{"id":42565,"date":"2026-04-08T01:29:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=42565"},"modified":"2026-04-08T01:29:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:29:46","slug":"pokemon-pokopia-switch-2-review-not-quite-the-pokemon-game-you-expect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=42565","title":{"rendered":"Pokemon Pokopia (Switch 2) review: Not quite the Pokemon game you expect"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pokemon Pokopia for the Nintendo Switch 2 didn\u2019t seem like the kind of Pokemon game I\u2019d usually play. No battles, no gyms, and none of that usual sense of progression Pokemon players are used to. Pokopia basically has me playing as a Ditto pretending to be human (which is a bit meta, considering how the franchise has always blurred the line between its characters and the player), and instead of catching Pokemon, I\u2019m tidying up the world and hoping they show up if I\u2019ve done things right.<\/p>\n
Then I got hooked on the game. Not immediately, but I did.<\/p>\n
The first hour or so was a bit of a slog. I walk around, plant some grass, water them, clear a few obstacles, and repeat. Nothing really happens. Or at least, nothing that feels like progress. Then my first Pokemon shows up. Then another. Then I start wandering further out, doing a bunch of small, fairly mundane things just to see what else might appear.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when it started to click.<\/p>\n
Because once I get what the game is going for, everything starts to fall into place a bit more. You\u2019re not just placing things randomly \u2013 you\u2019re building small habitats. Get the mix right, and Pokemon start popping up or wander in. Then they\u2019ll teach you abilities that let you shape the world in slightly bigger ways. For instance, early Pokemon like Bulbasaur help you grow plants, Squirtle lets you produce water, and Scyther grants you the ability to cut through obstacles that were previously in your way. It\u2019s simple, and it knows it.<\/p>\n
A charmer that doesn\u2019t rush you<\/h2>\n\n
There\u2019s an oddly satisfying charm to Pokopia.<\/p>\n
Image: The Pokemon Company \/ Game Freak<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
I think a big part of Pokopia\u2019s charm is that it doesn\u2019t really push you. There\u2019s technically a story about why the world feels empty and what happened to the people (I won\u2019t spoil it), but the game never really forces you to follow it. It\u2019s very much a sandbox, and you can ignore all of that for long stretches without feeling like you\u2019re missing anything. Most of the time, I forgot the story was even there. I\u2019d get distracted trying to attract one specific Pokemon I hadn\u2019t seen yet, telling myself I\u2019d just tweak the layout a bit \u2013 move a patch of grass here, clear something there, maybe add a bit of water nearby \u2013 see if it works, and then stop. Except it doesn\u2019t always work the first time. So I tweak it. Then tweak it again. And before I know it, an hour\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n
The Ditto idea, which I initially thought was just a weird narrative excuse, actually ends up making sense the longer I play. Unlike traditional Pokemon games, in Pokopia, you\u2019re not really \u201cowning\u201d the Pokemon here. Rather, you\u2019re learning from them, borrowing their abilities, and using that to shape the space around you. It changes the tone quite a bit. You\u2019re not building a team or thinking about stats \u2013 you\u2019re figuring out things like where to grow more plants, whether this patch needs water, or if clearing out a few obstacles might get something new to show up. Most of the time, you\u2019re just nudging things around, making small changes, and then stepping back to see if it works. It\u2019s a much softer approach than what Pokemon usually does, and I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d like that as much as I did.<\/p>\n
That said, the cracks do start to show once you\u2019ve spent more time with it \u2013 as it did for me. For one, I found the game\u2019s interface to be annoying. There were a few moments where I was trying to place something in a very specific spot and ended up nudging it back and forth because the controls didn\u2019t quite land. To be fair, it\u2019s not a huge problem but it happens often enough that it can become frustratingly irritating, especially in a game that revolves so heavily around placement and fine adjustments.<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s the repetition. Early on, everything feels new because you\u2019re still figuring out how different Pokemon behave. Later, you start to see the patterns. Some Pokemon clearly lean towards the obvious. I won\u2019t go into spoilers, but grass-type ones like Bulbasaur tend to show up when you\u2019ve got enough greenery around, while Squirtle might need water nearby before they even appear. So you end up putting down the same kinds of objects, maybe adjusting the spacing a bit, and that\u2019s about it. It doesn\u2019t stop being satisfying, but the sense of discovery definitely dips once you get further in, and you\u2019re no longer experimenting as much as you are grinding.<\/p>\n
There is multiplayer too, though I didn\u2019t spend a lot of time with it. You can visit other players\u2019 spaces, see what they\u2019ve built, and maybe get some inspirations for your own. It\u2019s very Animal Crossing-ish in that aspect. Sure, it\u2019s nice, but I didn\u2019t feel like it added much to the experience overall.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no end game<\/h2>\n\n
Like Animal Crossing? You\u2019ll probably like Pokemon Pokopia too.<\/p>\n
Image: The Pokemon Company \/ Game Freak<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
By the time I realised I had been playing Pokopia for weeks, it felt less like I was trying to \u201cfinish\u201d it and more like I was just checking in. I\u2019d load it up, move a few things around, see if anything new shows up, maybe unlock another ability, then leave it again. Pokopia isn\u2019t a game that demands your full attention, but it does have a way of pulling you back in small, quiet ways. Part of that comes down to how the game feels overall. It\u2019s quieter than most Pokemon games, not just in terms of gameplay, but in tone. There\u2019s this slightly empty, almost melancholic atmosphere to it.<\/p>\n
So with that said, I don\u2019t think Pokopia is going to land for everyone. If you\u2019re expecting something closer to the mainline Pokemon games, you\u2019ll be awfully disappointed. Pokopia is slower, quieter, and a lot less competitive, and if you need that constant sense of progression, this might feel a bit aimless.<\/p>\n
But if you\u2019re okay with that, there\u2019s still something here that works. Pokopia may be a bit rough around the edges, and it is more repetitive than I\u2019d like, especially once you start recognising the patterns in how Pokemon show up. It reminds me a little of Animal Crossing in that sense \u2013 another game where you\u2019re not really chasing anything in particular, just spending time doing small, everyday things and slowly shaping the space around you.<\/p>\n
Still, I kept coming back to it, even when I didn\u2019t really have a clear goal in mind, and I think that\u2019s probably why it worked for me in the end.<\/p>\n
Pokemon Pokopia is now available for $95.90 for Nintendo Switch 2. Purchase the game at Nintendo\u2019s official store at <\/i>Lazada<\/i> or <\/i>Shopee<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"Pokopia](\"https:\/\/cassette.sphdigital.com.sg\/image\/hardwarezone\/3e7bed013c25d6e6282c962e8a28b766fa4fc9fd52db72b4eb73bc1ca14bc060?w=1000&q=85\")
![\"Animal](\"https:\/\/cassette.sphdigital.com.sg\/image\/hardwarezone\/a21355deca7c26192e788c61343cdc9e9fdf4de8874ca6bdff9305ab024b6851?w=1000&q=85\")