Pokémon Pokopia, the upcoming Animal Crossing-style cozy game set in what might be a post-apocalyptic version of the Pokémon world, is coming to Switch 2 on Thursday, March 5. Reviews went live this morning, and they are glowing.
As of this writing, Pokopia is sitting at a 90 on Metacritic, the highest aggregated score of any game in the series on the site. Several reviewers are saying it’s a great proof of concept for The Pokémon Company to let more partner developers take on the monster-taming series, as the Dragon Quest Builders team at Omega Force has pulled off something special with the cozy life sim.
“Pokémon Pokopia is a game of wonder, exploration, and revitalization, delivering a cozy, satisfying experience with no threat of danger,” Brian Shea writes at Game Informer. “Despite my minor complaints, Pokopia sticks out as one of the best examples of a third-party developer using the Pokémon license to the fullest extent possible. As a kid, I always wished I could spend time in the Pokémon world, and now, 30 years later, I feel like I have.”
While there may be some dark undertones to the story of Pokopia, reviewers describe it as a relaxing, cozy game that also has the brain-go-brr mechanical chops to keep it interesting, with even its town maintenance feeling purposeful.
“As awkward as it can sometimes be, there’s an almost Powerwash Simulator meditative state that I go into with Pokopia when destroying unwanted blocks and restoring the environment that’s hidden beneath,” Sam Loveridge writes at GamesRadar. “One area’s been coated with layers of volcanic ash, and – using Ditto’s Rock Smash ability – I carve away hundreds of ashy blocks until my pockets are filled with them and suddenly I’ve unearthed entire cave systems, a greenhouse, and other treasures that were previously buried. If you’ve played Dragon Quest Builders before, it works exactly as you remember.”
For those who love the Pokémon world and all its cute and creepy critters, it sounds like Pokopia really commits to portraying its characters’ various quirks. You play as a Ditto, a Pokémon who can transform into various other creatures and use their abilities, and the game really plays with that concept to make use of its hero’s mutating powers with animations and mechanics that are kinda gross, like how it stores its inventory inside its body. These small touches are where the attention to detail comes through.
This is where a lot of Pokopia‘s personality shines, as it really goes all-in on reminding you that you are a Ditto, a blobby pink creature that can shapeshift into anything,” Rebekah Valentine says on IGN. “Ditto gains a shell and Squirtle tail when it uses Water Gun and green vine arms for Leafage. It can suck items into its inventory in bulk by slurping them up into its mouth, Kirby-style, effectively absorbing them until it needs to spit one back out again. If you fall from a great height, never fear: you’re a Ditto! You just blop into a pink goo for a moment, then reform into your human shape. One of the idle animations is just Ditto collapsing into its pink gooey self again and falling asleep. There is so much attention to detail in Pokopia‘s animations and marriage of mechanics and character, and all these little touches combined to keep me locked into the universe and fantasy of being a Ditto dressed as a person, glooping about this ruined world. I didn’t really care about Ditto before, but after Pokopia? I love this weirdo!”
As cozy as it all sounds, it won’t be without drama or challenge. Steve Watts at GameSpot describes a scenario in which he was rooming with a Squirtle, who very quickly wanted to move out when he found the accommodations unsatisfying.
“Heartbroken and with nothing to do to change Squirtle’s mind, I pressed on. I was determined to learn more, earn more, and do more, so that, one day, Squirtle will come back,” Watts wrote. “Someday I’ll make a new house and I’ll invite Squirtle to live with me again. Maybe he just wanted his own bedroom? Admittedly, the leaf hut is not a lot of space. Maybe he didn’t like my decor at the time–a few items I had arranged slapdash to fulfill the housing requirements.”
It sounds like the challenge in Pokopia is in accommodating multiple Pokémon at once, as several of them don’t want to live in the same spaces. According to Eurogamer’s Lottie Lynn, this presents the player with a compelling problem to solve.
“One catch, that feeds back into that gently strategic element: habitats can overlap,” Lynn writes. “This is great if the Pokémon have similar needs, as they’ll both benefit from your efforts, but can backfire if their preferences conflict. Zubat, for example, is unsurprisingly looking for a dark cave, so it won’t be happy living near a Bulbasaur who loves light. Thankfully, you can see the habitat boundaries at the push of an analogue stick and it’s not difficult to move Pokémon. You’ll want to keep your Pokémon happy, too, as increasing their Comfort Level helps raise your Environment Level, which, in turn, unlocks more items in the shop, in a very Pokémon-appropriate layering of systems. All of these items come in use – from furniture to habitat hints to, my personal favourite, security cameras. With these you can keep an eye on various habitats without having to worry about constantly returning to see if a Pokémon has set up home. Sure it sounds a little 1984 (because it kind of is), but the freedom these cameras bring for exploration is worth it.”
On the colder side of the reviews, Stacey Henley at TheGamer says that she found the Pokémon’s personalities don’t really shine through.
“My problem is, it doesn’t really matter who the Pokémon you find are. Or at least, none of them will change the currently held opinions you have about any given Pokémon. Seeing them in the real world is supposed to be a chance to engage with their personalities, but they all just toddle around happily, doing generic things like waving at each other or falling asleep. There’s no sense that these Pokémon actually live there, and you quickly notice that their empty soundbites are shared across dozens of Pokémon. Having a Legendary Pokémon tell you you’re throwing an awesome party is a bit like Cartman telling you he uses any pronouns. They just would not say that.”
We’ll have our own review at Kotaku in the coming days. Pokémon Pokopia is coming to Switch 2 on March 5.
