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!

I started playing this about a week ago per my kids' recommendation, and because I really loved Dragon Quest Builders 2!

Gonna be honest though, I'm not sure what to make of it yet. It's got a lot more Animal Crossing in its DNA than DQB did and as a result all the different Poke-neighbors feel almost a little overwhelming. They all have comfort levels, abilities, things to teach you, things to give you...feels like everything's competing for my attention. The game keeps throwing new doodads at me and new mechanics at a rapid pace. I can explore or gather anything and everything or help neighbors or use my different moves but I'm finding it difficult to latch onto a specific overarching goal to work towards? It's weird, I don't get overwhelmed playing something like BotW but I'm getting overwhelmed with this!

Also, I'm sorry but I kind of hate the story/writing. Everyone is just...so...chatty. It's like Pikmin 4 all over again! Everyone's personality is the same and they're all crazy verbose, kind of like this post. And at the risk of sounding like a mean ol' cuss, they're too nicey-nicey. It's okay to have a little bit of zing! But even tough-looking 'Mons like my boy Scyther are as buddy-buddy as the cuddliest Oddish. At one point Charmander accidentally squashes some food and my options are "It's OK" and "Don't worry about it!" I mean would it kill 'em to have a little more personality? Back in the GCN days people called Nintendo kiddie but despite the cute, cuddly casts the dialogue was genuinely well-written, varied, funny, and even a little zesty in games like Paper Mario, Animal Crossing (GCN), Wind Waker, and Pikmin. But this flavorless chatter actually does make me feel like I'm floating outside the target audience zone here.

Also, everything is a "they." Look, I know this is a whole can of worms but it just doesn't read clearly; if we didn't want to go with "it" for the rational Pokemon could we at least pick a gender for each one and stick with it? It's just confusing to read "they" for everything because you can't always parse out when it's actually referring to a specific character or a group. And I picked the boy trainer, so what's the big deal about calling me a boy? Because Ditto is genderless? In that case, why isn't our Tangela professor a male or female? Weird inconsistent writing.

I want to like this game more! But I haven't really seen people have these issues with it yet. The AC/DQB mishmash is not quite hitting for me and feels overwhelming somehow.

@TriforceBun

I was surprised that Ocarina of Time Remake referred to Volvagia as "it!" It genuinely makes me curious as to what Treehouse's internal policy on this is. Deku Scrubs (and Pikmin and Pokemon) are they, but Volvagia is an it? Is it a good/evil thing? A sentience thing? I really want to know!