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by Lowell Kempf

From what I can tell, the DNA of Pokémon Pokopia is 50% Minecraft, 40% Animal Crossing and 10% Pokamon.

Now, that opinion comes with the caveat that I have not actually played the game. Instead, I watched my wife play Pokopia. (And it is enough of a time sink that only one member of a household should be playing it at a time lol)

When I first saw the trailers for Pokopia, I had very mixed feelings. From what we saw, it looked promising. However, it was so chibi that I was worried it would be aimed at a very young audience and not interesting from an older audience. And by older audience, I mean eight and older.

We got burned by Detective Pikachu 2. We had hopes for a story-heavy game with interesting choices. Instead, our then eight-year-old felt that it was too juvenile for him, let alone his parents. You can have games and other media that work well for the very young and the not-so-young but Detective Pikachu 2 was not an example of that. I was afraid that Pokopia would be one tiny valley's worth of stuff and that you'd fill it up in a half hour.

Thankfully, that was not the case. Pokopia, while not huge by open world standards, has enough room for you to stretch. It has plenty of goals to keep you going. And the underlining story is actually pretty dark. Engaging but dark.

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(I mean, some of this is in the trailers so it's not much spoiling but hey)

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Pokopia pulls the good bits from different genres. You've got dollhouse decorating and social management from Animal Crossing. You've got resource harvesting and management with the ability to make everything under the sun from Minecraft. Ands it's got the Pokémon from Pokémon.

You take on the role of a Ditto, which is a Pokémon who has shape-changing powers. Although if you didn't know that, you are way outside of the games target demographic. Dittos have been around since the first Pokémon game but (and this took me a little bit to realize) the reason to make the player a Ditto to justify them learning and using different abilities. The game turns your Ditto into the Swiss army knife of the Pokémon world. 

So, here's the hook. Pokopia takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. Humanity messed up the ecology so much that they had to abandon the planet. Now, the Pokémon who were put in electronic storage are awakening. And it's up to the Pokémon to restore the world. Humanity destroyed the world. Pokémon must save it. If you liked the movie Wall-E, this is the Pokémon version.

Honestly, the concept is so dark that it's fascinating that the developers were able to make it so cute and relaxing.  And make no mistake; this definitely falls under the cozy genre. You turn a bleak wasteland and turn it into a beautiful garden and find hundreds of Pokémon while you are at it. Honestly, the whole build up an environment is a well-traveled genre for video games. That part isn't new. The fact that it's Pokémon and the fact that they have to basically save the world, that's the engagement.

While I said that only 10% of the game's DNA comes from Pokémon (Although there has been so much media created for Pokémon that there could already be a cozy world building Pokemon game and I just don't know it), that's still an important part of the game. It's not just Pokémon is an IP that can apparently sell anything. Using Pokémon means that you already know the cast. You know Squirtle will have water powers and Charizard is going to do something with fire. So much of the explanation is already there for you. And part of being a beloved franchise means that the game sinks its emotional hooks in you.

The fact that it's blatantly draconian doesn't mean it doesn't work lol

The world building is solid and the gameplay seems to be strong. I was afraid that Pokopia would just be a cash grab with Pokémon slapped on. Instead, it blends different ideas into a lovely new work.