The Switch 2 exclusive Pokémon Pokopia is currently the best-reviewed Pokémon game ever.
Technically though, this is a series spinoff and not a typical “Gotta catch ‘em all!” Pokémon experience in the slightest. Pokopia is much more of a casual building and life sim game with Pokémon neighbors. Many have compared it to Nintendo’s Animal Crossing, but even that comparison is lacking.
Gamers play as a Ditto, a purple amorphous blob of a Pokémon with the ability to mimic the appearance and abilities of others. This particular Ditto popped out of his Pokéball with the strange feeling that some crazy things may have happened while he was sleeping: The world around him is scorched, dead and littered with debris. Not only can Ditto not find his trainer, he can’t spot a single human or fellow Pokémon anywhere.
Ditto morphs into the appearance of his beloved former trainer and scrambles on. But soon he finds an elderly Tangrowth Pokémon who explains that Ditto’s fears are correct. The humans are all missing. And Pokémon are few and far between as well. However, Ditto and his morphing abilities could be the key to changing all that.
After aiding a struggling Squirtle, Ditto adopts that Pokémon’s water-shooting abilities, and he realizes that he can also restore patches of grass and trees to blooming health. This could be the way to save everything. If Ditto rebuilds Pokémon habitats and revives the land, other Pokémon may show up with new useful abilities. With time, Ditto and his new Poké pals could return their island to its original condition and perhaps call everyone back home.
Gameplay then becomes a process of rebuilding a variety of Pokémon habitats, reviving plants, crafting needed items and making friends with the Pokémon that show up. And since Ditto is a Pokémon himself, players get to chat with all the many Pokémon they encounter.
Along the way, the human-looking Ditto adopts a large number of abilities: He learns how to plant grass from a Bulbasaur, break rocks from a Hitmonchan and rototill soil from a Drilbur. He then sets off to explore the island, discover new resources, rebuild structures, improve his new friends’ lives and slowly return the world to health.
Pokémon Pokopia is an immersive single-player experience that combines casual building with an ongoing adventure storyline. But up to three friends can be invited to your island for multiplayer-mode play.
You can also use GameShare to play with friends who don’t own Pokopia (and even play with friends who only have an original Nintendo Switch), but this play is limited to specific game areas and it requires a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
Pokémon Pokopia is a colorful, casual building game with lots of tasks and goals that grow in number as the local Pokémon population increases. And, in turn, the growing population offers your character new abilities with which to further explore and expand his influence.
Pokopia also applies a unique gameplay formula that broadens the active fun without adding pressure to accomplish tasks. While most building and life sims keep things on a rigorous schedule, this one is more laidback with nearly immediate, visible results. Only collective construction jobs take time to achieve. And when a bunch of Pokémon gather for a complex building task, players can go off to perform other jobs in the meantime.
Pokopia is also very environmentally focused. Players set their efforts toward reviving beautiful and creature-friendly environs. And the game lets younger players make the satisfying difference between a dead and trash-littered landscape and green and thriving one.
There are no battles or fighting in this game at all. That said, there is the question of the missing humans. And if players press forward for answers, the resolution is a very bittersweet one.
Other than that, the biggest concern with this game is its pied piper call to keep playing and accomplish one more goal. Gameplay is appealing and could suck young gamers in for long stretches of time. There are also a few ghost-like Pokémon in the mix.
[Spoiler Warning] The game conclusion is heavily focused on the aftermath of a massive, civilization-ending environmental disaster. And it deals with sad feelings of loss felt by humans and Pokémon.
Pokémon Pokopia sets players off to rebuild a crumbled world for Pokémon friends. It’s fun, laidback and immersive all at the same time. But players should note that it can eat up your day.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
