From what I have played so far, Hello Kitty Island Adventure is a relaxed, casual game that is easy-going with minimal difficulty. Unlike its predecessor’s (the celebrated Animal Crossing series and acclaimed Stardew Valley), the game feels quite watered down in comparison. Dialogue options are limited to two to four choices, all which do not change the outcome of the conversation or narrative as a whole. For example, when asked by Hello Kitty if you would like to be her first customer at her Island Café, you can only answer “Are you sure?” or “I’d love that!” which both elicit the same response. Considering that this game rides mostly on its relationship building and friendship points, I would have liked to see a wider variety of options to make gameplay much more meaningful and enjoyable. There is also no set day and night, no character schedules and no shop opening and closing times. As expected however, the visual design is super cute and appealing, it’s always fun grinding quests for your favourite character’s affection (Pompompurin my beloved). I also really like the Island’s layout as a whole and it was interesting to explore each area and collect Gudetama pictures.
Overall, Hello Kitty Island Adventure is a casual, relaxing life sim gateway appealing to Sanrio fans alike, however, doesn’t add anything new to the genre and under-delivers in comparison to games released a decade ago. For a studio’s first high profile release, it was mediocre, I feel that without Sanrio’s IP, this game would not have performed well at all. With future updates, map expansions, dialogue expansions and bug fixes, the game will be one of my go-to’s for relaxing on an evening.
I think Butter’s was right when he said he would rather play Hello Kitty Island Adventure than World of Warcraft. Give the game a try and let us know what you think...