Pokémon Pokopia (2026)

[bestgaragedoors]

A few days ago, the first life sim Pokemon game was announced: Pokemon Pokopia. You play as a Ditto that has taken the form of a human trainer and developing an area to attract new Pokemon to live there. You will be able to talk to and interact with Pokemon, learn new skills, and craft items.

The game definitely seems inspired by Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but I'm really interested in the skills that you can learn and the extent of how you can customize your biome. They're definitely trying to have a "cozy game" with this one. There's not much information about it available yet, only the Nintendo Direct, but hopefully we will get more soon.

Anyway, what are your thoughts? What are you excited - or worried - about?

 

[K_S]

It looks cute, but as I'm not an animal crossing fan (way too much like playing dolls/house/ marrying a farming sim) I really would rather not.

Now it might peak my interest if mon who were in PC got dropped into pokepedia and how they are treated in this utopia impacts their battle prowess in mainstream games via iv/ev stat manipulation... (and the farming sim gets nice drops for "daycaring" a "guests" mon. That might be an interesting way to wrangle the friendship mechanic and allow casual and competitive players to play together... but I don't see the game (and series) going that way to interweave the two games/ideas into a cohesive whole.

 

[Negrek]

This one really intrigues me! I don't really know much about the "life sim" genre, since Animal Crossing is the only game I've played in that vein, so I'll be curious to see how similar they actually end up being. It's kind of surprising we haven't seen a game of this nature before, since I think "chilling in the pokémon world with my pokémon friends" is an appealing fantasy for a lot of people.

I don't think I have any particular worries, although sometimes Things Get Weird when games decide to incorporate talking pokémon. I think there's a ton of potential for cozy pokémon spinoffs like this, so I'll be watching it with interest.

If this was available on Switch I'd be checking it out for sure, but since I'm not sure when/if I'm getting a Switch 2 at this point, I may end up skipping this one. It's not enough to sell me on a console... It's up to Gen X to do that, I'm afraid. :P

 

[Flyg0n]

I am worried that Flygon isn't in the game is what.


In actuality, while I was initially slightly bummed about a farming/cozy sim when I heard the rumor about a pokemon spinoff, I've warmed up. This is a pretty big step and I think the premise is super cute (Ditto pretending to be human!). Admittedly I don't play many life sim games, they tend to bore me. I'm not very patient or good at relaxing lol.

Maybe if its not too pricey I'll try it out. I really hope there's a bit of nice story element to keep things interesting, otherwise I estimate I'll just have to read about the game.

 

[CuteBunnyGirl]

It doesn't sound like my type of game, i'm not really into animal crossing (no offense to people who like it)

 

[LutherAmarine]

Ditto wants to become human 'w'
Ditto: Become Human

But ah! Admittedly not too interested in it, I think I have enough cozy/life sim games at the moment, nor do I really feel much in the mood for it.

 

[Astinus]

I'll be the combo breaker and say that I'm really excited about this game. I adore life sim games (except for, oddly enough, Animal Crossing). Games like Harvest Moon are games that I've sunk a lot of time in. This game's style also looks a lot like Minecraft, which is another game that I played a lot of and enjoyed.

I don't have a Switch 2 yet, and don't have concrete plans to get one soon. But it'll happen one day, and this game will definitely be in my library.

 

[SparklingBlue]

Having played Animal Crossing before, this came across to me as "Pokemon meets Animal Crossing". That said, I need to know if this will just be Animal Crossing with a Pokemon coat of paint, or if it builds on Animal Crossing to become something more.

 

[Venia Silente]

After years of G9 we finally get a game that looks and feels like I'll want to play... and it's walledgardened into the Switch 2, lol. Oh well, I can only hope emulation catches up soon enough.

Also, as I've commented on other places, I want to see if this game even dares delving into the Ditto body horror. Show us Drill Peck!

 

[bestgaragedoors]

Having played Animal Crossing before, this came across to me as "Pokemon meets Animal Crossing". That said, I need to know if this will just be Animal Crossing with a Pokemon coat of paint, or if it builds on Animal Crossing to become something more.

Yes, that was one of my concerns... the emotional expressions especially seemed very similar to Animal Crossing. But I hope the game will be enough of its own thing to separate it from Animal Crossing.

I'll be the combo breaker and say that I'm really excited about this game. I adore life sim games (except for, oddly enough, Animal Crossing). Games like Harvest Moon are games that I've sunk a lot of time in. This game's style also looks a lot like Minecraft, which is another game that I played a lot of and enjoyed.

I don't have a Switch 2 yet, and don't have concrete plans to get one soon. But it'll happen one day, and this game will definitely be in my library.

Yippee! I also have a lot of fond memories of Harvest Moon :D

This one really intrigues me! I don't really know much about the "life sim" genre, since Animal Crossing is the only game I've played in that vein, so I'll be curious to see how similar they actually end up being. It's kind of surprising we haven't seen a game of this nature before, since I think "chilling in the pokémon world with my pokémon friends" is an appealing fantasy for a lot of people.

I don't think I have any particular worries, although sometimes Things Get Weird when games decide to incorporate talking pokémon. I think there's a ton of potential for cozy pokémon spinoffs like this, so I'll be watching it with interest.

If this was available on Switch I'd be checking it out for sure, but since I'm not sure when/if I'm getting a Switch 2 at this point, I may end up skipping this one. It's not enough to sell me on a console... It's up to Gen X to do that, I'm afraid. :P

A Pokemon life sim game just seems like something that should have happened by now. I'm intrigued by the direction they went in of having a Ditto look like a trainer instead of having an actual trainer. I enjoyed things like the dress-up and Pokemon Amie from X/Y, and a game of a human just chilling and taking care of their Pokemon seems like a no-brainer to me. But maybe not as obvious as it seems...

What do you mean by things getting weird?

 

[Mirage]

I'm not super into life sims like Animal Crossing, so I'm not massively hyped, but I am curious enough to want to give it a try when it comes out! Out of the pre-existing Pokemon games we have, the Pokepark ones are the most similiar, and it can be pretty fun to just around and interact with randos, so I'm looking forward to doing that here too.

My main worry is if there's going to be enough content to still be fun after paying our debt to our Zigzagoon landlord completing whatever the main story winds up being...

 

[AMawileNamedQuinn]

I'm super interested in it as a concept! I've always been an enjoyer of the spin offs because they give me an excuse to interact with Pokémon in new ways! I'm hopeful about the project, though I may not play it personally.