Hello Kitty Island Adventure players are being mercilessly stalked by Cinnamoroll, a bipedal puppy who doesn't blink: "It's actually kinda freaking me out"

A screenshot shows the mail carrier Cinnamoroll flying down a rainbow toward Hello Kitty.
(Image credit: Sunblink)

Hello Kitty Island Adventure dares to wonder what society might be like if it were completely populated by Sanrio's babyfaced original characters, and while this society is indeed more adorable and full of strawberry shortcake, it's also home to the dangerous stalker Cinnamoroll.

"Why is Cinnamoroll always following me?" one of many panicked Redditors asks. "I love him and he's so adorable, but it's actually kinda freaking me out."

"There's no escape from him," gravely states another post.

In Hello Kitty Island Adventure, the pudgy marshmallow dog Cinnamoroll acts as your burgeoning island's package carrier, so he's always flying from mailbox to mailbox with wings on his cap, the same kind the messenger god Hermes is often depicted wearing. Witness his mythically fearsome form: Cinnamoroll has a permanent puppy smile, puffy ears that look like a tube of frosting, and a stubby curled tail that looks like a cinnamon bun. OK, fine, he's the cutest creature to ever grace this undeserving Earth.

And, in his defense, he's been cheerfully lurking around Hello Kitty Island Adventure since the life sim released for Apple Arcade in 2023 - it's not maladaptive behavior he's only recently picked up to cope with the game's new Switch and PC releases. I know this, because I was one of his victims.

I remember it like it was two years ago. There I was, running around my Hello Kitty Island Adventure with my gorgeous dog protagonist, trying to deliver gifts like pineapple stack cake and seashells to my island friends, when Cinnamoroll began to block my path with his tubby body. I ran into him, sliding him around the sand, and all he did was smile at me. Unblinking. Just wreaking havoc on my mellow.

"Once I found out he was a dog and not a bunny, I’m like oooh. He's just a puppy following me around all day," says what seems to be a new Hello Kitty Island Adventure player on Reddit. Sure, yes, maybe. Whatever helps you feel safe from Cinnamoroll's cute power.

Hello Kitty Island Adventure is the latest example of how cozy games are secretly pretty dark at their core.

Ashley Bardhan
Senior Writer

Ashley is a Senior Writer at 12DOVE. She's been a staff writer at Kotaku and Inverse, too, and she's written freelance pieces about horror and women in games for sites like Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she's not covering gaming news, she's usually working on expanding her doll collection while watching Saw movies one through 11.

Read more
A screenshot shows the cat protagonist of Monster Hunter Puzzles waving a wand while wearing a Cinnamoroll costume.
Monster Hunter gets the collab of the century: Hello Kitty Island Adventure’s resident stalker Cinnamoroll joins Capcom’s puzzle game to stare at you without blinking
A screenshot of the announcement trailer for Hello Kitty island Adventure, with all the characters waving
Hello Kitty Island Adventure is the latest example of how cozy games are secretly pretty dark at their core
Hello Kitty Island Adventure screenshot showing Hello Kitty, a chibi-style cat character with white fur and a pink bow, smiling while waving
Sanrio Animal Crossing successor Hello Kitty: Island Adventure gets off to a strong start on Steam, and a lot of fans are making the same 19-year-old South Park reference
Kemono Teatimee cat girl smiling at tea and cookies
Oh no, the anime cat girls are winning me over: the coziest demo in Steam Next Fest might be this cafe life sim with coffee ASMR
Michi, Pinky, and the rest of the Promise Mascot Agency standing in front of Kaso-Machi in key art for the game
Yakuza and living, breathing mascots collide in this adventure that has you battling a "normal sized door", faulty cash registers, and a playful dog
Three girls face the camera with big smiles in Animal Crossing New Horizons
15 Games like Animal Crossing that are so wholesome it hurts
Latest in Adventure Games
Pokemon Legends: Z-A screenshot
Pokemon Legends: Z-A will allegedly introduce 27 new Mega Evolutions, leakers claim, and we can only hope Flygon gets its chance this time
Minecraft Vibrant Visuals
16 years after Minecraft first released it's getting a modern visual upgrade with a retro lighting trick that Mojang hasn't seen "in any other game"
Minecraft movie image of Jack Black as steve
Don't expect Minecraft to go free-to-play anytime soon, as Mojang says "It doesn't really work with the way we built it"
Putting cigarettes in fish mouths in Thank Goodness You're Here
Thank Goodness You're Here's developer says it was trying to design a game normally before realizing "we're s**t at video game design"
Pokemon TCG Pocket Shiny Cards
How to get Shiny Pokemon in Pokemon TCG Pocket
Pokemon Legends: Z-A screenshot
Pokemon Legends: Z-A's director appears to be a Xenoblade Chronicles fan, and I'm now feeling very validated about a tiny detail I spotted in the upcoming RPG's gameplay trailer
Latest in News
Nick Offerman as Bill and Murray Bartlett as Frank in The Last of Us episode 3
The Last of Us season 2 showrunners tease a "gorgeous" episode akin to season 1’s Emmy-nominated Bill and Frank story: "Just you wait"
The Witcher 4 screenshot with Ciri using sword and sorcery to fight an ancient monster
CD Projekt boss says "cutting-edge single-player games" – you know, like The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2 – will "continue to enjoy great popularity" despite industry shifts
Cyberpunk 2077
Despite releasing exactly zero new games, CD Projekt bagged $120 million in profit for 2024 – the Witcher and Cyberpunk studio's third-best result ever
Muse
Daredevil: Born Again midseason trailer teases Matt Murdock’s violent fight with Muse, including a gory scene straight from the comics
Batman looking over the city during Batman: Arkham City, one of the best PS3 games.
The PS2 Batman Begins game was considered such a "disaster" that Christopher Nolan turned down a Dark Knight-inspired game
Assassin's Creed Shadows Naoe assassinating target with Tanto skill
Assassin's Creed Shadows' first title update is a hotfix with three lines of patch notes and a download size up to 9GB