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It’s always these simple, cozy games that turn out to be sleeper hits.
Pokémon fans are eating good right now, especially with the surprise launch of Pokémon Pokepia capturing the hearts of fans both young and old. While the world is still reeling from the announcement of the newest Pokémon generation, Pokopia quietly dropped on the Nintendo Switch 2 on March 5 and quickly grew from there.
From the very first look, you can tell what kind of game Pokopia is. Life-simulation games are a dime-a-dozen, but they always remain fairly popular. Games such as Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon has shown us that as long as you get the satisfying loop of overcoming challenges to see your farm, home, or habitat grow, then you have something that’ll suck all the time out of your day.
A life-sim Pokemon game does sound like the most obvious homerun in the world but Pokopia is more than that. The game was developed together with Koei Tecmo’s Omega Force team, developers of the well regarded Dragon’s Quest Builders 2. This gives Pokopia much more deeper adventure and building mechanics, leading to hours of exploring and experimenting.
Befriending Pokémon and convincing them to live in your town presents an interesting challenge as well. Different Pokémon have different needs and figuring out how to balance all of them is a satisfying and rewarding endeavour. Plus, it satisfies that ‘Gotta Catch ‘em All’ need that every Pokémon fan has.
What’s even better is that you don’t have to do this alone. Aside from the Pokémon you befriend giving you special powers, Pokopia allows you to invite up to three friends so that you can all help each other build your ideal Pokemon town. It’s no wonder that people are getting lost in the Pokopia vortex.
All in all, Pokopia is an excellent game that combines the best aspects of life-sims and Pokémon. If you’re a fan of either genre, or even both, then this something that’s worth checking out.
Banner image from Nintendo.com.