Pokopia is currently sitting at 89 on Metacritic with a running total of 49 critic reviews, so we thought we'd take just a small handful of those and see what folks are saying about the latest Pokémon adventure. Spoilers: it's mostly overwhelmingly positive – yay!
So let's dive in first with Gaming Bible's 10/10 review, where they hint at the title's GOTY potential for 2026:
There’s no one reason why Pokémon Pokopia is so special; this game is a sum of its parts, without a single weak link in the chain. It’s a title that offers a unique spin on the cosy formula, made all the more magical by the familiarity of this wonderful franchise. Pokémon Pokopia is a true adventure that boasts a refreshing sense of freedom. Totally devoid of grind, this experience rewards the curious with heaps of content on offer. You’ll be hard pressed to put it down, and it's certainly a title that we’ll all be discussing when this year’s GOTY discussion rolls around.
Next up is Tech Radar Gaming with its 5/5 review, where it calls Pokopia a "breath of fresh air":
Every aspect of Pokopia feels like a warm hug; the graphics are super cute, the interfaces are clean, the music is bright and comforting, and it’s full of life. It’s a breath of fresh air to have a spin-off that adds so much to the already-teeming world of Pokémon, and I, for one, am incredibly excited to see how players design their own cities and islands.
VGC is similarly positive, awarding the game a 5/5 score and highlighting the sense of discovery:
Pokémon Pokopia is an excellent life simulation game that takes the best bits from the champions of the genre and evolves into something that Pokémon fans, and cozy game fans will love. Late-game grinding doesn't dull an adventure that's as full of discovery at 100 hours as it was at 1.
IGN provided a generous 9/10 score, highlighting the mixture of freedom and curation:
Pokémon Pokopia is a real treat: an enjoyable building and town simulator that capitalizes on the charming personalities of its monsters in a way that appeals to both the creative and collector alike. It's packed with fun things to do and worthy rewards for doing them, and strikes a healthy balance between freedom and suggestion in its building mechanics (despite a few precision nitpicks). All of this is housed in an adorable adventure through an interesting and surprisingly deep setting that presses all the nostalgia buttons for longtime fans. And it all shines especially bright in its lovable protagonist's blobby pink hands.
Eurogamer was similarly positive with its 4/5 score and is optimistic about the future of the spin-off:
Altogether it makes Pokopia a great game for Pokémon to celebrate its 30th anniversary with, letting the Pokémon themselves take the stage, with selected 'mons from across all nine generations making an appearance. The central theme of breathing life back into the Kanto wilderness is rewarding, while offering a look at the region through a new lens so, while it does harken back to the past, Pokopia is likewise able to stand outside the legacy of the Gen 1 games on its own. If this is where Pokémon is looking to go, into the future, then I truly hope it keeps going. But for now I'm just content to return to building my own Pokémon utopia. For I am Ditto.
Finally, The Gamer is a little more critical with its 6/10 score, stating that its building quests can often be quite repetitive:
There is a fun time to be had here, but ultimately Pokemon Pokopia doesn't explore the Pokemon side of its world and offers building quests that are mostly rigid and repetitive. As ever with Pokemon, there is enough charm to see it through, and the mechanics aren't shallow, even if they're used in aid of the same few tasks over and over again. It's Pokemon's take on a bunch of other villager games it's not quite as good at, but if you persevere there is a game waiting for you here. You just have to get the actual game over with first.
Even with the odd outlier here and there, it seems that most are fully onboard with what Pokémon Pokopia is trying to do.
If you want to see for yourself, then you can check the game out when it launches on 5th March 2026. We'll also have plenty more Pokémon content on the way to celebrate the series' 30th anniversary, so be sure to keep an eye out for that.
