Hello Kitty Island Adventure - The games logo with a beach background featuring a sheep, Kuromi, My Melody and Hello Kitty in beachwear.
Do you like games with cute characters and adorable outfits? Would you like to hang out with Hello Kitty, decorating, exploring, collecting, crafting, cooking, and gardening, while attending events, solving puzzles, and uncovering a bit of a mystery? Then join us as we look back at the adorable Hello Kitty Island Adventure game from Sunblink Entertainment.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure is a slow-paced, 3D open-world, cosy adventure game that includes all of the above. Co-developed by Sanrio, the well-known Japanese entertainment company, and Sunblink Entertainment, the creators of HEROish, an action/strategy role-play game, Hello Kitty Island Adventure first came to Apple Arcade on July 28th, 2023. With Sanrio and Hello Kitty Island Adventure’s ever-growing popularity, this game was later ported for Nintendo Switch and PC on January 30th, 2025, PlayStation 4 and 5 digitally on August 5th, 2025, with the physical copy having just released on August 29th, 2025.
Kawaii Characters and Outfits
The game begins on a plane heading to the island resort with some of the main Sanrio characters, including Hello Kitty, My Melody, Kuromi, Pochacco, and Pompompurin. Before landing, you customise your avatar with a choice between six animals (bird, bunny, cat, dog, horse, or sheep), all with varying ears, eyes, mouths, markings, and colour palettes – with 50+ palettes being unlockable through gameplay – don’t worry, you can edit your character at any point.
Outfit options are limited at the start of the game, but there are plenty of options to unlock later on. Once your character is customised, there is an opportunity to meet those on the plane before a cake-tastrophic landing. Initially, the island appears abandoned, until a mysterious being appears, and you discover octopus-like creatures, known as Nuls, who are helpful in various ways.
A Mysteriously Empty Island
Hello Kitty Island Adventure is quest-based and has a storyline through the “Island Mystery” quests, though you can spend plenty of time doing various activities and side quests. The game is quite grindy at points, and certainly is not fast-paced, so for some, this may deter playing. If you like Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Disney Dreamlight Valley, you will likely enjoy Hello Kitty Island Adventure too.
The island has eight regions – Seaside Resort, Spooky Swamp, Rainbow Reef, Gemstone Mountain, Mount Hothead, Icy Peak, Merry Meadow, and Cloud Island. Each of these regions has different materials, bugs, fish, and surprises to explore, along with 13 starter and 7 quest-based additional characters to meet.
Visitor cabins are dotted across the island, which can be decorated with furniture and food to encourage more Sanrio characters to visit. Once you have a visitor, you complete quests to level up friendship, which encourages them to stay on the island. Visitors are rotated and have varying schedules, with some based on seasons. The game currently has about 58 visitor characters – though updates can include new additions – all with different furniture and food preferences, so it requires some effort to get them to visit.
The Sanrio Standard
Before playing Hello Kitty Island Adventure, I had high expectations for this game to be well executed and align with Sanrio’s aesthetic, lore, and philosophy of friendship and “everyone getting along together in harmony”. Being a Sanrio fan, I was impatiently waiting for it to be released on a platform other than Apple Arcade. Initially, I was disappointed with the limited colour palettes in character creation, but when I realised you unlock more through gameplay, that disappointment disappeared. With over 50 hours in the game across two saves, one on Switch and the other on PC, I have found the game exceeded my expectations with all of the quests, events, and characters.
There are daily rewards to collect, along with the Nul’s that can collect resources for you, which is an incentive to play every day. Though there are no penalties for missing days, it may mean missing out on some limited-time events. This does not impact game progression; outfits and furniture exclusive to events are linked only to event quests. So, it’s great for being able to pick up the game after any amount of time.
At times, I had difficulty with the controls with a mouse and keyboard, though that could be because I also play on the Switch and sometimes use a PlayStation controller for PC. I have found that Switch and controller are simple and smooth controls, whereas mouse and keyboard, when trying to run faster, didn’t always register, and I would get caught on fences and trees more easily.
Visually and Auditorily Pleasing
With bright, colourful and eye-catching graphics, the style certainly matches Sanrio’s kawaii aesthetic. The graphics are consistent across platforms; however, some people have reported lag due to the graphics quality, so if you experience this issue, adjust the settings for smoother play.
The soundtrack consists of twenty-six cutesy, boppy, and chill songs, created by Phill Boucher. These songs feel very fitting with Sanrio and Hello Kitty Island Adventure, especially as each song matches the theme of the island locations.
Once you are far enough into the game, Keroppi gives you the option of multiplayer, with one guest able to join your island at a time. Guests can assist with quests, play mini games, and build friendship levels, which unlocks special emotes and abilities specific to multiplayer. Unfortunately, Hello Kitty Island Adventure is not cross-platform, and there are no plans to change this. While I have yet to try multiplayer, I think it would be nice if you could have up to 4 people on an island.
Downloadable Extras
The deluxe edition gives you access to over 300 items through starter, crafting, and event bundles that you receive early on. Many of these items can be unlocked or found throughout gameplay, so the extra $20 for this edition is not necessary, but it does give you a boost to starting your island resort experience. As events are annual, it could be a while before you get the chance to unlock certain items, so this is a quick way to unlock stuff and there may be past items that are no longer available.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure’s first DLC, Wheatflour Wonderland, was announced earlier this month. This DLC includes a new location, more cooking, crafting, furniture, outfits, magic, and new characters, including Cogimyun. The paid DLC launches later this year on September 18th for Switch and PC, and on October 2nd for PlayStation. Those with an Apple Arcade subscription will receive the DLC for free on September 18th.
Final Thoughts
Hello Kitty Island Adventure is an aesthetically pleasing game that is easy to sink hours into. The slow pace and open world gameplay allows for a chill, comfy experience with options to do main quests, side quests, explore the island, and more.
Sanrio’s themes of friendship and connection are woven throughout the game with friendship levelling, teamwork, and various events and celebrations, aligning with the company’s philosophy.
Overall, Hello Kitty Island Adventure is an enjoyable game and Sanrio and Sunblink Entertainment did a phenomenal job. Hello Kitty Island Adventure has become one of my favourite cosy games and I see myself continuing to play, replay and will definitely be getting the DLC as this game has left me wanting more.
Platforms: Apple Arcade, Nintendo Switch, Steam, PlayStation 4 & 5
Publisher: Sunblink Entertainment
Developer: Sunblink Entertainment and Sanrio
Played On: Nintendo Switch, Steam
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