Review – Pokémon Pokopia may be among the best Pokémon video games of all time, with out hyperbole

Let me begin by saying that I’ve been a Pokémon fan since I obtained the freshly launched Pokémon Blue as a present, again in 1998. While others (together with the vast majority of individuals I knew) fizzled out over time, I got here again to the franchise, time and time once more. However, that very same Pokémon method finally began to really feel stale, and after I spent a lot of my time in Generation 8 to no finish, I opted to skip Pokémon Scarlet and Violet totally. 

I nonetheless play and was excited for different Pokémon video games since then, resembling my day by day love for Pokémon TCG Pocket and adamant want to look at any Pokémon Presents. My love for the franchise by no means ended, however my want for one thing new was needling behind my head for years.

I had fairly an prolonged tour leaning towards cozy video games in the course of the early months of the 2020 pandemic, together with pushing round 1000 whole hours in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. So, my coronary heart simply wasn’t as set on the previous day by day grind of Pokémon video games in my 30s. That’s the place this 12 months’s Pokémon Pokopia reignited my love for the franchise. 

I initially wished to write down this overview early on, get it out to the lots, let it permeate shortly, after which transfer on. But, as I continued taking part in Pokémon Pokopia, I let it information my route on how I wished to place my emotions about it on paper. So, now that I’m nicely over 250 hours into the sport (and nonetheless going), what do I believe?

It’s the top of the world as we all know it, and I really feel wonderful.

You begin Pokémon Pokopia by being launched to your participant character, a Ditto, who has dropped from out of nowhere and determined to alter form to look a tad extra “human”. Needless to say, because it’s a Ditto, you’re simply “uncanny valley” sufficient that it feels extra “inspired by a human” than something. 

Quickly, you meet Professor Tangrowth, the sport’s Pokémon Professor who additionally occurs to be a Tangrowth, who informs you that you simply’re the primary Pokémon or human (or anything) that he’s seen in a very long time. You instantly got down to work by constructing habitats that particular Pokémon might spawn from, resembling Bulbasaur or Squirtle, however solely considered one of every particular species.

If you’re accustomed to the Animal Crossing franchise, you’ll seemingly know that you simply want instruments to rebuild your areas, resembling shovels or watering pails. However, in a manner solely Ditto may be taught, you begin studying new skills that may aid you as you’re employed by way of the sport, resembling Cut or Water Gun. Once you be taught a brand new means, it stays with you perpetually as you progress.

Your first main quest in Pokémon Pokopia is to carry some life again to the beginning space, make it extra humid within the desolate Withered Wasteland, and rebuild the ruined Pokémon Center. There are a complete of 4 main story-focused areas to discover, rebuild, and revitalize in the primary sport, with a fifth “post-game” nameable space that you are able to do no matter you need with. Each foremost space has a significant quest and a few smaller duties to deal with as you go alongside.

Building constructions are available a number of flavors. You can create houses that contain loading into a brand new, small space, a la Animal Crossing, which provide good space theming in your numerous wants. You also can construct pre-fabricated constructions which might be extra akin to Minecraft, that are produced from blocks. Or, you possibly can take it into your personal palms and construct your personal constructions, block by block. 

As you construct, you can even create habitats using gadgets, which are supposed to lure out particular Pokémon and function their preliminary houses. There are over 300 Pokémon to search out in Pokémon Pokopia, particularly while you rely occasion Pokémon or a few alternate varieties you could come throughout. And sure, finishing the Pokedex has rewards as nicely.

As the story in Pokémon Pokopia progresses, you be taught all about what occurred to the people, why the world appears deserted, and quite a lot of heartbreaking notes left across the panorama. You’ll even be serving to some thriller character who has been providing off-brand Pokémon Gym Badges so that you can do particular duties. I gained’t spoil the story right here, however it leads in the direction of the top of the primary story by way of regular development.

