To me, and I\u2019m sure many others, the Pok\u00e9mon franchise as a whole has always been \u201ccozy.\u201d Set in a (mostly) idyllic world with cute best friends who are always by your side, how could it not give you warm fuzzy feelings at least occasionally? We\u2019ve had some relaxing Pok\u00e9mon games over the years, but we\u2019ve never quite had a game that embraced this secondary cozy aesthetic fully into its gameplay\u2013until now, with Pok\u00e9mon Pokopia. I played the first hour of Pok\u00e9mon\u2019s first life-sim, and the sheer amount of discovery to be made hooked me. I also played Pok\u00e9mon Pokopia in multiplayer mode in a more developed world, plus, I learned more straight from the developers. <\/p>\n
Pok\u00e9mon Pokopia begins with a Ditto waking up after a long, undefined slumber. It remembers its trainer in its hometown, with the nameless narrator commenting, \u201cYou look so happy with your trainer petting you!\u201d <\/p>\n
Aw, that is so sweet, and so sad\u2013Ditto\u2019s trainer is nowhere to be found, and that\u2019s Ditto\u2019s\u2013(you, the protagonist\u2019s)\u2013motivator. In a bid to try to find its trainer, Ditto transforms into a human that looks like its trainer the best they can. Enter the character creator, in which you get to choose between seven hairstyles, 28 haircolors, hats, clothes, and bags. No, you can\u2019t just be purple, that wouldn\u2019t be very human-like! <\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to create something where you can directly communicate with Pok\u00e9mon,\u201d Ohmori said.\u201c<\/p>\n
Shigeru Ohmori, the primary director of Pok\u00e9mon games since 2014 and Pok\u00e9mon Pokopia\u2019s Concept and Senior Director, explained the thought behind making a Pok\u00e9mon the main character and why it transforms into a human. \u201cI wanted to create something where you can directly communicate with Pok\u00e9mon,\u201d Ohmori said.<\/p>\n
Ohmori worried if they had a trainer as the playable character, as in the other mainline titles, it becomes the trainer giving orders to Pok\u00e9mon, which they wanted to avoid. By keeping it all Pok\u00e9mon, an atmosphere of friendship and teamwork is created. <\/p>\n
There are two reasons Ohmori decided to make specifically Ditto the main character, too: one to benefit the gameplay, and another to benefit the story. Because Ditto can transform into other Pok\u00e9mon and use their moves, it was the best option (I argue Mew could fit that bill too, but of course Mew wouldn\u2019t have those adorable \u201csimple eyes and slack mouth,\u201d as Professor Tangrowth puts it.) <\/p>\n
Pok\u00e9mon Pokopia Screenshots<\/p>\n
The other reason feeds the narrative motivations of Pok\u00e9mon Pokopia. No one else knows what Ditto\u2019s trainer looks like, so Ditto transforming into the trainer it misses is essentially asking the other Pok\u00e9mon, \u201cDo you know this human being?\u201d Again, so cute, so melancholic, and I love it. <\/p>\n
An Unobtrusive Tutorial<\/p>\n
The tutorial, fortunately, is nicely integrated into what would be the regular flow of gameplay, and lets you start doing stuff outside its confines very quickly. <\/p>\n
After meeting Professor Tangrowth, I found the Pokedex, and then found my first\u2013then second\u2013then third\u2013Pok\u00e9mon friend, expanding my abilities and how I could affect the world with each one, further enhancing my ability to create a wider variety of habitats to attract a wider variety of Pok\u00e9mon. <\/p>\n
Pok\u00e9mon Pokopia Concept Art<\/p>\n
Bulbasaur taught me the move Leafage, allowing me to create tall grass at will. Squirtle taught me the move Water Gun, so I could revitalize the dry ground and grass in the aptly named Withered Wasteland, the environment you start in. Charmander didn\u2019t teach me a move, but instead taught me that you can ask Pok\u00e9mon to follow you somewhere so they can perform an action based on their Specialty. In Charmander\u2019s case, they lit a fire for me. As for other Specialty examples, Tiburr\u2019s Build helps you build structures, and Bulbasaur\u2019s Grow, makes plants grow faster.<\/p>\n
Of course, to find more Pok\u00e9mon, you need to make a variety of Habitats. The most basic habitat is four squares of tall grass, easily made by Leafage. You can also move objects around with Ditto\u2019s ability to store and then spit-up materials, like, a Punching Bag. This is, canonically, the move Stockpile. Holding the collect button down actually makes Ditto continuously suck up anything around it, causing its face to hilariously and disturbingly resemble The Scream painting. <\/p>\n
