‘Pokémon Pokopia’ is even better than ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’

Source: TechCrunch

My Friday Night Playthrough

On Friday night, my boyfriend and I settled onto the couch for a low‑key evening. We tuned into a baseball game, he picked up my guitar, and I booted up Pokémon Pokopia—the franchise’s new cozy life‑simulator that feels unlike anything we’ve seen from Pokémon before.

I narrated my experience as I played, explaining the process of constructing habitats to increase the comfort levels of my Pokémon friends—a primary objective of the game.

“Onix is stuck in a cave, but I can’t break through the walls, so Squirtle suggested throwing a party to make it rain to soften the rocks,” I told my boyfriend as I played. “But Squirtle and I don’t know what celebration means, so we have to ask Professor Tangrowth what it means to party.”

I rejoiced when I finally made it rain and awakened Kyogre, but then Charmander—who calls me “bestie”—discovered that the rain extinguished the flame on its tail, so I built a little hut for shelter with the help of Timburr and Hitmonchan.

Unexpected Sleep Interruption

Suddenly it was 11:30 PM. I glanced up because the baseball game was about to end, only to discover my boyfriend had fallen asleep on the couch beside me. I hadn’t realized he was asleep; I was so engrossed in building habitats for my Pokémon pals that I didn’t notice his silence. While he drifted in and out of a light snooze, I kept relaying a detailed play‑by‑play of how I was restoring a seaside habitat for Magikarp. I was completely oblivious.

I’m embarrassed that this happened. I don’t think I’m an inattentive partner; Pokopia is simply too good a game, and it’s not my fault that I paid more attention to the fictional Onix stuck in a cave than the actual human being beside me. (You should’ve seen how helpless that Onix looked!)

Pokopia as a Cozy Hybrid

Pokopia feels like an Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, and Minecraft hybrid, set in Pokémon’s Kanto region, which has become an apocalyptic wasteland. Despite the bleak setting, the game remains firmly in the cozy‑gaming category.

Market Reception and Pricing

The game’s popularity has surpassed sales expectations, prompting Amazon to bump the cost of physical copies by $10, bringing the price to a whopping $80 (the game is also available as a digital download). It’s also the first Switch 2 exclusive game that is generating enough buzz to make people upgrade to the new console.

Comparison to Recent Main‑Series Pokémon Titles

The last few main‑series games, such as Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, received lukewarm reception—the games were buggy, and the open‑world layout felt rushed. Even as a lifelong Pokémon fan who dutifully buys every new release, I found those installments fun but losing my attention after completing the main storyline. Pokopia far exceeds my expectations with its expansive and thoughtfully designed world.

Game World and Regions

There are four main regions in Pokopia, plus a sandbox version of Palette Town for group play. I estimate I’ve logged about twenty hours since its release less than a week ago (whoops!), and I’m still less than halfway through the main story. The experience feels gloriously endless, and I can easily imagine additional regions as DLC—something I’d gladly purchase despite the already high price of $70.

Cultural Context and Escape

Few games have enraptured me in a flow state like this. It’s hard not to compare the feeling to when Animal Crossing: New Horizons first came out, but this time we’re thankfully not experiencing a pandemic lockdown that would change our lives indefinitely.

A lot has improved since Animal Crossing debuted—yay, coronavirus vaccines!—yet many things feel the same: Donald Trump is president again, the federal government is deploying armed agents against civil‑rights rallies, and extreme weather is becoming the norm.

Like Animal Crossing, playing Pokopia is an escape and distraction, yet it’s grounded in our actual world in a way that your island getaway with Tom Nook is not.

Story Setting: Post‑Apocalyptic Kanto

In the post‑apocalyptic Kanto of Pokopia, you play as a Ditto transformed to look like its former trainer, who is inexplicably missing. All humans are gone, and when you randomly appear in a cave with Professor Tangrowth, the greying vine Pokémon hasn’t seen another creature in years.

It isn’t immediately clear what turned Kanto into a barren wasteland, but as your Ditto explores the ruins and restores habitats, you encounter diary entries, newspaper articles, and letters that piece together the story: a disastrous climate event wiped out humanity. Pikachu appears as “Peakychu,” a pale creature that has lost its ability to produce electricity, and Snorlax has been solitarily sl

Pokopia – A Post‑Apocalyptic Pokémon Adventure

“Keeping in a cave long enough that it’s become part of the landscape, covered in moss. Yikes.”

Image Credits: Pokémon Pokopia

The apocalyptic mystery makes each new morsel of information feel more exciting—if not foreboding.

“We all know that everyone’s beloved music streaming services are being forced to shut down one by one due to the steep rise of server fees all over the world,” one note from an old Poké Mart says. “While music lovers are still mourning the loss of these streaming services, it isn’t bad news in the world of music!”

The note continues to explain the return to CDs that “our great‑great‑grandparents” used, which don’t charge a subscription fee, no matter how many times you listen to them.

It’s funny that Nintendo is poking fun at the broken model of music streaming, but the bit about server costs feels a bit too real for this moment. Since fast‑growing AI tools require massive computing power, there are nearly 3,000 energy‑intensive data centers under construction in the U.S. (see Axios), adding to the 4,000 already in operation. The demand for more computing power is so high that the tech industry faces a RAM shortage severe enough to bump the price of new MacBook Pros by up to $400 (see TechCrunch).

• Climate crisis?
• Server costs?
• Broken music‑streaming models?

It almost feels as though Nintendo is trying to comment on the current state of the world.

But while Animal Crossing is pure escapism, Pokopia at least gives you the sensation of actually rehabilitating a broken world. It’s unsettling to see Vermillion City in ruins—but that only makes it more rewarding when you work with other Pokémon to rediscover electricity and illuminate the landscape, eclipsing the dark clouds with a burst of light.