Pokémon Pokopia is an all-new island-building game that lets players decorate and populate their ideal Pokémon island, and it’s rightly taking over the internet.
Nintendo dropped the all-new Pokémon island-building game Pokopia this week, and it has rightly taken the internet by storm.
The Pokémon Company is celebrating its 30th birthday this year, and while we’re not getting a mainline title until 2027, we’re still being treated to a wonderful spin-off title and a re-release of Pokémon Fire Red and Leaf Green for the Nintendo Switch.
In Pokémon Pokopia, you play as a Ditto, which takes a somewhat similar form to its trainer, who has disappeared. Your job as this Ditto is to help revitalise this empty island (which may in fact be a desecrated Kanto region reduced to rubble) and populate it how you see fit.
As you reconstruct the island, Pokémon will return to populate it, and you’ll be able to interact with some of your series faves. Thanks to being a Ditto, you’ll even be able to transform into other Pokémon and use their abilities to restore different parts of the island.
For example, you’ll be able to shift into a Squirtle and water the ground to grow grass and clean dry ground. Later on, you’ll be able to turn into a Lapras to sail across the seas, or a Dragonite to fly through the air, moving across the island in moments.
One of my favourite interactions I’ve seen is after you build a grave on your island, which will spawn a Cubone on your island. After visiting it, the Cubone will say, “Mum probably would have liked a place like this”, which hits hard in all the right ways.
It’s been a while since a game has hit quite like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but at least Pokémon Pokopia is scratching that much-needed itch. And even better, there isn’t some jerk landlord raccoon demanding you pay your rent. Now that’s a cozy experience.
You can pick up Pokémon Pokopia only on the Nintendo Switch 2 at your local games retailer, or via the Nintendo eShop for $109.95.
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