I haven't made it a secret that I've been very excited for a lot of games coming out this year, primarily in the indie scene, and this has only increased with the several positively-received games to come out in January (Prince Of Persia, Tekken 8, Infinite Wealth, Apollo Justice Trilogy) and the abundance of release dates being dropped over the past week (Side Order, Freedom Planet 2, Umbraclaw, Berserk Boy). So, one thing I wanted to do this year was write full-on reviews of every game I played rather than cramming everything into a few end of year posts. Let's start with the first game I got, Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom for Apple Arcade.
As I mentioned in my GOTY, I own Apple Arcade. It's obviously not a must-buy or anything, but since I primarily use Apple products and it's not super expensive, I've been pretty happy with the selection of indies it's been slowly accumulating over the years. I previously praised the heck out of Hello Kitty Island Adventure in particular for being a charming, calming, and content-rich blend of Animal Crossing and Breath Of The Wild, and I said that it's Apple Arcade's biggest system seller to date. However, what I did not expect was for Bandai-Namco to throw their hat in the ring with yet another Animal Crossing-esque game based on Tamagotchi, of all things. Unlike with Sanrio which remains super popular to this day, I haven't seen many people talk about Tamagotchi beyond it being a big source of early 2000s nostalgia, so it was a pleasant surprise to see that Bandai hasn't forgotten about them. But can their newest game rival Apple Arcade's biggest hit of 2023?
Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom starts with a meteorite crashing down onto Tamagotchi Planet, causing a bunch of geysers to explode all over the world messing up pretty much everything. You play as Mametchi, who I'm assuming is the main mascot of the Tamagotchi franchise, as you explore Tamagotchi Planet trying to patch up the geysers, help people with their problems, and generally repair the world. As far as the story and writing goes, I will say that I'm not nearly as attached to Tamagotchi's cast as I am to Sanrio's, so there's probably a bunch of references that went over my head. It's also very obvious this game was made with kids in mind, as there's some pretty heavy-handed environmental theming as you need to pluck weeds, clean up trash, and fish garbage out of the ocean. However, it's also not infantilizing or patronizing in any way, and for what it is, the dialogue is still quite charming and quirky. I particularly like how unabashedly nice Mametchi is, which would normally make for a pretty boring protagonist if watching him wholeheartedly accept even the weirdest NPCs you run into didn't become kinda funny at points.
As far as the gameplay goes, Adventure Kingdom isn't quite as open and freeform as Island Adventure. It actually feels quite a bit smaller in scope, and it controls simpler too. Your only moves are running around and doing a context sensitive button. The main gameplay loop is to simply do quests to unlock hearts that you can use to seal geysers to unlock more areas with more quests, all the while finding blueprints you can use to decorate your camp. There's no dungeon crawling or optional platforming challenges here, it's more focused on helping NPCs rather than exploring a big world. Despite being pretty much an endless stream of quests, though, Adventure Kingdom feels surprisingly addictive because most of these quests feel rewarding and worth doing. Pretty much every major quest gives you a heart which puts you one step closer to expanding the world, and even the ones that don't at least give you rewards that can put you closer to completing other quests. Like with Island Adventure, Adventure Kingdom also tasks you with finding some of your friends who are scattered across the world, and this is an element I actually think this game does better. In Island Adventure, you need to build up each character's friendship meter before they can join you, and even then, they don't really have any special traits that differentiate them. In Adventure Kingdom, your friends can immediately join your party once you finish their quest lines, and they each have several perks that can help you out. Kuchipatchi, for example, can help you cross pits and mine faster, so you're encouraged to mix and match the allies you need for each situation.
Another element where Adventure Kingdom really differentiates from Island Adventure is in how it handles time. Hello Kitty Island Adventure is entirely determined by real-time, meaning that there are often instances where you have to put the game down and wait until tomorrow to progress with a quest. Personally, I'm not really a fan of real-time elements in gameplay but I'm not usually someone who can commit to playing games daily like that. Adventure Kingdom, on the other hand, has an in-game timer, meaning that days pass by a lot quicker and you can sleep whenever you want to skip to the next day. I like this a lot more since it keeps the pace of the game up, and it allows me to play whenever I want for however long I want. One thing I don't like in Adventure Kingdom, though, is the energy meter. Doing most tasks in this game from breaking rocks to digging to shaking trees consumes energy, and you can only regain energy by eating fruit you gather or sleeping. I don't know why Bandai decided to add this mechanic, because it only hurts the game for me. It disincentivizes you from gathering for resources unless you really have to, or else you'll have to keep ending days early to regain your energy, and adds an unnecessary level of anxiety to what's supposed to be a really calming and therapeutic game. Like, look, I'm a Pikmin fan, I'm all for a bit of fun resource management, but this just doesn't feel like the right game for this kind of playstyle.
On a more positive note though, I love Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom's presentation. Adventure Kingdom goes for a simple, colorful, cel-shaded look, and it feels like it's ripped straight out of the sixth generation of gaming. It feels like a long-lost Gamecube game, and it really wouldn't feel too far separated from games like Klonoa 2, Bomberman Generation, or Go Go Hypergrind, which is just awesome. The world feels so alive too, each area is filled to the brim with NPCs, each with their own unique daily routines. NPCs don't always just hang around the same spots all the time, some of them also walk around or change locations each day. While Island Adventure's island is more fun to explore, I think Tamagotchi Planet is a bit more fun to just hang around in. And the music is quite good too, it's a full orchestral soundtrack, but all the themes are super comforting and are catchy enough to get stuck in your ear long after you're finished playing.
With all that being said, I do think Hello Kitty Island Adventure is overall the better game. It's far more ambitious, it has way more content as well as variety in the things you do, and as I said, I'm simply more attached to the Sanrio cast than I am to Tamagotchi. However, I still had an absolute blast with Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom. It's a bit quaint in terms of scale and the energy meter does put a slight damper on things occasionally, but the consistently fun quest design, brisk pacing, fleshed-out world, and nostalgic presentation made for a game that I likely hanging around in whenever I was in the mood for something comfy and chill. As funny as it is that Tamagotchi and Hello Kitty got very similar games on Apple Arcade within the span of a few months, they're both fun, comfy, and polished experiences worth checking out if you have the service. So as far as I'm concerned, I'm just happy to have two cakes.
3.5/5 Stars
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