Given that the Pokemon franchise has explored genres ranging from visual novel to turn-based tactics, it's downright confounding that it hasn't yet produced a cozy life sim. Pokemon Pokopia is coming to change that, and doing it in a uniquely Pokemon way. After a lengthy hands-on session at a Nintendo showcase event, this take on different cozy-game mechanics and mainstays blend to feel like something that stands on its own.
You're a lost Ditto, heartbroken over the loss of your trainer. When the game starts, you choose a look based on your memories of the trainer, serving as the character creator. No matter what you choose, you'll be left looking like an odd, beady-Ditto-eyed approximation of a human. You quickly meet up with Professor Tangrowth, who walks you through some of the earliest parts of the game, centered around attracting and meeting up with new Pokemon.
The visual style of Pokopia is unlike any other we've seen in Pokemon games. The cube-based geometry most readily recalls Minecraft, but I was also reminded of the Dragon Quest Builders games due to how it iterates on that style with more detail, shading, and rounded edges. The Builders influence is also felt with the more mission-based structure of Pokopia, as opposed to Minecraft's open-ended survival. And as a fellow Switch title, it's hard not to think of Animal Crossing, to which Pokopia bears only a passing resemblance. You are building up a community of characters, but this feels more flexible in the style of Minecraft and DQ Builders, and at least from my limited time, less focused on social connections.
What surprised me most, though, was the way it reminded me of one of my favorites, the cult classic Viva Pinata. That's because the core mission at the heart of Pokemon Pokopia is building new habitats that will attract the attention of particular Pokemon, similar to tending to your garden in Viva Pinata. In the early game, at least, these tended to involve arranging a small set of elements in a particular order. Tall grass near the water will attract a Squirtle, while building a campfire will bring around a Charmander. When you've fulfilled the right conditions, you'll see a rustling in the grass and then go meet your new Pokemon pal. From then on, they'll live in your community, and you can build more structures like a bed to make their stay more comfortable.
I don't want to get carried away with the Viva Pinata comparisons. Many of these recipes I've seen are less puzzling than in that series, and the broad open space of Pokopia (and generally peaceful Pokemon) means you don't need to carefully manage their proximity to each other. But in broad terms, I enjoyed the same cozy vibes and satisfaction of setting a task to attract a new species and then seeing it show up.
Your weird Ditto-human learns moves from friendly Pokemon in Pokemon Pokopia
Since you're a Ditto who speaks Pokemon, your new denizens actually have things to say besides their own name, like quick greetings akin to your villagers in Animal Crossing. And sometimes they'll teach you a new special skill, which your Ditto persona can imitate by transforming parts of your body. That lets you plant flora or pull out Squirtle's Water Gun ability to spray plants, for example.
After learning the ropes in a single-player tutorial area, we were transferred to a multiplayer session, with later objectives and more powers unlocked. We didn't see exactly how the lobby system works, so it was unclear how similar this is to inviting other players to your Animal Crossing island, for example. But in this later state we could mow down grass by transforming our arms into Scizor blades, surf along the water as a Lapras, and more. It's cute and funny, and maybe a little dark, watching your cute Pokemon-human transform its arms into sharp blades like Terminator's T-1000. And there were also many more Pokemon wandering around, letting me see some of the requirements for their own habitats. A wandering Growlithe required cardboard boxes and toys, like you'd expect from a hybrid of a housecat and dog.
This later-game area had been pre-built with a lot more advanced decoration and housing, such as a large staircase leading up the side of a mountain and a well-developed suburb with houses for various Pokemon, along with sidewalks and even a playground. The central objective for our multiplayer session was to gather the parts to rebuild the Pokemon Center, but we weren't tied to each other. In fact, we all went running in different directions, and by the time I returned, someone else had already gathered the pieces for the Pokemon Center. In place of an empty and broken-down lot was the scaffolding for a new building, which cleared up after a few minutes and became the Pokemon Center we recognize from the classic games.
Exploring the larger islands in multiplayer showed how flexible the system is to build a huge and thriving community from the ground up. The houses all looked fully developed like you might see in any other game, but they were also fully breakable into tiny pieces that looked like they could be collected and rearranged. It was an impressive feat, since the houses didn't really appear to be built out of connecting parts, and that only became apparent once I started to break them apart. I dug deep underground just because I could, coming out the other side of an island underwater. Ditto can't drown, so you can explore the deep all you want, walking along the ocean floor.
Pokemon Pokopia
Gallery
On the other hand, it was occasionally less flexible than I expected. At one point, I started to dig a trench into the land from the nearby ocean, expecting it to fill in and allow me to make a moat or river inland. Instead, the water just remained stopped at the edge of the ocean where it was, restrained against an invisible wall.
I would be remiss not to mention one of the funnier moments I came across during my demo. While wandering the Pokemon suburbs, I was alerted that there was a Pokemon photo opportunity nearby. I didn't even know that photography was a mechanic at this point, but I followed the waypoint into one of the houses to find an Audino singing happily while taking a shower. I brought up the camera and snapped a picture, and was rewarded with a message telling me that I successfully captured the photo op. The game had guided me into a strange moment of wholesome Pokemon voyeurism.
The implications of that moment, though, are interesting. It reminded me of Pokemon Snap, stumbling across a Pokemon in their own element, doing their own thing. This is a game that has you building up a community of Pokemon, but after that, they seem to just go about their daily lives. I don't think Nintendo or developer Omega Force intentionally engineered this scenario for me to find, because there's no guarantee I would have stumbled into it. Instead, Pokemon Pokopia looks to be flexible enough that you can build your community and then just see what happens. And that to me is what makes Pokemon's exploration on life sims very exciting.
