Ah, the Hello Kitty Island Adventure roller coaster never ceases. When it showed up as an upcoming game for Apple Arcade back in the day, I chuckled and didn’t expect much. Then I played it and found a surprisingly deep and compelling game, one that had me excited to pick it up in a more lasting form when it launched on the Nintendo Switch. Just as I was running out of things to do, the Wheatflour Wonderland DLC arrived. That scratched my itch for more to do, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel a little empty in the end. We’ve now got the second paid DLC, City Town, and it promises a whole lot more than the first, but with a price tag to match that claim. Let’s see where this ride goes now.
A quick summary of the main game, in case you’re coming to it for the first time. Hello Kitty Island Adventure probably falls into the “cozy game” bucket, if you’re into that terminology. It’s a relaxed adventure game with some light action elements and a heavy emphasis on exploration. You travel around the various islands, complete quests and requests, explore little mini-dungeons with puzzles in them to solve, build friendships with other characters, decorate spaces, and collect all kinds of things. A lot of Animal Crossing, a little The Legend of Zelda, and the tiniest smidgen of Super Mario 3D Land. Very tiny. Don’t take that one too far. It’s a really easy game to sink time into, as one task naturally leads into the next until you realize the sun’s gone down.
The City Town DLC adds a whole lot more reasons to stay up late playing a Hello Kitty game. Indeed, you can probably tack another thirty hours or more onto the clock running through everything on offer here. As you can probably guess from the name of the DLC, the new area this time has a city theme. Skyscrapers, shops, even a functional sewer system. Don’t ask too many questions. There’s also a new friend, Usahana, to run through the story gauntlet with. The vertical nature of this area means there’s more here than you might think at first glance, though it also means you’re going to be doing a fair bit of climbing and platforming to get at everything. As with any area in this game, there are tons of goodies to collect if you explore every inch.
City Town has new shops that can be opened by various characters, which is pretty cool. The best part though is the Imagination Cafe, where you’ll take orders from characters and need to craft the requested treats. Completing orders levels up the cafe, expanding your offerings. We haven’t had anything like this in Hello Kitty Island Adventure before, which makes it kind of refreshing. On top of that, it actually puts new purpose to all the things you’ve collected from around the world. The dishes require a lot of different ingredients, and you might actually have to zip back to some previously explored areas to stock up. You can also buy some ingredients if you’re in a pinch and don’t feel like traveling.
The other really substantial addition comes from the sewers. Don’t worry, they’re not as grungy as the typical video game sewer. Once you gain access to them, you’ll find a whole ton of tricky challenges to tackle that you can access using currency from running the cafe, along with a bunch of puzzles. Again, there’s a lot to do and see down here, along with a pile of quests to check off your list. Basically, if you enjoyed what the base game offered, you’re going to get a whole lot more of it in the City Town DLC. The Imagination Cafe gives you a little something new, and there are a few new mini-games to play in City Town too, but by and large this is another scoop on the cone.
With that said, I think this is a far nicer experience than Wheatflour Wonderland. While you’re still doing a lot of the same things you’ve been doing all along, the execution here is just more enjoyable. The location feels very different from what we’ve seen in the game up until now, and I really do love the Imagination Cafe. I’m not sure if Sunblink plans on doing more DLC, but I’d love to see more side activities along these lines if it does.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure – City Town is a strong add-on to the original game, giving you a reason to come back and spend more time with Kitty and friends. It’s a very substantial expansion in terms of how much time it will take most players to complete. Its general adherence to the previously established formula means that if you already managed to burn out on the base game, then you probably won’t find enough to excite you here. Still, I think on the whole this is a much better DLC than the previous one. If you’re not repelled by the notion of hanging out with this crew again for a while, then you might want to pop on over to City Town.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch 2
Review Copy Provided by Sunblink
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