Pokémon Pokopia Review
Pokémon Pokopia
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer:
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PEGI:
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Everyone said that Animal Crossing: New Horizons came around at the exact right time, with people stuck at home due to a global pandemic, the game sold incredibly well and introduced so many people to the cozy life-simulation experience. While Pokémon Pokopia is not an exact remake of that formula, it does scratch the same itch in many ways, which is why I think Pokémon Pokopia is going to thrive on the Nintendo Switch 2. With so much content to explore and uncover, this should be a must own for Animal Crossing and Dragon Quest Builders fans!
In Pokémon Pokopia you play as a ditto transformed to look like their previous owner, and transformation that you have complete control over via a character builder. You wake up in a world unknown, only to find a single Pokémon able to speak with you, Professor Tangrowth. The Professor is trying to bring back a world long lost, the return of both Pokémon and humans to the region. Bringing back Pokémon is relatively easy, you’ll soon find out; simply create a habitat with specific items and see what Pokémon arrives. Habitats range from clumps of flowers or grass, to the same clumps but next to trees or water. It evolved further where you will need specific items like punching bags or sandbags, but as you’ll find me saying a lot in this review, I’ll leave that discovery up to you. As you bring more Pokémon to an area and fulfill their many wishes – entertainment, housing, beds, all called Comfort – you will unlock new areas to explore with new challenges, new items, new Pokémon, new abilities and more.
Completing the various tasks in each region in order to unlock the next quickly became my least favourite thing in the game; not a bad thing, mind you, just my least favourite of everything I could be doing. But doing these tasks is a requirement if you want to move from one are to the next. I preferred to run wild across the various maps, looking for new Pokémon to add to my collection, new items to craft with, and ultimately picking up almost everything I could and transporting them to my “blank” island where I plan to really get creative. When I first loaded in to Pokopia, I tried to make the first area you encounter really nice, but quickly realized it was more advantageous to plow through the story quests so I could unlock more glorious stuff.
Stuff. That’s the name of the game here in my opinion. There is so. much. stuff. And every time I found something new I thought about the endless creative possibilities. The main story – which will take a good 30 hours in my opinion – is what will unlock key Pokémon, abilities, and different techniques and specialty items. But it was everything outside of the main story that will keep me coming back day after day, week after week, and for the time being, month after month. And we weren’t able to try the multiplayer, so I’m excited to build alongside my wife and kids as well (we will update our review with multiplayer impressions soon).
Like with Animal Crossing: New Horizons, there always seems to be something to discover around every corner. And the game itself is full of bright charm. The wonderful colours really brings about a calm and cozy feel, and as you add more and more to your game – Pokémon, habitats, buildings, and more – the charm just continues to grow and grow. Nothing every felt stagnant to me; every Pokémon discovered was as outstanding and exciting as the last. Even Pokémon I generally wouldn’t have cared about brought me a sense of happiness and joy – in a way, it’s a feeling I cannot really put into words.
All of this doesn’t detract from things in Pokopia that are either not fun, if not a tad annoying. As I said before, some of the story elements are a bit too drawn out for me, adding fluff to pad the hours (which I don’t think this needs). Those moments were few and far between, but frustrating each time regardless. And some of the abilities you get don’t function as nice as you would like. Punching blocks, especially, is much more annoying than it needs to be, especially if you’ve played games like Minecraft or Portal Knights. And yet, I can’t help but think this has Game of the Year potential, and a glowing score from us, despite a few concerns.
And obviously as you will see, I’ve looked past all that because I keep wanting to peak around the next corner, or bring a creative idea in my head to life. I want to move families of Pokémon next to each other, and create exciting places to live that are not only functional, but beautiful as well. Pokopia has spurred a creative expression in me that I haven’t experienced since Animal Crossing, and Dragon Quest Builders 1 and 2 before that. A desire to create a world that is solely my own, but filled with my favourite Pokémon from across generations.
I completely understand that I may be frustratingly vague about what you will be doing in Pokémon Pokopia, but rest assured that if you are a fan of Animal Crossing, Dragon Quest Builders or even something like Portal Knights, you are in for a fantastic experience. Add to those experiences the ability for the Pokémon to help you out with tasks (watering, powering things, etc) and give you abilities, and you’ve got an incredibly deep and rich gaming experience. For me, this game pulls on so many nostalgic heart strings you might get emotional at some point, mostly from the abundance of amazing and classic Pokémon music. I cannot wait to see what the community creates after this game launches, because I know it will be unbelievable. Until then, though, get excited about this one – it is definitely worth it.
Article By Adam
