Pokémon Pokopia review: The best Pokémon spin-off in years

When Pokémon Pokopia was first revealed, the entire world had the same reaction of 'what if Animal Crossing and Dragon Quest Builders, but Pokémon?'.

And while I can certainly confirm that Pokopia is Animal Crossing and Dragon Quest Builders, but Pokémon, that honestly does a disservice to this game, which is perhaps the best Pokémon spin-off we've seen in years.

The premise of the game bears plenty of similarities to Nintendo's COVID-era money printer Animal Crossing: New Horizons, in the sense that you're dumped on an empty island with the task of gradually transforming it into a paradise of sorts.

In Pokopia's case, it's a world abandoned by both humans and Pokémon alike, and you initially team up with the only remaining resident, Professor Tangrowth, to start making it a place that Pokémon – and hopefully, humans – will want to return to.

Following on from a short tutorial section in which you find the three Kanto starters and learn to use Water Gun and Leafage to begin rewilding this desiccated wasteland, you're sent off to get busy.

The game offers a rather intuitive loop in which you'll regularly pick up a trace of a new Pokémon, and be given a hint as to what new habitat type they need to spawn.

Sometimes you can immediately build that habitat, while at other times, you may need to go off and craft an item or unlock a new move to do so.

Pokopia continues to guide you along the way with loose quests that lead you to attracting certain new Pokémon, unlocking further abilities like Rock Smash, Cut and Strength, or rebuilding certain facilities like the Pokémon Center.

For the most part, these are useful and are best enjoyed as a solo task that you can undertake while vaguely working to improve your island, otherwise the prospect of having so many things to do at once can feel a bit overwhelming.

Perhaps too often, these quests do end up forming long strings of sub-quests, requiring you to seek help from one Pokémon who tells you, "Sure, I can help you, but first I need you to do something for me" several layers deep.

As you explore the island further, you begin to uncover some side quest-like content that you can regularly return to as you progress, and are key to understanding the mystery behind the island, and the disappearance of humans.

You'll also come across all sorts of notes and records left behind by the humans referring to Gym Leaders, former trainers, and the apparent involvement of Team Rocket in the island's disrepair.

This is a very nice touch, and alongside the questing system, are an excellent way of grounding what would otherwise be a fairly one-note world building game.

I say that as someone who, despite loving New Horizons, found myself tiring of the endless terraforming and decorating that came as I neared that elusive five-star status. For anyone for whom that was the highlight, Pokopia is a dream come true.

It has all the same building blocks as New Horizons, in the sense that you can manipulate the world, placing and removing any and all geographical features, only Pokopia's world is absolutely enormous.

After pumping a sizeable chunk of time into Pokopia, my focus on improving the areas around my home base means I am yet to even come close to the far reaches of the island, one which I hazard to guess could be ten times the size of New Horizons'.

And if that wasn't enough, once you reach a certain Trainer Level, you can pass through certain gates dotted about into entirely new areas, each with their own biomes and their own Pokémon.

I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that, beyond finishing up the main quests set up for you, one could easily spend more than 100 hours doing up their island and still have more work to do.

In a world where New Horizons players have dropped hundreds of hours into perfecting their paradise over the years, Pokopia is a game in which some players will undoubtedly lose themselves for thousands, such is the scale and depth on offer.

All of this is to say that, for someone weak of mind and body like myself, Pokopia often feels like a daunting challenge that I will never come close to completing. But one man's Sisyphean task is another man's fun little project, and I salute anyone who seeks to take this on.

On the topic of my being weak of mind, Pokopia has been a powerful reminder that I am a most impatient person.

At times, you'll be required to undertake certain projects, such as rebuilding the Pokémon Center, as mentioned earlier.

In order to begin these projects, you'll need to allocate certain Pokémon to the task, rendering them unavailable for anything else in the meantime.

This is fine for certain projects that take less than an hour, but other projects can take an entire real-world day to be completed, meaning if you want to progress a certain Pokémon's questline or need them to help you with a different task, you're stuck waiting.

Interestingly – and not to keep harping on about it – this is a complete reversal of an issue I had with New Horizons. The small island and ability to complete most things there and then meant I was finished with the game quite quickly, unlike the years I continued to play Wild World and New Leaf.

Pokopia, on the other hand, offers an enormous world that I want to be working on here and now, but am forced to wait. It's reminiscent of a kitschy mobile game that begs you to spend inordinate amounts of money on some horrible in-game currency, except there is no currency, only waiting.

These are nitpicks, however, as Pokopia is one of the best Pokémon spin-offs I've ever played – Mystery Dungeon still takes that crown, though.

It is, as many Pokémon games are, ostensibly made accessible to kids, and therefore can be very simplistic, especially when it comes to the questing side of things.

But beyond that, there's a world here with a seriously impressive scale, intuitive and fun mechanics, and enough mystery dotted around to keep you hooked.

It's going to be great to boot up for a relaxing evening after work, to sit and play with your kids, or to take on the train and switch off for a while.

Following a rather poor launch year for the console in terms of new titles, Pokémon Pokopia is the ideal Nintendo Switch 2 game; simple and relaxing for when you want to kick back, but deep enough for when you want to get properly stuck in.

All things considered, Pokopia is better than it has any right to be. And while I certainly won't be playing it non-stop like I have been for this review, I will certainly be dropping back in regularly for the foreseeable future.

Pokémon Pokopia releases on 5 March 2026 for Nintendo Switch 2.

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