Pokemon Pokopia is coming to Switch 2 on March 5.
Source
You're a lost Ditto, heartbroken over the loss of your trainer. When the game starts, you choose a look based on your memories of the trainer, serving as the character creator. No matter what you choose, you'll be left looking like an odd, beady-Ditto-eyed approximation of a human. You quickly meet up with Professor Tangrowth, who walks you through some of the earliest parts of the game, centered around attracting and meeting up with new Pokemon.
The visual style of Pokopia is unlike any other we've seen in Pokemon games. The cube-based geometry most readily recalls Minecraft, but I was also reminded of the Dragon Quest Builders games due to how it iterates on that style with more detail, shading, and rounded edges. The Builders influence is also felt with the more mission-based structure of Pokopia, as opposed to Minecraft's open-ended survival. And as a fellow Switch title, it's hard not to think of Animal Crossing, to which Pokopia bears only a passing resemblance. You are building up a community of characters, but this feels more flexible in the style of Minecraft and DQ Builders, and at least from my limited time, less focused on social connections.
What surprised me most, though, was the way it reminded me of one of my favorites, the cult classic Viva Pinata. That's because the core mission at the heart of Pokemon Pokopia is building new habitats that will attract the attention of particular Pokemon, similar to tending to your garden in Viva Pinata. In the early game, at least, these tended to involve arranging a small set of elements in a particular order. Tall grass near the water will attract a Squirtle, while building a campfire will bring around a Charmander. When you've fulfilled the right conditions, you'll see a rustling in the grass and then go meet your new Pokemon pal. From then on, they'll live in your community, and you can build more structures like a bed to make their stay more comfortable.
I don't want to get carried away with the Viva Pinata comparisons. Many of these recipes I've seen are less puzzling than in that series, and the broad open space of Pokopia (and generally peaceful Pokemon) means you don't need to carefully manage their proximity to each other. But in broad terms, I enjoyed the same cozy vibes and satisfaction of setting a task to attract a new species and then seeing it show up.
Your weird Ditto-human learns moves from friendly Pokemon in Pokemon Pokopia
Since you're a Ditto who speaks Pokemon, your new denizens actually have things to say besides their own name, like quick greetings akin to your villagers in Animal Crossing. And sometimes they'll teach you a new special skill, which your Ditto persona can imitate by transforming parts of your body. That lets you plant flora or pull out Squirtle's Water Gun ability to spray plants, for example.
After learning the ropes in a single-player tutorial area, we were transferred to a multiplayer session, with later objectives and more powers unlocked. We didn't see exactly how the lobby system works, so it was unclear how similar this is to inviting other players to your Animal Crossing island, for example. But in this later state we could mow down grass by transforming our arms into Scizor blades, surf along the water as a Lapras, and more. It's cute and funny, and maybe a little dark, watching your cute Pokemon-human transform its arms into sharp blades like Terminator's T-1000. And there were also many more Pokemon wandering around, letting me see some of the requirements for their own habitats. A wandering Growlithe required cardboard boxes and toys, like you'd expect from a hybrid of a housecat and dog.
This later-game area had been pre-built with a lot more advanced decoration and housing, such as a large staircase leading up the side of a mountain and a well-developed suburb with houses for various Pokemon, along with sidewalks and even a playground. The central objective for our multiplayer session was to gather the parts to rebuild the Pokemon Center, but we weren't tied to each other. In fact, we all went running in different directions, and by the time I returned, someone else had already gathered the pieces for the Pokemon Center. In place of an empty and broken-down lot was the scaffolding for a new building, which cleared up after a few minutes and became the Pokemon Center we recognize from the classic games.
Exploring the larger islands in multiplayer showed how flexible the system is to build a huge and thriving community from the ground up. The houses all looked fully developed like you might see in any other game, but they were also fully breakable into tiny pieces that looked like they could be collected and rearranged. It was an impressive feat, since the houses didn't really appear to be built out of connecting parts, and that only became apparent once I started to break them apart. I dug deep underground just because I could, coming out the other side of an island underwater. Ditto can't drown, so you can explore the deep all you want, walking along the ocean floor.
Pokemon Pokopia
Gallery
On the other hand, it was occasionally less flexible than I expected. At one point, I started to dig a trench into the land from the nearby ocean, expecting it to fill in and allow me to make a moat or river inland. Instead, the water just remained stopped at the edge of the ocean where it was, restrained against an invisible wall.
I would be remiss not to mention one of the funnier moments I came across during my demo. While wandering the Pokemon suburbs, I was alerted that there was a Pokemon photo opportunity nearby. I didn't even know that photography was a mechanic at this point, but I followed the waypoint into one of the houses to find an Audino singing happily while taking a shower. I brought up the camera and snapped a picture, and was rewarded with a message telling me that I successfully captured the photo op. The game had guided me into a strange moment of wholesome Pokemon voyeurism.
The implications of that moment, though, are interesting. It reminded me of Pokemon Snap, stumbling across a Pokemon in their own element, doing their own thing. This is a game that has you building up a community of Pokemon, but after that, they seem to just go about their daily lives. I don't think Nintendo or developer Omega Force intentionally engineered this scenario for me to find, because there's no guarantee I would have stumbled into it. Instead, Pokemon Pokopia looks to be flexible enough that you can build your community and then just see what happens. And that to me is what makes Pokemon's exploration on life sims very exciting.
Pokemon Pokopia is coming to Switch 2 on March 5.
Source