Pokopia Is the Glorious Return of Animal Crossing in Pokemon Form

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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.

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?

In a still from Pokemon Pokopia, a Bulbasaur Pokemon gleefully greats Ditto in its human form, celebrating a new friendship.

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.

Many Pokemon and the Ditto main character in human form gathering in a garden near a hut-like home made of leaves, which is near a farm plot, in the game Pokemon Pokopia.

I made a little leaf hut home with a kit I bought and then made a larger home. It totally looked like Animal Crossing. Even the menus and some of the character reaction sounds are similar.

Unlike Animal Crossing, the scale of Pokopia is way larger. It's not one village: It's a whole connected set of islands.

I have no idea how big it is, actually, even after a week-plus playing. Everything's made of blocks, like Minecraft. You can break them down and collect them to build elsewhere. There's definitely a Minecraft or Dragon Quest Builders (a series I never played) style here, but approachable. I never felt lost or overwhelmed.

Still, there are some big challenges. Creating new structures can extend to massive things that could take a long time to make. You have to rehabilitate and reconnect all sorts of ruins, including Pokemon Centers and more. It's a game to chip away at.

There's a central story line to follow, sort of, in which the player can go back and talk to Professor Tangrowth to get ideas of where to go next. But it's so easy to get distracted: What's that shiny thing over there? Wait, this Pokemon wants to ask me something. And this one. And oh yeah that side quest. These Pokemon sure are needy. I have no idea what it'll be like when I maybe have hundreds of them. It's Animal Crossing Unleashed.

Ditto shaped like a human but with vines for arms gardens in the game Pokemon Pokopia while a bulbasaur hangs out nearby.

My Ditto also has skills it can absorb from other Pokemon, which keep advancing what's possible. This fluid evolution of the game keeps it mysterious and exciting. What if the next day in Animal Crossing your arms extended and could do something totally different, like cut trees or break new blocks? That's Pokopia. I want to go back and keep discovering. The horizon remains unexplored right beyond the next wall of blocks.

I needed a cozy game like this to tuck into in the middle of a chaotic year. In the middle of a blizzard, it was a warm blanket. I'm worried about where all the humans went, and I feel a mournful, Miyazaki-like sadness draped over this game. But also hope. I'm cleaning up a broken world, bit by bit.

In a decorated home in Pokemon Pokopia, Pokemon gather with the Ditto, who is in in its human form.

I feel like I have so much to do in this game, so much to tinker with. I'm not sure if there's ever really an end -- even if Nintendo apparently claims there is an end, about 20 to 40 hours in. I'm sure that's just a story milestone, while the daily Animal Crossing-like things will just keep going. This is a game that feels like it's worth the $70 price -- even though I still feel like $70 is too high for games (grumble).

And it's also a game that, finally, is making my kid want his own Switch 2. Nintendo may have found its upgrade moment, for my family at least. Going forward, Nintendo's games are likely to be almost all Switch 2 exclusives. And this one is staying in the mix for a long while to come.

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