Pokémon Sleep was finally released in select regions earlier this week as an open beta for Android devices. After being the butt of all jokes when it was originally announced and then experiencing a series of delays, it now officially “launches soon” according to The Pokémon Company.
Developed by Select Button (also known for Magikarp Jump), Pokémon Sleep, for the most part, is the gamification of your naptime. Based on our first impressions of the Android beta, it not only tries to promote healthy sleep patterns but also attempts to hook trainers with common F2P and P2W mobile tactics by inviting them to "befriend" an entire Pokédex.
When you first boot up the application, you’re introduced to Professor Neroli – a new professor who specialises in the field of sleep. He loves studying Pokémon sleeping patterns and in order to do this he calls on your assistance to gather data about the different sleep styles of Pokémon. So every time you go to sleep, you're helping!
All sorts of information is thrown at you early on in Pokémon Sleep with one tutorial and menu screen after the other, but to cut to the chase, the main priority is documenting your sleep (and of course helping Professor Neroli). To do this, you need to give the app permission to access a bunch of features on your phone, and yes – this initially includes your mic, so the app can record you while you slumber (that's not creepy at all...). If this raises concerns for anyone, there is an option in the menus to disable this part of the app. Recordings will also supposedly be automatically deleted within 24 hours, or ahead of your next sleep session. And if you really want, you can go in and manually delete each sound file yourself, so nobody has to hear the weird dreams you had in the small hours.
The ideal amount of sleep is 8.5 hours according to the app and you can do two sleep sessions each day but they must be 90 minutes minimum. From here, you set an alarm within Pokémon Sleep to remind you to go to bed and then set one to wake you up. You’re then advised to connect your phone to a charger and lay it next to your pillow so it can track and record your movement and sound. And that’s when the fun beginzzz...!
You can either leave it running overnight or take an afternoon nap. You can also play relaxing sounds to help you doze off, but for some reason, we didn't have much luck with this option – with the app blasting Pokémon-themed music at full volume until we were able to switch it off.
Sleeping is technically part of the 'play' aspect in Pokémon Sleep, but there is actually some stuff to do before and after your nap. When you do wake up, the app will chart your movement, noise, and so on, to put together a “sleep report”, and then documents the phases like how long it took to fall asleep, when you were dozing, and if you were in a very deep sleep.
Pokémon will then appear around Snorlax based on how you slept. Certain types show up based on the quality of your sleep. You are initially gifted a Pikachu and after our own first session, we received a Bulbasaur, Metapod, and Mankey, representing the "dozing" sleep style. On our second run, three Pichu showed up.
Once you’ve at least had one nap, a bunch of other options are unlocked – such as the ability to cook food for your Pokémon and feed them. The task each week is to pick an island location and then help Snorlax grow by cooking food and feeding him, which will in return allow you to attract and befriend even more Pokémon. Again, we've only sampled a fraction of all this so far, but essentially, it’s about adding new entries to your “Sleep Style Dex” (basically a Pokédex) of the Pokémon you befriend in the game. There are seemingly hundreds of Pokémon to encounter, but in these early phases, your Dex records are a blank slate.
And that’s generally how Pokémon Sleep works. It also includes tips about healthy eating and other aspects of your life, in the hope of helping you improve your quality of sleep, as well as your sleep schedule. It will also grade your sleep sessions out of 100, with players able to work towards a perfect sleep score over time. It seems you can game the whole system as well if you don’t want to actually sleep and just want to play the Pokémon part. If you are more interested in catching ‘em all though, we would recommend one of the mainline games, or even Niantic's Pokémon GO mobile game.
As for this whole concept, one issue in our short time with this app (apart from it wanting to record audio), was how it requires players to sleep with their phones right next to them. You're also encouraged to charge it. While a healthy sleep pattern is no doubt important, we’re not sure it’s worth sleeping with your mobile at your head or side all night, every night. There’s even a warning to not cover your phone in blankets or a pillow, and it might not be the best app if you do want to conserve battery life. Alternatively, you can sub out your phone for the Pokémon GO Plus + device, but at the time of this hands-on, we did not have access to this product.