We all dwell in a Pokémon world (a Pokémon Pokopia world that’s)

As talked about earlier, I’ve spent the final 250 or extra in-game hours beating the story, finishing the Pokedex, making each potential habitat, discovering each recipe, and designing some enjoyable structure. Pokémon Pokopia has been a fantastic journey, however I’ve quite a lot of ideas.

Let me get this out of the best way by saying that Pokémon Pokopia is such a great sport that I can’t cease taking part in, having logged in at the very least as soon as per day because it launched in March. Not solely do I make a little bit extra progress on no matter mission I’ve given myself to do on the time, however there are day by day stamps that you simply earn for logging in that can provide you extra of the in-game foreign money on the finish of every week. That foreign money is used to purchase issues on the Pokémon Center PC, resembling unique recipes, constructing kits, gadgets, and extra.

Something that I seen fairly early on is how Pokémon Pokopia provides each single Pokémon you encounter a novel preliminary persona. While they might fall into some comparable traces as one another afterward, their introduction places them as people. As somebody who got here from Animal Crossing: New Horizons and its eight persona sorts, it was very nice to see how every of the 300 Pokémon felt like they had been a unique character than the final. For occasion, Kyogre (considered one of a number of Legendary Pokémon you could encounter) has a southern drawl, totally different from some other Pokémon. 

Early on, Pokémon Pokopia feels comparatively hand-holdy as it’s, however I do want there have been a little bit extra of an early tutorial for sure issues, resembling making the world extra humid or getting hype to 100% for a celebration. I perceive that they put you in the fitting route (and you’ll determine it out with sufficient tinkering), however a little bit extra of a nudge may have helped early on.

The open-world construction of Pokémon Pokopia permits for fairly a little bit of exploration. Once you unlock every space, I like to recommend constructing a easy residence as shortly as potential (full with a Ditto flag) and trying out what every space has to supply. 

Once you unlock the flexibility to Fly, you’ll be capable of simply try areas you will have missed afterward. However, it’s nice to get an early sense of scale and the world it’s a must to work with every time.

While it’s apparent that the areas are based mostly on cities from the Kanto Region of the unique first-generation video games, I’ve a powerful opinion that it’s extra particularly leaning on the Pokémon Leaf Green and Fire Red variations. With the discharge of each of these video games as stand-alone titles on the Nintendo Switch solely every week previous to Pokopia’s launch, it was an effective way to get newcomers to grasp the devastation that occurred between then and Pokopia’s timeline. I wrote a complete concept piece after Pokopia’s preliminary announcement that appears all however straight confirmed, which yow will discover right here. 

But, with rumors of eventual Pokopia DLC, that does permit us to know the chances of what to anticipate for future areas. Not solely is it potential that we’ll see cities like Celadon City, Cerulean City, or Viridian City/Forest, however it additionally opens up the potential for the Sevii Islands and extra past the Kanto Region. 

Alas, Pokémon Pokopia isn’t excellent. The multiplayer capabilities are a bit extra convoluted than I wished them to be. But they nonetheless work. The controls is usually a bit finicky while you want precision, however you possibly can all the time use the mouse capabilities when you want a workaround. 

For a base sport, giving this a lot content material and open-world looks like a blessing. But it may be daunting when you get your self too far right into a map with none steering or guardrails.

Honestly, although, very similar to how I skipped a portion of the fourth technology a few years in the past, I skipped the whole lot of Generation 9. The identical method for many years was getting stale to me. This total change of style is what I wanted to get the adrenaline again and get my mind again into the fitting mindset for Pokémon Winds and Waves in 2027. 

If you want a change of tempo from the standard coaching and grind of Pokémon, I extremely advocate Pokémon Pokopia as your next purchase in your Nintendo Switch 2. I’m giving this whole sport my stamp of approval as I wait patiently for the subsequent occasion and the primary eventual DLC. I can see this being a mainstay for a very long time, if The Pokémon Company performs their (Pokémon) playing cards proper.