Hello Kitty Island Adventure is finally available to play on the PS5. The game (whose title was presumably inspired by South Park almost 20 years ago) originally released on Apple Arcade in 2023 and then on PC and Switch last January.
A mixture between a cosy life simulator and an adventure game, the player helps Hello Kitty restore an island amusement park to its former glory, while becoming friends with the island's inhabitants.
You start by designing your own Sanrio-style character and there's lots of choice among animal types, body shapes, and colours to make a unique character that feels like a part of Hello Kitty's adorable world.
Arriving on the island, you're given many quests to do by the different characters and you'll quickly find lots of types of items to start collecting.
Although there is a quest log and objective markers, it's initially overwhelming with many things competing for your attention, and you'll accumulate objects without initially understanding what they are used for.
The game world feels large and after the first few main quests it's mostly opened up to you. The graphics are bright, colourful, soft, and feel on-brand. Exploration is fun and you can jump, climb, and swim around most of the map. There are also "dungeons" to explore with some simple Zelda-esque puzzles to open doors.
The cosy game staples of crafting, fishing, bug collecting, and cooking are all here, and you must also build your friendship levels with the other island inhabitants, mostly by giving them gifts. Doing this unlocks more quests, and materials for crafting better gifts. You're limited by how many gifts you can give each character per (real-time) day, however, so it's a grind to achieve the highest levels.
You can decorate your own house and guest cabins with themed decor, but restoring the island outdoors all seems to be predetermined so it never feels like your own. The focus on exploration and collectables rather than decorating is the biggest difference to Animal Crossing.
All in all, Hello Kitty Island Adventure will be a must play for Sanrio fans due to its great adaption of the source material, but there's also plenty here for fans of casual gamers to enjoy. Although lacking in some areas, its still a good addition to any cosy gamer's collection.
Comments 14
I have been married to a wonderful woman for 26 years. She has always supported my gaming hobby, but was never a gamer herself……..
…….until she started playing Hello Kitty Island Adventure on Switch! Now she games almost as much as I do!
I am very thankful for this game, for bringing my wife into the light of gaming. 😃
I think this game at least from brief looks, does a fair job of what it's going for. It seems like they did more then just make a game you can insert Hello Kitty into, and made a genuinely fair game with good ideas and the world of Hello Kitty, which is a good thing, it needs to do more of the latter. While also offering good enough ideas to do in the world while still being family friendly. I think they really thought it one out.
I can agree with the grind and other details for sure though. The dialogue does seem rather simple but I don't think it's a bad thing, it's clear enough what's going on at least from the screenshots. Obviously they only show certain moments so I can't be that critical.
I don't care for cozy games as to me many seem rather generic, fair tasks but aren't that exciting it's why I ignore many of them, just boring things to do, too busy telling a story or culture or other stuff and I just find the gameplay unengaging or trying to fit in with a trend rather then actually offering something decent.
But this one I can see the appeal of the dungeons, the friendships, the other things in the world, it seems like a fair mix to the game.
Maybe I have seen to many farming games or any others in trailers that just look generic and I probably can't tell them apart as they really don't have a lot to stand out when seeing the trailers, and those games likely don't want to stand out either, taking easy sales. While those that do 'just enough' are appealing.
Many Hello Kitty games got rather minigame collection for a fair amount of time, ok ideas in there but rather weak execution or insert the brand rather then worth while. I don't expect oh we can only rely on a Animal Crossing approach or a Roller Rescue or others but the others just seemed so pathetic, this looks like a genuinely fair game to me.
Aggressive Retsuko in there or whatever the Red Panda is, is also a fair touch too I guess in the trailer. I wouldn't put it past Sanrio to do things like that mix characters in from other properties, that and it was a very good show too. Not that related but I guess more child friendly Conker like the GBC games in Diddy Kong Racing rather then the adult one. Either way.
Like playing Sims games that were more story based and still somewhat had the building, social and other mechanics reworked to fit, not just try to port the PC games to console. But then again the Sims 2 era of console had console fitting controls, the others don't and the cursor can be picky.
I appreciated like Sims 2 on PSP,, or Castaway or any other handheld ones that varied of that approach, even if others like Sims 2 Pets on console was more of a scaled of the PC like experience, the story ones were also good to have.
@Westernwolf4
You should definetely continue with other co-op games. Overcooked All You Can Eat would be a great time for both of you. Games in it are both simple but also so much fun. Teasing each other, discussing strategies, having high fives when you triump etc. all are awesome moments.
Having to grind the characters w/ the daily gift limit sounds out of place in a full priced game. I played on Apple Arcade w/ a free month and never got to finish b/c time ran out, don't think I could go through all of that again.
Is the game currently up to date? Switch released with a few of the later sections missing and they got added in later.
@Scottyy Great ideas, thanks!
not gonna lie... I am a simple panda, Retsuko is in this game so I buy the game, that simple...
Yay...!!! 😃😃😃
Hello Kitty on PS5 and will get physical release this August 2025.
Thanks for this review. I'm strangely attracted to the game and I might just have to play it..
Are there daily tasks or any other timed mechanic that try and get you logging in every day? That's a complete turn off for me, so I hope there are none
@Titntin Aside from the 3 gifts per day to give out to the characters (which does gate progress since you need to get different characters to certain levels before some new quests become available) there are daily and weekly quests. There are also little events that run for a few days, I'm not sure how frequently those occur or re-appear.
This generation has been such a joke, and this is another great example.
Is cosy what they call kids games nowadays?
@J0HN_L0CKE Thanks for the info pal, that's really helpful!
Butters would be so proud of this review.
@Propaperpusher
I mean what's wrong with cute cozy games like Hello Kitty?
Not everyone have interest with AAA Ultra realistic graphic games.
Cozy games like this always have their audience, including me.
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