When it come in to Nintendo Switch game , we ’re in a bit of a entertain normal . Nintendo ’s next console table is right around the street corner and new departure for its old one have procrastinate as a termination . We expectMetroid Prime 4 : BeyondandPokémon Legends : Z - Ato be the organisation ’s last games , but we ’re only getting port of a few older secret plan until then . If you ’re used to getting a big new Switch game every calendar month , you might find yourself a little restless for the next few months .

Thankfully , third - party publishers are doing their part to fill that gap . This workweek , Switch proprietor just got what might be one of its last must - own game thanks toHello Kitty : Island Adventure . The life-time sim is the close thing you ’ll get to a fresh Animal Crossing game on the Switch . Considering that Nintendo has no games of its own scheduled to launch until March , this is the next effective thing .

Originally release as an Apple Arcade exclusive in 2023,Hello Kitty : Island Adventuretakes the mind of Animal Crossing but replace Nintendo ’s character with Sanrio favorites like My Melody and Kuromi . It ’s a lucifer made in heaven that has supposedly paid off for Apple , as the company claims that it ’s one of the serving ’s most pop games . With it now widely uncommitted on Nintendo Switch and personal computer ( with PlayStation and Xbox launches to come ) , it ’s easy to see why .

On its open , Island Adventure is a pretty received musical style biz . musician can corrupt clothing , catch fish , bake treats , and decorate cabin just as you may in Animal Crossing . It wears its inspiration on its sleeve , even if it ’s mechanically lighter in office . update over the past two years have added significantly more capacity to the game , though , and that ’s all available in the new port .

What makesIsland Adventurememorable is where it departs from its aspiration rather than replicate its tone . While it ’s a life sim at its core , it ’s also a minor - scale heart-to-heart - universe game . In between daily tasks , players search an island filled with different themed biome , from a spooky geographical zone to an submerged domain . There are story quest to dispatch in each area and evenBreath of the Wild - esque teaser shrines , collectable , and clock time trials scattered through the earth . It ’s somewhere between Animal Crossing andInfinity Nikki .

There are even lineament here that the next Animal Crossing plot could stand to borrow . For illustration , Island Adventuretakes a more tangled approach to villager fundamental interaction thanNew Horizons . It boast a bond system , where players can increase their standing with each NPC by contribute them gift and nail seeking . That ’s a step up from Animal Crossing ’s flat plan of attack to character that does n’t quite make them feel like neighbors so much as friendly brass that ptyalize out one - liners . It ’s clear that Sanrio cares about its case and want to check that they experience like friend with their own discrete personalities , not visitors who interchangeably move in and out of Ithiel Town on a whim .

If that all sounds great , remember to keep your expectation in impediment . This is still a game that was designed with mobile in mind , even though it ’s come to consoles . The platforming shrine incline to rotate around quotidian box seat promote puzzles and the core social loop is built to card participant into enter daytime after day . It can get repetitious after a while , which led me to bounce off the original dismissal eventually once it matt-up like I was logging in every day to gather the same few resources and bake the same pies .

Even with some limitation , Hello jackpot : Island Adventurefeels flop at home on Nintendo Switch . It ’s a genial - hearted secret plan filled with piano visuals , cute character , and accessible gameplay . You ’d recall that Nintendo itself made it . It ’s a cozy little delight that should keep you warm until Nintendo ’s much anticipate AprilSwitch 2Direct .

Hello Kitty : Island Adventureis available now on Nintendo Switch , PC , and iOS via Apple Arcade .