Pokemon Pokopia Review (Media Musings)
Hello everyone, and welcome to Media Musings! It took me far too long to get around to this, but here we are! A new Pokemon spinoff game released this Spring, Pokopia, and it took me a long while to get around to it. But now, here we are! As a fan of Animal Crossing, I was very interested to see where this game would take me, being a Pokemon town builder. I’ve never been great at designing things, but I was hoping to have a good time. The gameplay seemed promising and unique for the Pokemon franchise, and I got the feeling I was in for quite a ride. And in many ways, I was right.
Pokopia is a Pokemon game set in post-apocalyptic Kanto. Yes, really. All the humans are gone, most of the buildings are ruined, and Pokemon are just now waking up from a deep slumber. You wake up as a Ditto, who was once owned by a trainer. You meet Professor Tangrowth, who wants to restore towns so Pokemon and hopefully humans can come back. With this goal, you restore habitats for Pokemon to live in, places, devices, and more in your attempt to restore Kanto to its former glory. There will be many characters you meet along the way, and many mechanics for you to utilize. It’s a charming, wholesome game with a simple plot to teach you the mechanics.
Let’s hone in on this game’s biggest aspect first. The town designer aspect of it. The entire game is centered around this, and yes, there’s a lot of variety. This game is incredibly easy to pick up and play. The tutorials are simple, and the mechanics are easy to understand. You’ll learn how to connect electricity to devices, customize things with paint, cook to get upgrades for your moves, and more. There are tons of recipes to learn and use as you see fit, whether it be for habitats to bring Pokemon back or for a cute build of your own. Aren’t much of a designer? You can restore old houses or use pre-made kits. Love designing? There are plenty of walls, windows, roofs, doors, and decorations to make houses all on your own. The amount of material in this game is astounding, to the point where it almost gets overwhelming. There is so much life and creativity in this game, I love it.
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The Pokemon can help too! You can bring back Pokemon by putting certain objects close together to make a habitat. Every Pokemon has a different set of skills. Some can light fires, and others can generate electricity that lasts a little while. They can help build kits, gather materials, and help you look for things. I won’t be explaining them all, but I hope that gives you a little idea. These Pokemon can help you out if you use the Follow mechanic, where they will start following your character. If they see any tasks out and about, they’ll assist you. It’s almost like a little team of helpers. Although most of them don’t have too much personality, they do interact with the world nicely. Pokemon can passively help with your town, like Gatherers putting things in community boxes and Grow Pokemon helping to boost plant growth. Other times, you’ll see them play with toys, ride carts, and play tag with each other. It makes the world feel so much more alive.
Usually, I would be bringing up the story, but in terms of the main plot happening in the present, it’s nothing special. The plot is essentially a glorified tutorial preparing you to take on the huge task of restoring a town on your own time. So, instead, I’m going to devote this time to talk about the setting and backstory of this game. I’m not going to give you spoilers here, but I do want to vaguely touch over one of the main draws of this game. This is a town builder in a post-apocalyptic world. That is so interesting to me. This entire game takes place in Kanto, a place we are already familiar with. So, of course it would make us sad to see it broken down. Kanto already gives us a template for the things we expect to see in this region. It’s interesting to puzzle out which towns used to be what, and how things have changed since the original games we know and love.
None of the Pokemon have been able to puzzle out what’s been going on, since most of them have been asleep throughout all this. The most they can tell is that some weird weather shenanigans have been going on. Plus, most Pokemon cannot read, so they’re unable to interpret signs and news. However, we as the players can read, so written records are left behind. There are journals, tablets, and notes with small hints of what may have happened to humanity, things that gets more and more clear as the game goes along. In addition, collecting these records may also give you costumes and emotes. However, if you’re a lore collector, the real value is putting the pieces together. Some of the environment surrounding the record may give visual cues as well, so look out for those. You’ll keep all of these notes in your own personal collection to overview at any time, which is pretty handy. These records are the closest thing this game has to a compelling story, so I’d suggest looking into it.
Overall, this game is a delight. I haven’t even come close to mentioning everything, but I think a lot of this comes down to your own discovery. If you are a fan of Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, or cozy games in general, this will be for you. Even if you don’t typically play Pokemon games, I think you can still find things to enjoy in this adventure. It’s a charming experience that gets you surprisingly hooked. This is one of the best spinoff games Pokemon has released in a long while. Check it out if you have the chance! I’ll be discussing the DLC at another time, as I’m waiting until the other two parts release, but I’ll be back before long. As for the main game, I rate it an 8.5/10. Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you all next time!
This article and more seen on my blog site, Violet Pages.
