Chiller Than a Glaceon During a Sinnohan Winter

I’ve played my fair share of Pokémon spin-offs. From pinball to Final Fantasy Tactics-style strategy RPGs, the hundreds of critters that Game Freak created have always translated well into mediums outside of the base games. This is also true for Pokémon Pokopia, a life sim and sandbox adventure that, after only an hour of gameplay, made me wonder why someone hadn’t done this until the developers behind the mechanically similar Dragon Quest Builders 2, Koei Tecmo, did.

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Pokopia sees you rebuilding towns while discovering what happened to humans.

Gotta Home ‘em All

Starring an adorable slack-mouthed and beady-eyed Ditto that you control, Pokopia takes place in a ruined world where humans and most Pokémon have all but disappeared. Together with a knowledgeable Tangrowth, it’s up to Ditto to make four distinct regions habitable for both Pokémon and humans so that they’ll return.

In this is the core gameplay loop: as Ditto, you’re running around creating habitats for Pokémon by using moves that other Pokémon teach you. Create four patches of tall grass with Bulbasaur’s Leafage and an Oddish might appear, or place flowers around a grave to entice a Cubone to join your little commune. Rarer Pokémon require more elaborate setups, like putting some speakers and a guitar by a stage to summon Toxtricity.

As more Pokémon return, you gain the ability to build more stuff in these regions, which in turn allows you to create more habitats for Pokémon. What’s more, these regions each teach core elements of making a functioning town: progressing the story through Bleak Beach will reveal how to use electricity to power up streetlamps and the like, while exploring Rocky Ridges will gift you the ability to smelt ore for more elaborate builds.

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Ditto can transform and use his abilities to rebuild.

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Professor Tangrowth will issue requests to push the story forward.

Koei Tecmo Used Intuitive! It’s Super Effective!

Never have I found a sandbox game like this so addictive and intuitive. I’m not a Minecraft guy, and while I put some time into Animal Crossing: New Horizons, it didn’t immediately grab me like Pokopia did. This is because Pokopia clearly respects me as a player: Ditto sucks up nearby resources by holding the Y button instead of individually, breaking down and reusing blocks takes no time at all as it requires no specific tools, and simple instructions like pressing up on the D-pad to get a Charmander or Timburr to follow you makes interacting with your PokéFriends a simple, menu-free affair.

Ditto’s abilities grow more complicated over time, but also streamline large building projects; as such, the only gameplay issue I had for much of the game was managing storage across the four regions because there’s simply so much stuff to pick up and nowhere convenient to put it all.

I’ve seen some of my peers lament how slow progress is, but I personally regretted burning through the story for the purpose of this review and some video guides because Pokopia is best enjoyed slowly. I’ve since restarted my save and am having a delightful time taking my time building little habitats and terraforming my towns.

There’s also a fifth region, an open-ended sandbox area, that I haven’t put a lot of time into because it’s just so daunting. The four ‘tutorial’ regions have clear indications where pathways and buildings used to be, guiding me toward making a functional town; on the other hand, the sandbox area offers no such guidance and, as a result, is incredibly intimidating. Still, specific Pokémon like the Eeveelutions only appear there, so I’m looking forward to building it up once I garner some confidence by fully restoring the Rocky Ridges and the Sparkling Skylands areas.

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It’s easier to terraform the islands with the various abilities you learn.

Cloud Ninetales

Much like similar games in the genre, you can invite friends over to check out your PokéTerraforming of the four story-based regions. Seeing which Pokémon your friends have found while accumulating inspiration for your own builds is half the fun, but the true value of this is the ability to take a photo of pretty much anything and 3D print it in a Pokémon center in your own world. I’ve spent a bit of time and plan to spend a bit more in areas designed by the development team, snapping pictures of cute Pokémon lamps and carpets I’ve yet to find in my own game.

The potential for creativity is exponentially increased in the freeform sandbox region, where your friends can help you build some truly mind-boggingly creative environments above and below ground if you’ve finished the story and have all the necessary recipes and abilities required. I personally do not want anyone messing with my creations; however, the fact that Pokopia includes this near limitless co-op puts it almost on par with the likes of Minecraft. With hundreds of items to uncover and dozens upon dozens of Pokémon to meet with friends, potential here is nearly endless if you have a friend or two to experience it with.

There’s also a Cloud Island system that feels like an evolution – get it? – over similar systems seen in Animal Crossing and the like. Here, you’re not just inviting your friends over to see what you’ve created or to help you with your sandbox; you’re inviting them to come build upon a blank slate with you. It’s a wonderful middle ground if you don’t want someone messing with the immaculate lair for your Charizard that you’ve built.

Though you can, of course, switch on spectator mode to keep your precious Cloud Islands intact, too.

Nostalgically Chill

While the town building is intuitive and addicting, what I’ve enjoyed the most about Pokopia is how it respects and elevates Pokémon as a whole. The mystery of why humans disappeared is the first time in a long time I’ve been interested in a Pokémon narrative. What’s more, Pokopia pays homage to the original by referencing past gym leaders and Team Rocket, giving an extra layer of fun to exploration for those millennials like me that grew up with these games, but doesn’t lean too heavily into it – the story is its own, wholly unique thing.

It’s also ironic that Koei Tecmo managed to breathe a breath of mysteriously fresh air into a Pokémon story and not Game Freak.

As this was developed outside of Game Freak, no new Pokémon are introduced in Pokopia; however, a few variants like the adorable Peakychu – a Pikachu without any electricity – and Stereo Rotom that acts like a DJ make delightful appearances. Outside of that, there’s a healthy amount of both old and new ‘mons to discover, making it so that each time a habitat starts shaking with one a nice surprise.

That said, quite a lot of these Pokémon have similar or thin personalities. For every standout Peakychu, you get a Bulbasaur and Sprigatito that are functionally the same. These aren’t Animal Crossing villagers with noticeable personalities but rather cute, interactive props to decorate your towns with.

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You can improve the Environment Level of an island by building homes to each Pokémon’s likes.

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The story is surprisingly deep for a Pokémon game.

Great Vibes

It wouldn’t be a very good life sim akin to Animal Crossing or a Pokémon game without a great soundtrack, and Pokopia excels here, harkening back to old title tracks with chill beats to accompany you as you rebuild society, one block at a time. I’ve already found a YouTube playlist with the soundtrack to play while I cook dinner, fold laundry, and write reviews like this one.

As such, Pokémon Pokopia will pull me back into its delightful little world day after day for a very, very long time for some relaxing building and Pokémon collecting. With new events on the horizon that offer even more Pokémon, I’m looking forward to collecting them all while designing the sandbox area when I build up enough courage to try – at least until I see someone’s amazing town online and lose all motivation.