There was a moment quite early into my time with Pokémon Pokopia where I sat back, exhaled, and said, “Oh dear, it’s got me.”
See, I’ve not been too hot on Pokémon games for a while now, and initial trailers for Pokopia suggested that this probably wouldn’t be changing anytime soon. After spending 90 minutes with both single-player and multiplayer components at Nintendo of Europe's Frankfurt offices, however, I’m convinced: Pokopia — which has Koei Tecmo's Omega Force of Warriors fame heading up development — is going to absolutely gobble up my time.
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Not only that, but if it's supported by a steady stream of post-launch content (maybe some cool crossover items or events with other Nintendo properties?), it has the potential to be huge.
I could tell you that Pokopia is basically Animal Crossing with Pokémon, but that wouldn’t be entirely accurate. The vibes are there, at least; the music, the dialogue, the adorable animations… It’s very Animal Crossing in its presentation.
But in terms of gameplay, you’re looking at a blend of Dragon Quest Builders and — bizarrely — Viva Piñata (an underrated gem if there ever was one). And yes, a sprinkling of Animal Crossing, too.
You start off by creating your character: a Ditto taking on the (loose) form of a human. You can customise your skin colour, hairstyle/colour, and clothing - there’s not a massive array of options to choose from, but it’s enough to get you going. Once you’re done, you’re introduced to Professor Tangrowth, the sole resident Pokémon in a desolate, run-down world.
Tangrowth tasks you with restoring life to the environment, but in order to do that, you’ll need Pokémon – lots of Pokémon. But lo, behold! A Squirtle has conveniently appeared. After a quick chat (yes, all of the Pokémon here can talk – you’re not special anymore, Meowth), your Ditto character can mimic Squirtle’s Water Gun ability, enabling you to revitalise the ground, grass, bushes, and trees to flourish once more.
Once you’ve revived a sizeable patch of grass, a Bulbasaur will then appear and grant you the Leafage ability. This essentially lets you instantly plant patches of grass at will, letting you start customising the environment to your liking while also creating unique habitats for more Pokémon.
That’s the main hook of Pokopia. You don’t catch Pokémon here, but rather foster the right habitats to coax more of them into your vicinity. Some of the earliest creatures, like Bulbasaur and Charmander, merely require a bit of grass, but the requirements soon get more complex.
The key is to keep an eye out for a small, twinkling animation on the ground. When you interact with this, you're shown a brief description of the habitat required to reveal a new Pokémon. Scyther (who teaches you Cut, by the way) needs grass sheltered underneath a tree, while Hitmonchan shows up after you’ve placed a punching bag next to a wooden bench. I’ve only seen a fraction of what the full game will offer, and I’m eager to see how it balances player freedom with creating specific, curated habitats. So far, there seems to be a strong focus on creativity, and that’s great.
Creating habitats is just the first step – you’ll also need to make sure your Pokémon are feeling comfortable in their new homes. This is where crafting comes in. By gathering materials (rocks, lumber, leaves, and more), you can start hammering away at the crafting bench to create brand new items. This could be a straw bed for your Bulbasaur, a stool to sit and admire your handiwork, or even street lamps.
The section I played was literally the start of the game, so it was difficult to gauge what kind of items you'll be able to create further down the line, but hopefully it’ll give New Horizons a run for its money. Needless to say, completing small tasks to boost the Pokémon's environments took me right back to my Xbox 360 in 2006 and getting my animals to perform their romance dances in Viva Piñata. You won't see such dances here, but the vibes are certainly similar.
Overall, Pokopia's onboarding process is painless and incredibly fun. It really felt like I was making meaningful progress with each new tutorial, and unlike some mainline entries over the years, it mercifully doesn't talk you to death. You get the basics, then you're free to just go off and do your own thing. Bliss.
After tinkering around with the single-player portion, I then sampled a three-player session over LAN. Here, we were dropped into a much more substantial area split into two distinct islands. Our goal was to rebuild a Pokémon Centre, the requirements of which included a bunch of crafting materials, but also specific Pokémon, including Dragonite, Lapras, Espeon, and a few unknown creatures designated only by their key abilities.
Gathering the leaves and lumber was easy. We divided up the responsibilities, split up, and completed our hunt in minutes. Gathering the required Pokémon, however, was trickier. Some of them resided on another island located across a short stretch of water, so you can just head over (you can literally either turn into Lapras or Dragonite at this point), talk to them, and get them to follow you.
The problem is that many of them can't cross water, so you'll need to start destroying blocks within the environment, gather the resulting materials, and build bridges from one island to the other. Again, it might just be a result of playing an isolated segment of the game with no additional context, but it didn't explicitly tell us we needed to build a bridge - we just figured it out, and for a Pokémon game, it delivered a wonderful sense of satisfaction.
As for the unknown Pokémon, just like the single-player portion, specific habitats were needed to coax them into the environment. These were much more complex, however, and required scouring through each island to locate specific items. Ultimately, we weren't able to finish rebuilding the Pokémon Centre before our time was up - a good sign that Pokopia may provide some challenge when it wants to.
Ultimately, despite going in with the lowest of the low expectations, Pokopia was a huge surprise which had me grinning ear to ear. It's absolutely stuffed with charm and personality, and I get the feeling that it's going to scratch an itch for anyone disappointed that we probably won't be getting a brand new Animal Crossing anytime soon. This feels like exactly what I needed to get me back into Pokémon, and I sincerely can't wait to dive into the full game.
Pokémon Pokopia launches on 5th March. Travel and accommodation for this preview were provided by Nintendo.