Hi there Kitty Island Journey was first launched as an Apple Arcade unique — arguably one of many solely worthwhile exclusives the service has ever supplied. The open-world Hi there Kitty-themed life sim was nicely acquired upon its launch in July 2023, however the recreation’s potential for competing with different nice life sims was stunted by the contract. Now, a 12 months and a half later, Hi there Kitty Island Journey lastly involves Nintendo Swap and Home windows PC, with extra console releases deliberate for the remainder of 2025. And whereas the sport screams Swap — it’s clearly designed within the type of Animal Crossing: New Horizons — some lingering mobile-only quirks may make it a troublesome promote for individuals who aren’t already invested within the Sanrio universe.
Relating to Sanrio fanservice, although, this recreation is totally, downright, 100% pleasant. You’ll be able to’t compete with the enjoyment that comes with delivering presents on behalf of My Melody or going bug-hunting with Keroppi. There are Gudetama lazing about everywhere in the world, and also you get rewards for photographing lots of them. I obtained my evaluate code for this recreation the week of the U.S. presidential inauguration, and enjoying it virtually felt just like the salve New Horizons was throughout the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic — a sense that makes me excited to take a look at the multiplayer mode, too.
Picture: Sunblink
However the extra time I spent with Hi there Kitty Island Journey, the extra aggravated I grew to become with the sport’s poor explanations of essential gameplay mechanics — significantly the mechanics that begin to turn into extra related as you get additional into the sport. The sport’s sense of time is the largest drawback: It has in-game days, that are largely inconsequential, in addition to mechanics that depend on the passage of time in actual life. So, when Hi there Kitty tells you to “come again tomorrow” to be taught one other cake recipe, it’s initially unclear whether or not that’s an in-game tomorrow or a real-time tomorrow. Objects respawn relying on how a lot actual time has handed; you’ll be able to solely give your folks three presents per actual day. In that sense, the sport’s days really feel like they’re there for visible curiosity alone — a little bit of a disappointing departure from the comfortable life sim style.
Different departures are refreshing, like the shortage of a standard forex. As an alternative, you swap much less helpful objects, or a mixture of them, for extra helpful objects — and it’s good to not should grind towards a large financial savings with a purpose to hit cruising altitude with the sport. Friendships are equally easy: It’s straightforward to stage up your relationships at first, and every character’s preferences are denoted with tags slightly than forcing you to make use of trial and error or maintain a information up in your browser whilst you play. You gained’t run out of vitality in Hi there Kitty Island Journey both — a core mechanic of life sims that may really feel exhausting, no pun supposed, and typically like a force-fed alternative for issue.
The principle “grind” of Hi there Kitty Island Journey has to do with that aspect of time: ready for a real-life day to go so you’ll be able to stage your friendships up extra, gather extra objects you want, unlock extra every day quests, and so forth. As such, I’ve discovered myself time touring so much — one thing game-feeds service author Ana Diaz, who performed the sport by way of Apple Arcade, informed me was at all times doable. The truth that the sport doesn’t break or punish you for save-scumming is a boon for console and PC gamers, as a result of I envision them treating this recreation extra like an Animal Crossing, with lengthy spurts of obsessive play, than a Spiritfarer or Cozy Grove, with shorter play periods every day to finish every day quests.
Picture: Sunblink
In the end, it appears like Hi there Kitty Island Journey hasn’t fairly married its mobile-first design with its newfound foray to PC and consoles. Some controls really feel clunky with a joystick, just like the device choice wheel, and the mechanics designed to maintain you coming again really feel shoehorned into what has potential to be an almost good recreation for a handheld console.
All concessions apart, although, this recreation offered me on Hi there Kitty — a franchise I’ve at all times discovered cute however by no means actually linked with the way in which others appeared to — and I believe components of it, just like the fishing mechanic and the minigames, could be a wonderful entry to the style of cozy video games. In my first 5 hours or so of gameplay, I believed that’d be the angle of my evaluate, that this recreation can prepare you up for the much less forgiving titles within the style. However as it’s proper now, it feels extra like a very good Hi there Kitty recreation than a very good life sim. I’m excited to see how the sport adjustments as updates emerge, and whether or not its cellular model begins to vary from the console model extra over time — and though I’m accomplished scripting this evaluate, I actually am not accomplished galavanting across the island, giving presents to my favourite Sanrio characters.
Hi there Kitty Island Journey shall be launched Jan. 30 on Nintendo Swap and Home windows PC. (It had beforehand been launched for iOS, Mac, and Apple TV on July 28, 2023.) The sport was reviewed on Nintendo Swap utilizing a pre-release obtain code supplied by Sunblink. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These don’t affect editorial content material, although Vox Media could earn commissions for merchandise bought by way of affiliate hyperlinks. You could find further details about game-feeds’s ethics coverage right here.
