from a chest or quest. Nonetheless, very similar to the decor, there isn’t sufficient selection to encourage my creativity or make me need to costume up each day (and even fairly often) like I often take pleasure in doing in video games like this. I discovered one outfit I type of appreciated and it grew to become my “uniform.”

This lack of fascinating hooks is an enormous motive why my motivation to proceed taking part in began to wane as soon as I reached a sure level. Positive, there are many issues to gather in Hello Kitty Island Adventure, together with furnishings, garments, critters, fish, and extra, however there may be little or no incentive to take action apart from merely for the sake of conserving you busy.

There may be no less than the Nature Protect to replenish with critters, in addition to the Fwishing Nicely to provide fish to, each of which might usually fulfill somebody like me who enjoys “catching ‘em all” and hitting assortment targets. However, as soon as once more, the rewards for including these locations are so minimal they may as properly be nonexistent. You’re telling me that for donating all of the critters that may be discovered within the lavatory space of the island I get… 10 mushrooms? I may collect these myself in a single day!

It does assist that the designs for the critters themselves are unbearably lovely, branching off past bugs to additionally embrace frogs, chickens, and even turtles. However that’s not sufficient to vary the truth that bug catching itself is overly simplistic, and would not supply a lot to make sure bugs extra of a problem than others in addition to having them vanish faster. In fact, you’ll be able to enlist Kerropi’s assist to get a buff that makes the bugs stick round longer – however, as you may need guessed, this too is locked behind their Friendship degree.

As compared, I actually just like the fishing minigame, which places a small spin on the standard “maintain the fish within the coloured bar” mechanic by turning the bar on its aspect and testing your response time to maintain an arrow balanced within the heart. Nonetheless, there isn’t far more to fishing past this. There are not any upgrades to get and no fishing assortment challenges that I may discover, apart from hitting sure milestones by giving presents… sorry, I imply making donations to the Fwishing Nicely. That’s a disgrace, as a result of the designs of the fish are actually cute, colourful, and match the distinctive vibe of the areas they’re present in completely.

At this level, you’ll in all probability be making comparisons to a different cozy tropical island recreation. Permit me to be the bearer of unhealthy information: No, Hello Kitty Island Adventure will not be actually akin to Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Whereas these two video games might sound very comparable on the floor (you might be caught on an island with some cute animal companions, tasked with sprucing the place up), they couldn’t be extra totally different when you really soar in.

Animal Crossing is all about accumulating and crafting as you form your individual private dream island, basically a sandbox adorning recreation stuffed with enjoyable little guys who stay alongside you. Hello Kitty, then again, is all about remodeling an deserted island amusement park into the very best (learn, predetermined) model of itself alongside a linear path. The dearth of customization for not solely the island itself, but in addition your individual home and customer’s homes, means it feels much less like your dream island, and extra like a dream of Hello Kitty’s that you simply’re simply visiting.

That makes it really feel like Hello Kitty Island Adventure is asking nothing of me aside from my time. Whereas a recreation coming to extra platforms isn’t a nasty factor by itself, I concern this one was higher off performed on a cellphone – one thing to open up and fill the boring moments on lengthy commutes or in ready rooms. Regardless of the disdain cell video games typically unjustly draw, there isn’t any disgrace in wanting one thing that serves as an off-the-cuff distraction for brief spurts at a time. (That isn’t even to the touch on the truth that many cell video games are a lot extra than that.) However even in that context, this isn’t one I need to spend my spare time on, and it makes me unhappy to suppose it may very well be what some folks now suppose all cozy cell video games are: colourful, cutesy, and completely senseless.

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