Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Pokémon Pokopia?

Pleasantly surprised with how much fun and joy is in this game

I still need a bit more time before I can commit to a score, but I'm honestly leaning towards a 10 right now. It might be the best game on the Nintendo Switch 2 at the moment.

9/10.

Probably one of the most comforting and addictive games I've played in a while. No joke, each and every time I stop playing for a while, I get that itchy feeling to go back, but I can't because work is in the way. And it sucks. There were even times that I had to force myself to stop playing. Add this to my list of favorite Switch 2 exclusives.

10/10, anyone who gives it a negative score is simply ragebaiting for attention. You haven't even played it if you really think it's a 1

9.../10 For now, I will update with the actual final score when I finish it

It's been out for 4 days, and it's a pretty long game...

solid 7/10 from me

@moonblastx yeah rage baiting or just general toxicity.

I mean is it a perfect game? No. I've run into a few minor complaints. But it's most QOL issues that pop up from time to time. Nothing that would drag it's score down by more than maybe 2 points by even the harshest critique.

For anyone curious the issues I've run into so far.

1. It's unreasonably hard to locate Pokemon that don't have a home. This isn't a problem most of the time as they generally automatically get a home when you meet them. But if you EVER accidentally destroy their home and they aren't nearby ... Every tracking feature in the game weirdly only works if they already have a home. They need to improve tracking.

2. When building actual homes you need the Pokemon to be nearby to help you build it. Which generally requires you to find them, have them follow you, and then WAIT until they slowly trail behind you to the build location. Why can I not just assign whoever is available from the build menu?

I have a few other minor complaints but there at this level or lesser. Again not perfect, but after you get past some frustrating moments you go back to having fun.

This game is surprisingly excellent. In the first area I knew there was a lot to do. In the second area, the game was really popping off. The third area is my favourite one so far. This game is enormous. I think it's going to overtake Animal Crossing for sure.

@Metazoxan One cool tip if the building queue asks you for example for a Charmander but it shows you the Burn icon, then it means you could use any Pokémon with the burn skill, like a Growlithe for example, if you just happen to run into it looking for your Charmander. I have so many minor things that I could say the game could do better, and it's all nitpicky stuff like that, but really very little. I have so much more to say about the things that wow'ed me, from the scale of the game, the narrative, the themes, all the systems, it's immensely cool... one of the greatest games I think I've ever played, it builds on everything that Dragon Quest Builders 2 did and does it better while incorporating elements from other games and also doing those better or at least equally as good

Why don't you guys do this a week after a release like push square lol. Anyway, I do still need to feel what the gameplay loop is like further in the game. So far, as much as I'm loving the game and would love to give it a higher score, it's about an 8 or 8.5. The one thing I can't help feel like is missing to make it perfect is combat. DQ Builders literally has it, idk why the team decided not to have it. It makes sense for pokemon, even within the premise of this game. Considering ur out here discovering pokemon maybe some of them could be hostile or require you to calm them down by beating them to a pulp lol

And my other issue is that only a certain amount of pokemon can be out roaming around. I guess it was too taxing for them but even then surely they could've made it so more than 20ish pokemon per area are roaming around. Like ur probably missing out on some of the admittedly funny dialog and interactions and you wouldn't even know

Other than that, it's fun making homes for pokemon and slowly making the world come to life and look nice and pretty. The interactions are cute. It's fun to explore and increase ur pokedex and environment level. The little tidbits of lore and journals you find around the world are actually so good and quite dark lmao. Looking forward to continuing

I gotta say... flabbergasted NL gave it such a low score.
My son begged me to play with him this weekend. An hour in I downloaded it for myself. And I'm not even a Pokemon fan. This thing is special. Very, very good game.

@moonblastx have not been this excited to "dig" (lol) into a game since ACNH. Blown away by people who rate this low.

@moonblastx I had a feeling that was the case after the Pokemon listed randomly changed a couple times.

Overall I agree. Really the issues with the search function is my biggest complaint. Like yesterday I picked up Cubone's tombstone to move his habitat to a better location ... I did not have him follow me before doing that and COULD NOT find him afterwards. The search function didn't help at all and Pokemon with the literal ability search were all "Gee I have no idea where he is. Too bad". Like what use is a search function if it doesn't guide you to the Pokemon!?! Is it broken or just badly designed?

Again this is only REALLY an issue if they don't have a home since you can use honey to make them spawn at home. But in scenarios where they lose a home the game is NO HELP in finding them. Sometimes you'll find them wandering around their former home wondering where it went. But otherwise you just have to search everywhere.

So my tip for everyone, ALWAYS make a Pokemon follow you BEFORE you break their home. Because search will not help you.

I said 8. I wavered between a 9 but I do think, while there is certainly a lot of content here, it doesn’t reinvent the wheel. Not like a cozy game has to be completely new and innovative, necessarily. I also played it all weekend to unlock every area and I’m starting to feel burnt out. Which may be a me problem lol. Anyway, if I’m still hooked on this a few weeks from now, I’ll reevaluate the score.

@Metazoxan Agreed, once you start getting a lot of mons, it’s hard to find them. I just leave the habitat in place until I move them.

Put quite a few hours into it over the weekend and I’ve gotta say 9/10. I may be overly enamored of this game because it’s the first “cozy” game that Ive played that really got the vibe right for me though. I dislike farming sims and the urge to homestead away from humanity isn’t something I’m particularly familiar with, but Pokopia let’s you make the world a better place to live in for yourself and the pokemon around you - definitely comforting and a little healing even.

Im not sure what would make it a 10 for me.
As of now it’s a 9/10 for me. Solid game with a good play loop.

If it's as addicting and creative as DQ Builders and runs well, then it's easily at least a 9/10.

@Jamessmooth 8/10 isn't a low score. You said your self, it's a very very good game, aka great, aka 8/10. Is it excellent? Probably not, is it outstanding? No.

What I love so much is how Pokemon interact seamlessly with each other, as well as have little reactions for player actions like water gun. This game really endears me to Pokemon I've overlooked, and I appreciate how first evolution 'Mons are getting so much gameplay love in Pokopia. It's so nice to appreciate different Pokemon as just cute and lovable creatures rather than battle fodder. The level grind in mainline games has discouraged me from discovering and experimenting with nearly as much Pokemon as I would've liked, so a spinoff that lets a Pokemon shine simply for their core abilities and traits is a breath of fresh air.

I've just started, but the early impressions are excellent.

I'll be happy to give it a score once I find a copy

Just started playing yesterday but it seems cozy and charming. Would probably lean towards an 8/10 but its too early to say for sure.

@John_Deacon salty about the GKC aspect no doubt. Glad to hear that lots are just getting on with it and enjoying the game.