Pokopia puts you in the squishy shoes of Ditto, a delightfully blob-shaped and blank-faced Pokémon that has the ability to transform into other Pokémon and use their abilities. You don’t need any prior knowledge of Pokémon to play — the game teaches you everything you need to know as you go. (But if you already love Pokémon, you don’t need me to tell you you’ll enjoy this game.) The game begins as you wake up on an island, alone except for one other Pokémon named Professor Tangrowth. Together you embark on a journey to restore environments and bring back missing Pokémon in the hopes of solving a looming mystery: Where did all the humans go?Pokopia takes the mechanics of the best cozy games and wraps them up in a relaxing Pokémon mystery.This friendly sandbox of a game offers elements such as farming, developing friendships, and decorating from cozy-genre staples like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley but combines them with vast environments to explore and terraform as you can find in games like Minecraft. Pokopia gave me lots of freedom, and I loved tunneling through cliffs and reshaping environments however I liked. This was a step up from my frustrating Animal Crossing experience, where I couldn’t place a bridge or a ramp exactly where I wanted, when I wanted.My friend Scyther taught me the move Cut so that I could chop logs and other objects. The Pokémon CompanyDitto learned how to glide from Dragonite — and I cannot get over Ditto’s silly little face. The Pokémon CompanyPokopia’s photo mode is great for silly selfies, and the game prompts you to take photos of unique interactions. The Pokémon CompanyMy friend Scyther taught me the move Cut so that I could chop logs and other objects. The Pokémon CompanyAs I gathered and crafted my way forward, restoring habitats along the way, more Pokémon residents arrived to teach me new abilities to water plants, grow grass, surf across water, and even glide through the air. Pokopia offers far more potential interactions with residents than similar games. You can ask other Pokémon to help build new amenities such as houses and fountains or process materials like logs or ore, and sometimes they’ll invite you to play a small mini-game such as jump rope or a Pokémon-facts pop quiz. You can even take photos of special moments, à la Pokémon Snap. And over time, as you amass your ensemble of Pokémon residents and explore, you begin to fill in the mystery of what happened to all the humans in Pokopia. The restoration project covers a surprising amount of ground. You have four huge plot areas to explore and fix up, including the dry Withered Wasteland, a perpetually overcast beach, the Rocky Ridges with their underground mines, and more. Cleaning clutter and reviving these areas, restoring them to their former beauty, is deeply satisfying. Look at Mareep sleeping on the Pikachu couch in my living room. She’s perfect. The Pokémon CompanyJust a blob having a bath. The Pokémon CompanyLook at Mareep sleeping on the Pikachu couch in my living room. She’s perfect. The Pokémon CompanyIn addition to those regions, Pokopia provides a gargantuan personal zone to decorate and customize to your heart’s content, and it’s much much bigger than an Animal Crossing island. It’s difficult to put into words the joy I felt on discovering that I could invite one of my favorite Pokémon, the fluffy electric-sheep Mareep, to live in my house with me. Please do not get me started on how cute she looks when she snoozes on the Pikachu-shaped couch in the living room.Once a day, you can also gaze wistfully at a plushie and ask your Pokémon pal Drifloon to take you to a Dream Island, where you can gather items and materials to bring back to your world. I was surprised that I could loot just about everything on a Dream Island, including the windows, the walls, and even the roof of the building I spawned in. And, though I wasn’t able to test it during my review period, I am ridiculously excited about the prospect of decorating a multiplayer Cloud Island with the help of my real-life pals.
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