In a world that’s seemingly stuffed with a continuing stream of negativity, many people have turned to video video games as a welcome distraction from all of it. Since 2020, the Nintendo Change has seen an enormous number of video games to make us really feel good and heat inside.
The newest on this stream of cosy video games comes within the type of Sanrio’s Hiya Kitty Island Journey. Having been an Apple Arcade unique for a while, it was inevitable that it will see launch on the Nintendo Change and discover an viewers able to dive in.
The sport begins by asking you to create your personal Sanrio impressed character. There are lots of choices between the kind of animal you wish to be, to giving them a face, ear design and color scheme. By the point you’re finished, you’ll find yourself with one thing that wouldn’t look misplaced in the event that they determined to create a brand new mascot to affix Hiya Kitty’s crew. When you’ve acquired your creation, you might be then launched to all the primary characters that may participate within the recreation as you might be on a flight to the island with them.
Chatting with the characters instantly confirmed that the writers have taken particular care to ensure every mascot is an correct illustration of their personalities. Hiya Kitty comes throughout because the caring chief of the group, Badtz-Maru drips with sarcasm and may’t wait to prank everybody, and Pochacco can’t wait to see how he can keep his health as soon as he lands on the island. Even Retsuko, who isn’t an official Sanrio character, tells you she doesn’t know anyone on the aircraft, however must destress on the island on account of her demanding work commitments. Anybody accustomed to these guys can be happy that they’ve been handled with respect.
Considered from an isometric perspective, you might be fast to find that most of the characters have been misplaced, and that it’s worthwhile to carry out a number of missions to set the island up. You quickly uncover that there’s loads of island to discover by means of unlocking totally different zones. As you full missions and construct relationships with everybody, the sport continues to open up.
The sense of development is what units this aside from a sure different recreation stuffed with animals. Whereas this may occasionally come throughout as a recreation that allows you to wander round at your personal tempo and set your personal targets and targets, it’s extra about accumulating, exploring, and finishing quests. There are puzzle dungeons, scavenger hunts, mine cart rides, and images, and there may be loads of all of that to do. Throw in some cell type every day quests to do, and you end up a bundle the place you’ll rarely end up with out one thing to do.
The place the sport can sometimes journey itself up nevertheless, is that while you start a sure quest, it makes the mascots concerned in that quest too busy so that you can try different quests that additionally contain them, together with the primary storyline. I acquired a date-specific quest that had me discovering some gadgets for Badtz-Maru’s birthday. This quest locked up 5 totally different characters whereas I needed to discover a sure kind of comedian ebook to proceed my quest. The comedian books you’ll find change every day, so I ended up locked from the primary quest, in addition to getting access to diving and fishing for over 4 days. As soon as the sport lastly supplied the precise comedian ebook wanted, I instantly had entry to the remainder of the sport.
Total, although, it’s a satisfying gameplay loop that offers every thing that means. Whether or not you’re accumulating gadgets to provide items, to make meals, to craft issues, or to finish quests, every thing appears to have its objective within the recreation. Strawberry containers could be collected and used to refurbish cabins that may then be furnished with furnishings that you just discover littered across the island or that you just’ve crafted your self.
Furnishing the cabins has itself one other objective as nicely, whilst you get your personal cabin, you’ll be able to then unlock and beautify different cabins round the entire island. Customising the interiors can then appeal to among the lesser-known Sanrio characters corresponding to Expensive Daniel and Mama and Papa (Pompompurin’s mother and father), which provides much more quests and friendships to construct over time.
The mini dungeons that you’ll find littered across the island supply some puzzle components to the sport. None of them are notably tough, and it may need been good if there have been some challenges, however they do supply some selection to the remainder of the sport. Every puzzle includes buttons and switches that may open and shut doorways, and it’s as much as you to determine open the trail to get the treasure positioned in every dungeon.
Different actions to do embrace accumulating bugs and fishes, which add to your general collections within the achievements menu. There’s a place within the swamp to donate and show bugs, however after enjoying for a few weeks, I haven’t discovered anyplace to donate the fish, with the one solution to show them being to place them in fish tanks inside cabins. Gathering bugs and fish doesn’t really feel overly strong, and they don’t seem to be tied to the calendar both, so accumulating all of them could be finished after you have a internet and a rod.
The sport could be very cute graphically and general does very nicely to convey the 2D world of Sanrio into the 3D area. Regardless of not trying overly intensive, there are moments the place the framerate dips, and the sport comes to a whole cease each time it auto saves. Often, these stoppages final simply lengthy sufficient to make you suppose the sport has crashed, earlier than it soar begins again into issues.
Outdoors of proudly owning a Pompompurin drink bottle, I’ve no actual connection to the Hiya Kitty model general. Whereas I used to be anticipating one thing like an Animal Crossing with a Hiya Kitty pores and skin, what I acquired was one thing fully totally different. There are some points that must be addressed, corresponding to missions blocking development and a few technical points that stopped me from having fun with it fully. Hopefully, these points could be addressed in future updates as it’s a stable title general.
Score: 3.5/5
