Pokopia is the glorious return of Animal Crossing in Pokémon form

Somewhere, on a lonely, lost island long abandoned by humans, there you are. A solitary, shape-shifting Pokémon named Ditto who took the form of his lost human trainer. And you’re looking for friends.

A large, wavy-faced beast named Professor Tangrowth meets you. From there you wonder: why did everyone leave? How can you improve things?

And then the Pokémon start arriving.

I’ve been playing Pokemon Pokopia at home for over a week and I’m feeling feelings I haven’t felt before. since the early days of the pandemic in 2020: a comfortable life in a world where friends seem to pop up daily, full of needs and missions, and where I spend hours watering plants, repairing roads, finding food for hungry Pokcrits, and decorating houses. It’s Animal Crossing, but in a new and more interesting way than even the latest Animal Crossing update.

I literally had no expectations for Pokemon Pokopia, and now I’m absolutely in love with it. And my youngest child, a die-hard Pokémon fan, is absolutely crushed at the idea of ​​this being a Switch 2 exclusive because it doesn’t have its own Switch 2 yet – which makes me convinced that Pokopia is the most evil Switch 2 killing app yet, even more so than Donkey Kong Bananza or Mario Kart World. That being said, you could do multiplayer between a Switch 2 and an original Switch with Game Share, but it’s not quite the same thing, is it?

It’s more than just a Pokémon 30th anniversary a way to hold the fort until next year’s fantastic mainline Pokémon Winds and Waves the game is coming. The Animal Crossing x Pokemon feel of this whole game is brilliant and it really works. And I’m not even a Pokémon superfan.

This game is the flip side of the last Pokémon game, ZA Legendswhich was entirely devoted to battles. You will fight, fight, fight and learn attack moves in real time. None of that is here. You’re not fighting anyone. You just make friends.

Just like with Animal Crossing, you’re still chatting with little friends and doing everyday things to make your world a better place. You have items to buy, items to craft, resources to collect, and weird little things to dig up or find. (A fossil remains? A mysterious feather?) And you have an endless supply of Pokémon to discover, partly by chance and partly by creating habitats that will attract these Pokémon later. One or two friends suddenly become 20, 30 or more. And although I haven’t done it yet, you can connect with friends and play together in the same world, build houses or other things, farm or decorate.

I built a small leaf cabin with a kit I bought, then built a larger house. It totally felt like Animal Crossing. Even the menus and some character reaction sounds are similar.

Unlike Animal Crossing, the scale of Pokopia is much larger. It’s not a village: it’s a whole set of connected islands.

In fact, I have no idea how big the game is, even after over a week of playing. It’s all made of blocks, like Minecraft. You can take them apart and salvage them to build them elsewhere. There’s definitely a Minecraft or Dragon Quest Builders (a series I’ve never played) style here, but accessible. I never felt lost or overwhelmed.

However, major challenges remain. Creating new structures can scale to massive things that could take a long time to achieve. You must rehabilitate and reconnect all kinds of ruins, including Pokémon centers and much more. It’s a snack game.

There is a central story to follow, of sorts, in which the player can go back and talk to Professor Tangrowth to get an idea of ​​what’s next. But it’s so easy to get distracted: What’s that shiny thing over there? Wait, this Pokémon wants to ask me something. And this one. And oh yeah, that side quest. These Pokémon are certainly in need. I have no idea what it will be like when I have maybe hundreds. It’s Animal Crossing Unleashed.

My Ditto also has skills that it can absorb from other Pokémon, which continue to advance what is possible. This fluid evolution of the game makes it mysterious and exciting. What if the next day in Animal Crossing your arms extended and you could do something totally different, like cut down trees or break new blocks? It’s Pokopia. I want to go back and continue to discover. The horizon remains unexplored until the next wall of blocks.

I needed an enjoyable game like this in the middle of a chaotic year. In the middle of a snowstorm, it was a warm blanket. I worry about where all the humans have gone, and I feel a mournful, Miyazaki-like sadness wrapped up in this game. But also hope. I’m cleaning up a broken world, little by little.

I feel like I have so much to do in this game, so much to tinker with. I don’t know if there really will be an ending – although Nintendo apparently claims there is an ending, around 20-40 hours later. I’m sure this is just a milestone in the story, while the everyday Animal Crossing type stuff will continue. This is a game that seems worth the $70 price tag – although I still feel like $70 is too high for games (grumble).

And it’s also a game that, finally, makes my kid want to own their own Switch 2. Nintendo may have found its upgrade moment, at least for my family. In the future, Nintendo’s games will likely almost all be Switch 2 exclusives. And this one will be in the mix for a long time to come.