Why You Can Trust CNET Hello Kitty Island Adventure Is Out Exclusively on Apple Arcade
No, this isn't a South Park joke.
- Apple software beta tester, "Helps make our computers and phones work!" - Zach's grandparents
Hello Kitty and her friends are having fun in the sun in the latest Apple Arcade exclusive title, Hello Kitty Island Adventure. If you subscribe to Apple Arcade ($5, £5 or AU$8 a month), you can play this game at no additional charge, and without ads or in-app purchases.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure was developed in a collaboration between Sanrio and Sunblink, and if you're a South Park fan the title might sound familiar. The show made a joke in a 2006 episode referencing a game titled Hello Kitty Island Adventure, but this turned out to be purely coincidental.
"Sanrio has no affiliation with South Park," Jill Koch, Sanrio senior vice president of marketing, sales and business development, said during a press preview of the game.
And it would be weird if this game were connected to South Park. While the show is known for its crass and sometimes off-putting humor, Hello Kitty Island Adventure is a cozy title that feels like a snug, warm blanket.
In the game, you, Hello Kitty and the rest of her friends land on a deserted island resort and work to restore it to its former glory. You can help people open and run shops on the island and furnish and decorate visitor cabins, but that's only part of the game.
Sunblink's chief product officer, Chelsea Howe, said Hello Kitty Island Adventure also incorporates the open-world adventure gameplay of games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
You can explore sunken ships and other underwater areas in Hello Kitty Island Adventure.
You can explore and solve puzzles in a number of dungeons strewn around the island, and you can also traverse different environments, like underwater areas and the inside of a volcano.
There are also crafting and friendship mechanics in the game. You can collect materials from around the island and use them for crafts at certain stations, like a workbench or an oven. You can give some of these items to your friends as gifts, which raises your friendship level with those folks.
Each character likes different things, though, so you can't just go around giving pineapple cakes to all your friends. Hello Kitty, for example, likes baked goods, fruits and fancy things, so giving her these items will increase your friendship with her by a certain amount -- and if you give me baked goods, fruits and fancy things, I too will be your friend.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure is a colorful, relaxing and pleasant game that will brighten up your day whether you like pastries, fancy coffee drinks or both.
You can access this game, and many others, in Apple Arcade for $5 a month, or $60 annually. You can also try Apple Arcade for free for one month with your first sign-up, or you can get a three-month free trial when you buy a new Apple device. To access Apple Arcade, open the App Store on your iOS device and tap the joystick in the menu bar.
