Watch the first hour of Pokémon Pokopia

Pokémon Pokopia - the first Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive Pokémon game - is something different for the series. It's a life sim that's part Animal Crossing, part Dragon Quest Builders, and part Viva Piñata, but also its own thing entirely.

It's hard to define, basically, but by all accounts is very good: it's currently the highest-rated Pokémon game ever on review aggregation site Metacritic after being showered with praise by critics.

Pokémon Pokopia is out today (5th March), and before sharing some of my favourite reviews, if you prefer to see what Pokémon Pokopia is, you can watch the opening hour of gameplay via One More Catch's YouTube channel:

As for what critics think - with some reviews written by friends of the site who contributed to our 'what we want to see from Gen 10' launch piece - bare in mind there might be some light spoilers below for those who want to go in completely fresh:

As you can probably imagine, obtaining Pokémon in Pokopia is pretty different from other Pokémon games. Here, you must create habitats using combinations of grass, trees, rocks, furniture, and other items that appeal to different Pokémon types. After a while, a Pokémon that favors that type of habitat may show up. Then, when you talk to it, it will turn that habitat into its home. I really love this system, as it manages to translate the magic of tracking down new Pokémon and filling out your Pokédex in a whole new way, and it's genuinely exciting when you see a rustle or a yellow speech bubble suggesting that a new one has moved in.

Pokopia and Ditto are nothing without the Pokemon that inhabit it. With a huge roster of cross-generational Pokemon making the cut for the Pokopia Pokedex, it's a refreshing twist on the series to not have to throw a single Pokeball or have a battle in order to add someone new to your friend list. Instead, Pokopia works on discovering and creating habitats that attract new Pokemon. 

Pokopia’s writing is sharp, and like the best cross-generational media, has jokes from both younger players and older members of the audience. Not only this, but the game is packed with references to the older games, anime, trading card games, and much more. It is a Pokémon anniversary celebration in all but name.

I do wonder if the developers took some inspiration from Kirby when designing Ditto. The way many of Ditto's transformations only alter one aspect of its body and how it can suck up multiple resources definitely feel akin to Nintendo's favourite pink circle. But what differentiates Pokopia is Ditto's knack for the uncanny. Ditto's transformations are not known for being perfect; having it in human form only heightens the delightful wrongness. The everpresent dot-eyes and gaping grin, the way the fingers are a little too long, the arms flapping behind it when it runs. The fact it takes the form of its missing trainer. It's spookily sweet.

There’s some annoying story-gating progress that slows things down à la Animal Crossing. I respect that Pokopia doesn’t want you to rush, and I never wanted to either, but waiting an entire day for a story-essential building to finish construction felt a bit much. There’s similar staggered progress in the final area of the game, and while it did give me the opportunity to go gather materials or fulfil more requests, the length of time felt unnecessary.

It’s all so thoroughly homely. Pokémon are universally happy to be your friend, there’s perfectly judged ambient music, and Pokopia leans on the UI and style of Animal Crossing for the inventory and crafting (thankfully with far fewer limits!). The Pokémon Center computer happily dishes out challenges that are just like Nook Miles, but there’s a different overarching structure to Pokémon Pokopia, and you can see that common heritage from Dragon Quest Builders 2 (and that game’s own inspirations) coming through.

If you haven't got a Nintendo Switch 2, and / or are mainly a Pokémon Go player, you'll get a taste of Pokémon Pokopia next week with a tie-in event, where Ditto has new costumes for a limited time, and the chance of a Special Background. There's also a rather haunting new avatar item to consider buying for your Trainer.

As well covering the above Pokémon Go event on the site, there'll be more of Pokémon Pokopia on One More Catch in the coming weeks. Until then, if you start playing yourself, let me know how you get on. I'm finding it enormously charming so far!