What a journey this one is. A title first dropped as a joke in South Park to make Butters look uncool turns into an Apple Arcade recreation and someway towards all odds is definitely implausible. Hiya Kitty Island Journey () may appear like Animal Crossing in screenshots, however that’s actually only one side of the sport. There’s a little bit of The Legend of Zelda in right here, and it even jogged my memory of A Brief Hike at occasions. How is a recreation primarily based on Sanrio characters as intelligent and enjoyable as this? Actually a well-done effort all-around. Let’s have a look at precisely what it’s.
The very first thing you’re introduced with is a reasonably restricted character creator, after which you will see that your self on a airplane with numerous Sanrio characters. You will have the prospect to speak to everybody, after which Kitty causes a large number, Badtz-maru drops a film reference that everybody who has performed this recreation has taken a screenshot of, and everyone seems to be pressured to parachute all the way down to the island beneath. It as soon as performed host to a theme park, and also you’re all there to… you recognize, I don’t bear in mind? Go to it? Get it up and working once more? The necessary factor is that it’s a fairly large space and never all the passengers landed in the identical place. Most of you fortunately ended up in a central seaside space that’s excellent for studying the way to play the sport. What luck!
The assorted characters provides you with quests to finish. A few of them are fetch quests. A lot of them are, actually. Finishing them will after all offer you some rewards, and may enhance your friendship degree with that character. Leveling up your friendships provides you with entry to extra quests and extra rewards, a few of that are instruments you should use to discover extra of the world round you. You’ll be able to really discover a surprisingly massive space from the beginning, however your incapability to swim will hold you from going too far. Finally you’ll get objects that enable you discover extra completely, and the world opens as much as an incredibly huge diploma. There are some overarching objectives that you simply’ll come upon earlier than lengthy, plus tons of smaller ones which will or could not result in one thing necessary. There may be additionally an absolute bucket load of aspect actions to do like fishing and bug amassing. There are even little mini-races that award you with trophies of assorted ranges primarily based in your time.
You’ll additionally generally end up exploring underground, in buildings, and round different buildings. There are honest-to-goodness puzzles in these locations, typically variations on swap issues however typically one thing else totally. It’s by no means excessively tough, probably in deference to the concept that younger youngsters may be enjoying, however a few of them do require a little bit of inventive thought. Talking of issue, there’s no actual option to get harm or die within the recreation. At most, you may find yourself falling off the display screen or into the water earlier than you could have the best objects, at which level you’ll simply respawn on the final secure place your ft had been touching.
It’s fascinating as a result of whereas there’s quite a lot of Animal Crossing on this recreation, there’s additionally much more construction to ship you off on linear threads if that’s what you need. Go clear up the mysteries of the islands and observe down the opposite characters. Get all the instruments so you may discover totally. Or simply dangle round and attempt to bake each single factor potential. Go fishing for a bit. Enhance homes with furnishings that you simply purchase, discover, or craft. Invite friends and full the quests they difficulty. Design some new threads in your character. Put on foolish costumes. Take selfies with all the hidden Gudetamas. See when you can enhance your island’s Vibe rating. It’s wonderful how a lot this recreation checks off the life simulation containers whereas additionally supplying you with extra conventional gamey bits like exploration and puzzle-solving.
The controls are quite simple, with a digital stick for transferring your character round and some buttons on the opposite aspect for utilizing your collected instruments or speaking to individuals. Urgent on the best aspect anyplace however the button areas makes you soar, and you may press it once more to drift along with your balloons. The platforming is a bit clunky at occasions and you may simply get caught in locations, however the recreation will all the time get you out of any messes you get into. Varied menus mean you can change your instruments or test your objects, and a sturdy map and quest log make sure you’re by no means stranded about what to do. You too can simply see how a lot of every assortment you’ve completed.
Merely put, Hiya Kitty Island Journey is a recreation you may actually get caught into for hours. I ran down my battery virtually with out noticing the time go by on a number of events whereas enjoying the sport for this overview. I used to be anticipating a easy Animal Crossing clone as a result of that’s actually all it needed to be. You don’t need to flex that arduous once you’re utilizing characters as acquainted as Kitty and My Melody, in any case. It’s only a recreation for little youngsters, proper? However developer Sunblink went and made a recreation that I believe nearly anybody can get pleasure from, no matter age or familiarity with video games. I additionally recognize how cleverly written it’s. That is without doubt one of the secret strengths of Animal Crossing that so most of the video games impressed by it don’t get proper.
Aside from some weirdness with the platforming and clipping, the one actual knock I’ve on this recreation is that the multiplayer didn’t work correctly for me throughout the entire time I used to be enjoying the sport. I guess it might be enjoyable, however for now it simply doesn’t appear to attach. I’ve been knowledgeable the developer is engaged on a repair, however proper now it’s what it’s. Fortunately the sport is immensely gratifying in single participant, so it’s not going to harm issues too badly.
I can’t imagine I’m saying this, however I believe Hiya Kitty Island Journey is one in all my favourite cell video games of this yr thus far. It’s a lot greater than I anticipated it to be, a lot greater than it wanted to be, and I genuinely recognize simply how compelling it’s from head to toe. I’ve been vocal amongst my friends about how Apple Arcade wants extra causes to subscribe nowadays. Properly, right here’s one extraordinarily good motive. Butters was proper the entire time.