Taking us again to 2020, folks flocked to the breakout Change hit Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a life-sim island recreation the place you collect sources to construct homes in addition to friendships. These new neighboring inhabitants grew to become your greatest associates, and amidst the pandemic, that’s one thing that everybody sorely wanted. Day by day pleasant interactions and endorphin-releasing duties are among the extra poignant bullet factors on the checklist of many who made Animal Crossing: New Horizons lightning in a bottle. But, it by no means actually hit for me.
Bringing us ahead to 2024, I used to be given the chance to play Good day Kitty Island Journey on the Nintendo Change at Summer time Sport Fest, and I used to be rapidly enraptured. Its use of the Good day Kitty IP to create such a heat and welcoming setting for gamers drew me in, however then it expanded additional with a large island map to discover. I used to be excited for the longer term, particularly because it was already a success on Apple Arcade, with a 12 months’s price of content material ready to switch over. The one factor that caught out again then although, was the efficiency, which actually left one thing to be desired. Inconsistent body price and hitching had been only a few points to call, however I can fortunately say that these worries are virtually solely solved.
Beginning off our journey into the Good day Kitty world, we’re given our personal private customizable avatar, then we’re rapidly dropped out of a aircraft into the aforementioned island. From right here it’s a smattering of quests to search out your folks, accumulate objects, and unlock increasingly sections of the sizable map. Discovering and assembly the characters is a fast and straightforward strategy of exploration, however they arrive with such various personalities that I all the time needed to be taught extra from them. Badtz-Maru is a mischievous but in addition conspiracy-having cool man on the island, all the time prepared to commerce comedian books with you. Pochacco is a health fanatic who needs to get you hyped on pictures. They even have visitor character Retsuko, the offended, metallic music loving purple panda from the Netflix sequence: Aggretsuko. Contemplating I’m somebody who feels fully ambivalent in direction of the Good day Kitty franchise, this was all new to me.
The characters are lovable, enjoyable and all deliver one thing new to the desk. What actually drew me in although was the exploration. The island is definitely fairly large, with loads of actions strewn about to maintain me energetic. With Animal Crossing, I felt the enjoyable was just a little too passive for me, however right here, I used to be all the time looking for new objects, quests, and characters, making new discoveries alongside the way in which. The world map is peppered with sources, upgrades, and loads of actions that span foot races, mini puzzle dungeons, photograph ops and even mine cart rides. Often these sorts of video games can overwhelm me, however this was that good candy spot of content material. My exploration normally led to a brand new dungeon and even a completely new a part of the map. It felt just a little extra participating to me than what I had skilled beforehand in different comparable video games.
Good day Kitty Island Journey additionally continued to broaden in surprising methods for me. Each time I felt like I had explored many of the island, I’d uncover the haunted island or interwoven underground mines, and even the underneath sea kingdom. The development pacing is ready in such a good way that you simply by no means actually end an space, earlier than the subsequent is unlocked, full with (after all) extra new characters, quests, challenges and crafting supplies. It was truthfully sort of stunning how a lot this hooked me in.
Dipping deeper into the mechanics, typically talking Good day Kitty Island Journey is a scavenging recreation, discovering all kinds of things littered on the bottom in each nook and cranny. Climbing a volcano will most assuredly result in a rarer crafting materials, whereas strawberry bins discovered throughout the island might be gifted to sure associates. It’s a extremely satisfying loop of exploring for brand spanking new supplies to finish quests, craft or present to associates to spice up friendship ranges to unlock new cosmetics or quests. Crafting is nice for making new instruments for exploration, and even crafting furnishings to brighten properties equally to Animal Crossing. Not often did any materials go to waste.
The dungeons, then again, are much like Breath of the Wild. Chunk sized mini puzzles that educate a brand new mechanic, awarding a particular chest as soon as accomplished, and an optionally available hidden chest for the extra intrepid. They’re inoffensive little one-offs which might be breezy however forgettable. I really discovered that there weren’t almost sufficient of them, and needed extra from this a part of the island’s options. Nonetheless, there’s much more to find within the recreation with cooking, bug accumulating, hat buying and selling, egg pictures and a lot extra. Every time a brand new mechanic was launched, I used to be excited to re-explore the island with a brand new aim that recontextualized what I used to be seeing.
That additionally speaks to the reside service side of Good day Kitty Island Journey itself. There are each day login bonuses, quests, and a gradual stream of occasion updates that can introduce much more to the already bustling island. This may be seen on the unique Apple Arcade launch which has been going robust with updates since its unique launch in 2023. On prime of the promise of numerous future content material, it appears that evidently developer Sunblink has additionally discovered the body price points and muddy visuals that plagued the Summer time Sport Fest Change demo. The sport’s body price does a very good job at staying regular for probably the most half. however there may be nonetheless some choppiness in sure gameplay transitions. It’s not good however an enormous enchancment. The visuals are additionally crisp and look pretty much as good as Animal Crossing did on Change.
As somebody new to the Good day Kitty franchise, I’ve fallen in love with Good day Kitty Island Journey. It gives the appeal of an Animal Crossing recreation, however focuses on the exploration, creating moments of journey and enjoyable throughout the way in which. Taking a mine cart experience by a volcano with your folks is a blast, and wandering by a haunted home with Kuromi the goth character is hilarious. The body price and visuals have seen an unlimited enchancment from earlier demos. Whereas I do want there have been extra of sure actions just like the dungeons, I can not wait to log again in to see what new adventures will await my subsequent 12 months of updates. Hell, I’m excited to log again in to do my dailies! I all the time sort of understood the Animal Crossing sequence, however Good day Kitty Island Journey is what I’ve all the time needed them to be. At this price, I higher begin procuring on the native Too Cool retailer for Badtz-Maru merch. That character simply will get me.
