Pokemon Pokopia Review – New Horizons

Pokemon has always been an incredibly versatile franchise, as evidenced by the vast range exhibited in its many spinoffs over the course of its three decade-existence- so it’s more than a little surprising that no one has ever taken a real crack at a life sim experience set in the Pokemon universe, given just how spectacularly perfect that combination sounds on paper. Well, it may be long overdue, but Pokemon Pokopia finally realizes that vision- and it is exactly as compelling, charming, and dangerously addictive as you would expect from a game that touts its specific formula.

Developed by Koei Tecmo studio Omega Force, Pokopia is, in a nutshell, a blend of Animal Crossing, Dragon Quest Builders, and, of course, Pokemon. Viewed individually, none of its core disparate pillars are particularly unique at this point, but this game concocts them together in an almost perfect way, delivering an experience that is bursting to the seams with personality, and has the sort of deceptive mechanical depth that will keep you hooked for dozens – if not hundreds – of hours.

"There’s a vast variety of habitats that you can make in the game, and though they start out as simple patches of grass, they gradually grow in complexity."

In Pokemon Pokopia, you play as a Ditto that has taken on the (uncanny-but-almost-accurate) form of your former human trainer. You find yourself in what you quickly piece together is a desolate, abandoned version of the Kanto region- most of the landscapes are a wasteland, structures lie in ruin, and there are almost no Pokemon and no humans to be seen anywhere. With the help of a Tangrowth – a self-dubbed Pokemon Professor – you set out to rebuild the land block by block to bring life – both Pokemon and human – back to the region, and unravel the mystery of how exactly things came to be this way.

It serves as a great premise for Pokopia’s life sim and building loop. Central to the experience are, of course, the Pokemon, each of whom has unique personalities and useful, varied abilities, not to mention unique requirements. Different kinds of Pokemon are attracted back to live in the region if they find a habitat that they find suitable, which means a crucial aspect of Pokopia’s core loop is building habitats.

There’s a vast variety of habitats that you can make in the game, and though they start out as simple patches of grass, they gradually grow in complexity. Experimenting with different items and environmental features to create new habitats, or procuring specific things to build the habitat you need for that next Pokemon you want to add to your neighbourhood, truly never loses its charm- there’s that many possible combinations to play around with.

What also helps massively is the ridiculous amounts of charm and personality that the Pokemon – and the game in general – are overflowing with. Each Pokemon is their own person (or, well, Pokemon, but you know), and it’s delightful to watch each of them exhibit their diverse personalities and quirks in unique ways- Charmeleon is a hothead, while Hitmonchan generally just likes to train with a punching bag a lot. Squirtle is charmingly energetic, while Slowpoke, true to form, just likes to takes things slow.

"Pokopia not only cleverly uses Pokemon elements to bring personality into its world, it also weaves them into its gameplay in ingenious ways."

There’s a large cast of Pokemon represented in Pokopia, and you can tell that a lot of care and love for the franchise has been poured into each of the creatures. From the things they say and the idle interactions they have with each other to the way they animate and interact with the environment and much more, simply watching them exist in the world is one of the game’s highlights. I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent just watching Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee train together, or taking pictures of different Pokemon just doing their thing and interacting with the environment, or even playing jump-rope with Bulbasaur.

It’s safe to say that fans in particular will absolutely love meeting and befriending new Pokemon. Beyond that, there’s plenty more in the game for longtime Pokemon fans to look out for as well. Exploration has many benefits (beyond items, crafting recipes, and, you know, just being fun), one of which is notes scattered throughout the maps, which often drop little pieces of lore. From backstory tidbits that make the story surprisingly interesting to little nuggets and easter eggs, there’s a lot to find. Series fans will also love the many secrets – including chance and optional encounters with a variety of Legendaries – to be found in all the maps, not to mention the many excellently composed, nostalgia-fueled remixes of instantly recognizable Pokemon tracks that Pokopia has up its sleeve.

Pokopia not only cleverly uses Pokemon elements to bring personality into its world, it also weaves them into its gameplay in ingenious ways. As a Ditto, you also have transformational abilities that allow you to learn different moves from the many Pokemon you befriend, each of which allows you to engage with the environment in different ways. Bulbasaur teaches you Leafage, with which you can grow patches of grass; Squirtle teaches you Water Gun, which lets you bring moisture back to dry and barren soil; Scyther teaches you Cut and Hitmonchan teaches you Rock Smash, which allow you to deal with obstacles or break up blocks; Magikarp, hilariously, teaches you Splash, which turns out to be surprisingly useful, because it lets you jump.

Meanwhile, Pokemon also have their own abilities that you cannot imitate, but they can use to assist you in various ways. Scyther can turn logs into lumber, Charmander can light things on fire, Slowpoke can make it rain, Vespiqueen offers items in exchange for honey- the list goes on. The Pokemon that you meet and befriend truly do end up feeling like valued neighbours and little virtual friends- which is exactly what you want from a Pokemon life sim.

"Together, Pokopia’s Animal Crossing-inspired life sim elements and Dragon Quest Builders-inspired elements come together in surprisingly cohesive fashion."

Of course, the different Pokemon and their unique requirements also shape gameplay in other ways. Once they’ve moved into habitats that they find appropriate, Pokemon will often come to you with requests for everything from food to different items – like lights or decorations or furniture – or even new homes. Seeing to the overall contentment of your Pokemon neighbours is an important part of Pokopia, because doing so raises your Environment Level, which in turn unlocks new items for purchase at the Pokemon Center. It’s a very well though-out loop, not just because of the satisfying progression, but also because of the impressive variety and surprising strategy it adds to the process of slowly building the land back to life, and seeing it flourish bit by bit.

Beyond the delightful life sim mechanics, Pokopia has a whole other construction aspect to it, where it borrows heavily from the likes of Minecraft and Dragon Quest Builders- which makes sense, given that developer Omega Force worked on Dragon Quest Builders 2. Everything is made of individual blocks – wood, sand, grass, soil, stone, and so on – and you can break up these blocks, suck them up with a Kirby-like (and very Ditto-appropriate) suction ability, and then use them to alter the environment however you see fit, and construct whatever you can conjure up.

Personally, I’ve always been incredibly quick to succumb to the addictive charms of exactly the sort of gameplay loop that Pokemon Pokopia offers up, and it’s no surprise to me that I’m completely eating it up here. The building mechanics are an absolute blast- their Minecraft-like simplicity and Dragon Quest Builders-inspired interface allows them to strike a perfect balance between complexity and accessibility. There’s also a solid range of variety on offer in the items, furniture, decorations, building options, and more. Everything generally works the way as intended, and elements and objects can interact with each other in fun and surprising ways, allowing for an impressive level of freedom, flexibility, and creativity.

Though the main campaign is structured a lot like the Dragon Quest Builders games, with players moving from one map to the next, eventually, Pokopia also lets players let loose in a massive map, which is where its freeform, sandbox construction mechanics really flourish. I imagine there will be many players – like myself – who will be spending inordinate amounts of time in this particular map.

Together, Pokopia’s Animal Crossing-inspired life sim elements and Dragon Quest Builders-inspired elements come together in surprisingly cohesive fashion. There are some minor foibles – like frustrating storage restrictions, and long wait times as you wait for construction on buildings to finish, especially in the early hours of the game – but by and large, Pokopia keeps finding ways to keep you engaged in its charmful mundanity. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is among the best Pokemon games I’ve played in recent memory- and maybe even ever.

This game was reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2.