Everything I Hoped For, And More

Ever since it was originally announced, I’ve been eager to jump into the world of Pokémon Pokopia, and after having played it I can honestly say that I’m still just as excited to return. I’ve long been a fan of both cozy gaming and the world of Pokémon. I love collecting Pokémon TCG cards, playing all the video games, and more. As I write this, I can glance up at my monitor to the shelves devoted to my Snorlax collection; a constant reminder of the impact Pokémon has hadon my life.

Therefore, I am so grateful for the chance to review Pokémon Pokopia and experience this cozy life sim early. Despite only being 10 GB in size, I’ve played over 35 hours of Pokémon Pokopia so far, according to my Switch 2. Given that I’ve also done quite a bit of just decorating and extra exploring, I would say beating the story would probably have taken me about 25 hours if I strictly worked on that. As it is, I can easily see myself putting in hundreds of hours with all the things to do in this game.

Pokémon Pokopia Is Everything I Hoped For, And More

A Cozy Life Sim That Had Me Wanting To Keep Playing Long Into The Night

Pokémon Pokopia will be released on March 5, 2026, exclusively for the Switch 2. It is a slow, relaxing life simulation game set in the world of Pokémon afterhumans have all vanished and Pokémon have been asleep for many years. Playing as the most adorable Ditto I’ve ever seen, you take on the image of your lost trainer and set out to make friends, rebuild the lands you all call home, and try to unravel the mystery of where the humans have gone.

The gameplay itself is set at a very relaxed pace, where you are free to explore and do whatever you’d like. In fact, some instances force you to slow down a bit when you are waiting for your Pokémon to complete a task you’ve given them, such as building a house, and it will take anywhere from 15 minutes to a day to finish.

If you’ve ever played Dragon Quest Builders, I saw many similarities in how many of the gameplay mechanics were handled.

While there is an incredibly intriguing storyline to follow, there is so much more to Pokémon Pokopia than that. These worlds you are given access to are filled with secrets, collectibles, and plenty of open spaces waiting for you to bring life back to. In fact, if you’ve ever played Dragon Quest Builders, I saw many similarities in how many of the gameplay mechanics were handled.

Ditto’s Transformations Are Perfectly Crafted

What I Thought Could Be Cumbersome Turned Out Seamless

As you tackle reviving these barren landscapes that have been neglected for years and are devoid of life, you are helped by being taught many abilities of other Pokémon. As you may know, Ditto is special for its ability to transform, and although your character is transformed into a human-like form for much of the game, you can also apply features from your pocket monster friends to help you out.

These include things like spraying water, punching rocks, cutting grass, and more. As the story progresses, you even begin to learn talents such as swimming from Lapras and gliding from Dragonite.

After seeing these abilities in the initial trailers and hearing from many who attended demos of the game, I was hesitant that having Ditto transform to use these skills would become frustrating or cumbersome. Thankfully, I was proven wrong, and found swapping between skills to be even simpler than many games make changing your weapon.

Finding New Pokémon Is As Easy As Making An Inviting Habitat

Build It, And They Will Come

Like any Pokémon game, there is a Pokédex in Pokémon Pokopia. Within the Pokédex, there is a Habitat dex, which helps you see what kinds of environments you need to make to entice Pokémon to show up and move into your game. These habitats can be as simple as four beds of flowers next to each other, or as complicated as several difficult-to-craft items grouped in a specific way.

After a Habitat is made, the game will alert you if you’ve done it correctly, and then it is only a matter of time before a Pokémon will appear for you to meet.

While filling out the Pokédex in its entirety is not necessary to beat the game, many of us love trying to catch them all. Also, as noted above, some of these friends are important for teaching Ditto moves that can be useful.

Looking Forward To Trying Multiplayer Modes

So Far, I Was Not Able To Experience Multiplayer For This Review

Unfortunately, one of the aspects of Pokémon Pokopia that I am most looking forward to is seeing how the multiplayer is handled. As this was an early review, I have not yet had a chance to try it out. Yet, I will certainly be exploring how they have reportedly improved on Animal Crossing‘s multiplayer as soon as the game releases.

I was very impressed with the use of Dream Islands in Pokémon Pokopia.

One thing that I was very impressed with is the use of Dream Islands in Pokémon Pokopia. Unlike the dream islands of Animal Crossing, in Pokopia, this entails having a Drifloon carrying you away to a random deserted island where you can farm for resources and find many new recipes and items.

Dream Islands can only be accessed once a day.

The island that Drifloon takes you to will always be a bit random, but it correlates to a type of Doll (stuffed animal Pokémon) that you show to Drifloon when you want to go. Therefore, this works out perfectly if you need a specific resource, such as iron, and you can’t find any around easily.

There’s So Much I Want To Say About Pokémon Pokopia

But Really, You Have To Play This For Yourself

Really, there are so many things I want to gush about with Pokémon Pokopia. I have truly enjoyed every second I have played thus far and, unless the multiplayer mode changes this, I would easily say this is a rare 10/10 game. There are so many little details I wasn’t expecting, including minigames, secrets, collectibles, and more. Even the story itself is so much more than just a thrown-together foundation for a life sim without humans.

I could see some players who are not familiar with Pokémon having some difficulties remembering which of them can do certain things, like fire or water, without knowing the types off the top of their heads. But even that is easily overcome by using the Pokédex to look things up.

If this is a game that interests you at all, I would, without hesitation, recommend picking up Pokémon Pokopia as soon as it releases on March 5.