Apparently this game is pretty darn good.

88 on the ol' Metacritic after 59 reviews.

"Pokémon Pokopia is like a brilliantly bizarre blend of Pokémon, Animal Crossing, Dragon Quest Builders, and Viva Piñata, and despite its many influences, manages to be a unique spin-off for the Pokémon series that's also an accomplished life sim."

"A wonderfully engrossing cosy game that combines the best of Minecraft and Fallout 4 to create a Pokémon spin-off that, for the first time in a long while, is constantly surprising you with its ambition and variety."

It wasn't really on my radar at all but now it is.

Wut?

If this is by the Dragon Quest Builders 2 guys, it's probably pretty darn good. DQB2 is an awesome and overlooked game.

I played a bit of this the past couple nights. The core loop of optimizing your habitats both aesthetically and temporally is fun, and being able to run around as a little guy in a squishy 4K Pokemon world does a lot to make the fetch quests beyond that charming. The interesting part to me, of course, is the systemic interactions between different block types, and so far this game doesn't seem to do anything that Minecraft doesn't, so I'm not sure how much longer it'll hold my attention.

Metacritic is really just a way for us to try comparing apples to oranges, but it's interesting that Pokopia has resonated harder with cozy game fans than recent mainline Pokemon games have with RPG fans. Maybe it's partially a sign of the end times that people get so easily addicted to these extrinsic reward loops, but to be charitable, I wonder if there is genuinely a version of mainline Pokemon that could be executed so well that it scores a 90 without adding in extraneous elements. I doubt it; what could Pikmin 5 possibly do to get a 90 that Pikmin 4 didn't? So I guess I take general consensus with a grain of salt.

EDIT: On second thought, that's not fair, I could imagine a Pikmin 5 that resonates with a wider audience without compromising on what makes Pikmin great.

I’ve been playing this with Amanda and we love it so far. It feels remarkably polished. And it also makes me realize it’s not that I don’t like cozy games- I think I just don’t like Animal Crossing.

Unfortunately it’s too hard to find this on sale, or even at all, out in the wild. I’m sure it’s a combination of them not making enough, along with the good word of mouth the game has received.

Is the game simply just an addicting series of challenges and material gathering and whatnot? Kind of? But also so far, it’s incredibly charming and it feels like a lot of effort was put into the world. Pokemon really slips into this genre of game kind of perfectly. I don’t know how the game will continue to progress after the initial sequence, but I’m excited to find out.

Some games just hit you at the right time. If someone were to argue this was the Switch 2’s best game, I don’t know if I’d disagree with them. Granted, we’re very early with it.

Also this goes without being said, but if you’re remotely nostalgic for Gen 1 Pokemon, you’ll find a lot to love. However, it’s not all just Gen 1 Pokemon you’ll find. I couldn’t help but look but there are actually around 300 Pokemon in the game.

We hit one snag in the game so far and had to look it up, but we could’ve avoided this if we had just talked to more of the mons.

If you like a chill cozy game with Minecraft vibes, but it’s also Pokemon/Animal Crossing, but it’s also kind of like Zoo Tycoon (making the Pokemon more comfortable), check this one out. It’s just a shame it’s so hard for people to try this one out.

Not that this game needs any more positive word of mouth, but it really is a joy. Is anyone else playing it? It makes us smile and laugh every time we play it. It’s been great to take turns with it.

It has some annoying elements but I’ll concede they were partially my fault. Like other Minecraft type games, you really have to be careful where you keep your storage boxes. I definitely made a couple somewhere and cannot remember where they are.

I’ll also say this game has been great with getting me to care about Pokemon I otherwise wouldn’t really care about. Whoever wrote/translated this game really did a great job.

I expect I'll get around to it one day, but I just can't justify the price tag at the moment. Only $70 game (or even $60!) I've bought lately is DK: Bananza, and that was because I got it from the library first and totally fell in love with it.

If our library ever gets Pokopia, I will definitely give it a try! And if it is wonderful, I'd certainly be up for buying it. My days of buying games blind are over, though. It's just too pricey to take the chance, and trade-ins are worth practically nothing anymore.

Looks cool, though!