Other habitats include ones like the self-described \u201cBoulder-shaded tall grass,\u201d which attracts Fighting-type Pok\u00e9mon like Timburr and Machop, and \u201cHydrated flower bed,\u201d made of four flower beds placed beside\u2013you guessed it\u2013water. After a bit of time passes, a square in your new habitat may shake, indicating there\u2019s a Pok\u00e9mon there to meet. <\/p>\n Like the Pokedex for tracking Pok\u00e9mon, there\u2019s a Habitat dex for tracking habitats, and there are quite a number to discover! <\/p>\n Though I loved just experimenting, it isn\u2019t all completely guess work. Occasionally, you\u2019ll find a sparkle on the ground that\u2019s a \u201ctrace of Pok\u00e9mon\u201d which gives you a hint about a yet-to-be-found Pok\u00e9mon\u2019s preferred habitat you haven\u2019t discovered yet. <\/p>\n The Core Loop – All Pokemon All the Time<\/p>\n This cycle of attracting new Pok\u00e9mon, learning new skills oivr discovering new specialties from them, then making more new habitats to attract even more new Pok\u00e9mon, is the corest-of-core loops in Pok\u00e9mon Pokopia, and is already incredibly engaging and fun without even considering the crafting and world customization you can do. This isn\u2019t an accident.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen thinking about development of the game, [the team] started thinking about the cycles of the user’s motivation,\u201d said Takuto Edagawa of KOEITECMO GAMES, Pok\u00e9mon Pokopia Chief Director. \u201cWhat the user wants to do, what they would want to start to do within the cycle. So, for example, filling up the Pokedex or creating more habitats, then that would create meeting more Pok\u00e9mon.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cEvery single step in the game,\u201d Edagawa continued, \u201cThe core of it is to be with the Pok\u00e9mon, communicating with Pok\u00e9mon. So wherever you go, there is always Pok\u00e9mon\u2026 that is the largest difference compared to other [life sim] games.\u201d <\/p>\n This core cycle that focuses on the Pok\u00e9mon first and foremost is ingrained into the \u201cmain objectives\u201d that propel the story as well. Just after meeting the Kanto Starters, you discover a decrepit Pok\u00e9mon Center nearby. The PC there automatically launches the Poke Life Environment Improvement App, which dishes out both important tasks tied to progression, like increasing an area\u2019s Environment Level or rebuilding the Pokemon Center; and smaller daily objectives, like collecting a certain number of sturdy sticks. <\/p>\n Bulbasaur specifically asked for a bed, so I crafted a Straw Bed from leaves for\u00a0them.\u00a0\u201c<\/p>\n The stick collecting is self-explanatory, but to increase the Environment Level of the area, you must attract more Pok\u00e9mon and improve their Comfort Levels. Again, another touch point with Pok\u00e9mon. <\/p>\n Placing furniture a Pok\u00e9mon wants within the bounds of its habitat\u2013which you can see by pressing in on the R-stick\u2013will increase its Comfort Level. Bulbasaur, for example, specifically asked for a bed, so I crafted a Straw Bed from leaves for them. <\/p>\n The Poke Life app rewarded me for my efforts with new unlocks and Life Coins. These can be used to buy a variety of things at the PC, like furniture, seeds, Pok\u00e9mon hints, building recipes, and more. After increasing the Environment Level, Professor Tangrowth had more for me, too. <\/p>\n Multiplayer and More<\/p>\n There seems to be a lot more to Pokopia than everything I already talked about. I haven\u2019t even touched on building buildings or what looks to be a huge number of collectibles\u2013like Human Records, which included things like a diary that gave a glimpse of what Professor Tangrowth\u2019s life was like with their human, and a document on Pok\u00e9mon Greetings that taught me an emote! <\/p>\n The four-player multiplayer session gave me a look at a developed world, where Pok\u00e9mon\u2019s Habitat\u2019s were developed so thoroughly they lived inside houses! The inside of the houses had furniture and decorations, like plushies, and the little town was manicured with sidewalks, fences, lamp posts, and even a stage. <\/p>\n My time with multiplayer was short, and I\u2019m restricted from what exactly I can reveal, so I can\u2019t say much more about it besides that it was fun. I can see friends ushering each other to stay on task, because it is just so easy to get distracted in Pok\u00e9mon Pokopia, and that sounds like the best kind of hectic. (I was that friend in my group. I\u2019m sorry!) <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assets-prd.ignimgs.com\/2026\/02\/10\/pokmon-pokopia-media-preview-screenshot-3-en-1770755284956.png\")