Somewhere, on a lost and lonely island long abandoned by humans, there's you. A lone, shape-shifting Pokemon named Ditto who's taken on the form of its lost human trainer. And you're looking for friends.
A big squiggly-faced beast named Professor Tangrowth meets you. From there, you wonder: Why is everyone gone? How can you make things better?
And then the Pokemon start to arrive.
I've been playing Pokemon Pokopia at home for over a week, and I'm feeling feelings I haven't had since the early days of the pandemic back in 2020: cozy-living in a world where friends seem to pop up daily, full of needs and missions, and where I'm spending hours watering plants, fixing roads, finding food for hungry Pokecritters and decorating homes. It's Animal Crossing, but in a new and more interesting way than even the latest Animal Crossing update.
Making friends is a constant thing. Nintendo
I had literally no expectations for Pokemon Pokopia, and now I'm absolutely in love with it. And my youngest kid, a die-hard Pokemon fan, is absolutely crushed that this is a Switch 2 exclusive because he doesn't have his own Switch 2 yet -- which makes me convinced that Pokopia is the most diabolical Switch 2 killer 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 that's not quite the same thing, is it?
It's more than just a Pokemon 30th anniversary way to hold the fort until next year's fantastic-looking mainline Pokemon Winds and Waves game arrives. This whole game's Animal Crossing x Pokemon feel is brilliant, and it really works. And I'm not even a Pokemon superfan.
This game is the flip side of the last Pokemon game, Legends Z-A, which was all about battles. You'd fight, fight, fight and learn real-time attack moves. None of that's here. You fight no one. You just make friends.
Just like with Animal Crossing, you're always chatting with little buddies and doing daily things to make your world better. You have items to buy, items to craft, resources to collect, and little odd things to dig up or find. (A fossil remnant? A mysterious feather?) And you have an endless amount of Pokemon to discover, partly by happenstance and partly by creating habitats that attract these Pokemon later. One or two friends suddenly becomes 20, 30, or more. And while I haven't done it yet, you can connect with friends and play together in the same world, building homes or other things, farming, or decorating.
That's not my leaf hut home. I'm just using Nintendo's screenshot to illustrate. (Mine is up on a cliff.) Nintendo
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