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In Pokemon Pokopia, the development studios Game Freak and Omega Force show how the Pokemon phenomenon can be applied to Nintendo’s tried-and-tested gameplay formula from the Animal Crossing series.
The result is a sugary-sweet treat for anyone who has wanted a cosy life-simulation game in the Pokemon franchise, enriched with a surprisingly sophisticated building system and a slightly melancholic story.
In the game, you step into the role of a Ditto. This Pokemon has the ability to transform its gelatinous body into other Pokemon objects or even humans.
At the start of the game, Ditto wakes up in a bleak landscape of ruins. Anyone familiar with the Kanto region from the old Pokemon games will quickly realise that they are in the middle of the rubble of Fuchsia City.
The trainer has vanished without a trace and Ditto has transformed into the trainer’s human silhouette, now wandering through this deserted world, completely lost and alone. A friendly Tangrowth, disguised as a kind of Pokemon professor, takes the players under its wing and guides them through the first steps in the game.
Together, you begin rebuilding the region in the hope of luring back both Pokemon and humans.


The centrepiece of Pokemon Pokopia is a block-based building system that strongly resembles Minecraft. The entire game world consists of blocks that you can mine, collect and rearrange.
Resources are gathered, processed into components and then assembled into structures – from a simple flower bed to entire buildings.
Anyone who would rather progress without too much personal effort or creativity can also use prefabricated building kits. Players deliver the materials, assign tasks to helper Pokemon and a short time later, the little house is standing.
The goal of building is to create suitable habitats for Pokemon. Each Pokemon has its own preferences: Charmander needs a warm, dry environment, Squirtle wants to live near water and Bulbasaur wants more light on its meadow.
If you create the right environment, the Pokemon appears and moves into the habitat. Over time, a lively little community emerges.
The key gameplay twist lies in Ditto’s fantastic ability to transform into other Pokemon and learn their attacks.

Early in the game, Squirtle teaches the so-called Water Gun, an ability that can be used to water dried-out ground and make dead trees turn green again. Bulbasaur offers Vine Whip to make new grass grow from parched soil.
Later, you can even swim across water as Lapras or glide through the air as Dragonite.
All of this is implemented with great attention to detail. When Ditto uses Water Gun, a small Squirtle shell grows on its back. If you fall from a great height, Ditto simply splats onto the ground as a pink blob of slime, only to immediately pull itself back into shape.
Throughout the game you play a strange, malleable creature wearing a human shell and that is what makes the character so likeable.
The Pokemon in the game have some interesting personalities. Charizard is, as expected, a loud, hyper creature, while Vespiquen comes across as refined and formal.
Tangrowth leads you through the daily tasks as a friendly heap of vines. Pokemon play hide-and-seek with each other, react to objects you place in the world and form friendships among themselves.

If you tell Pokemon to follow you, you can take a small group of companions with you who help you, for example, to light a campfire.
There are a few particularly charming moments when Pokemon discover human artefacts – such as a bicycle, a map or an old tool – and speculate what they might have been used for.
As you roam through the rubble of the world, you find notes, diaries and hidden clues about what happened to the world.
The backstory unfolds at a pleasant pace and is especially engaging for those of us who already know the Kanto region. The game plays with many a gamer’s familiarity with the original region: you enter a ruin and suddenly recognise what this place once was.
The contrast between the cheerful present and the tragic past gives the game unexpected depth and a bittersweet melancholy. The soundtrack contributes significantly to this.
Familiar melodies from old Pokemon games are picked up and turned towards the melancholic – just familiar enough to awaken nostalgia and just strange enough to show that this world is no longer the same.

Pokemon Pokopia is significantly more extensive than it first seems. The main story can be completed in about 35 hours, but anyone who wants to register all 300 Pokemon in the Pokedex – a catalogue for Pokemon – will be kept busy for much longer.
There are four unlockable main regions with different environment types, habitats and Pokemon species.
But there are some minor headaches for players. For example, the storage system is decentralised. Each region has its own storage chests and there is no overarching storage.
If you are looking for certain materials later in the game, you have to click through several loading screens. In addition, performance in our test depended heavily on the version.
The digital version from the Nintendo online shop loaded noticeably faster than the physical boxed version.
Pokemon Pokopia is not a simple children’s game with Pokemon branding, but a nuanced love letter to an entire genre, delivered with the charm of one of the world’s biggest and most popular franchises.


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Bulbasaur (centre) in a screen grab from Pokemon Pokopia on the Nintendo Switch 2. Photo: Pokemon/dpa

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Pokemon gather around the newly-built Poke Centre in a screen grab from Pokemon Pokopia. Photo: Pokemon/dpa

Head chef Greedent (second left) prepares a meal for the Pokemon to enjoy together in a screen grab from the game. Photo: Pokemon/dpa 

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Entertainment

In the latest game from the popular genre, players have to rebuild the ruins of the Kanto region with the help of other friendly Pokemon


In the latest game from the popular genre, players have to rebuild the ruins of the Kanto region with the help of other friendly Pokemon.


Nintendo

Pokemon

Pokemon Pokopia on the Nintendo Switch is a ‘nuanced love letter to an entire genre’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}In the latest game from the popular genre, players have to rebuild the ruins of the Kanto region with the help of other friendly Pokemon

In the latest game from the popular genre, players have to rebuild the ruins of the Kanto region with the help of other friendly Pokemon