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

by

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

When Pokémon Pokopia was announced, everyone immediately wondered if it would be like a mix of Animal Crossing and Dragon Quest Builders, but with Pokémon!

It’s true that Poktopia shares similarities with games like Animal Crossing and Dragon Quest Builders, but calling it just that doesn’t really do it justice. This might be the best Pokémon spin-off game we’ve seen in a long time.

This game shares a lot in common with Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Like that game, you start on a deserted island and work to build it up into a beautiful and thriving place.

Pokopia is a deserted world, left behind by both people and Pokémon. You begin by joining forces with Professor Tangrowth, the last one living there, to rebuild it into a welcoming home for Pokémon – and eventually, people – once more.

After a quick introduction showing you how to find the first three Pokémon – Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle – and teaching you their basic moves like Water Gun and Leafage to start restoring the barren landscape, you’re free to explore and continue the work yourself.

The game has a simple and engaging pattern: you’ll often get clues about new Pokémon and where to find them, guiding you to the right environments to discover them.

You can sometimes create a habitat right away, but other times you’ll need to make something or learn a new skill first.

Want to see this content?

We need your permission to display this content. It requires Google reCAPTCHA to load, which helps ensure the page isn’t being abused.

Pokopia helps you progress through the game with optional tasks. These quests let you discover new Pokémon, learn helpful moves like Rock Smash, Cut, and Strength, and restore important buildings like the Pokémon Center.

Generally, these are helpful and work best when you focus on them one at a time while also gradually improving your island. Trying to do everything at once can be a little too much.

These quests often turn into long chains of smaller tasks. You’ll frequently find yourself asking a Pokémon for help, only to be asked to complete another favor before they can assist you – and that favor might lead to yet another request, creating many layers of tasks.

As you continue exploring the island, you’ll discover optional tasks you can complete repeatedly. These tasks are important for solving the mystery of the island and what happened to the people who lived here.

You’ll find many notes and records left by people who used to live here, detailing Gym Leaders, past trainers, and how Team Rocket seems to have caused problems on the island.

This detail is a great addition, and combined with the quest system, it really helps to make the world feel more complete and interesting, preventing the game from being too focused on just building things.

I enjoyed New Horizons, but I eventually grew tired of constantly working on my island to get that perfect five-star rating. If you loved the endless decorating and terraforming in that game, then Pokopia is definitely for you.

Pokopia shares the same core gameplay as New Horizons – you can shape the land by adding or removing features – but it offers a vastly larger world to work with.

I’ve been totally hooked on Pokopia, and honestly, I’m spending so much time building up my little base that I haven’t even started exploring much of the island yet. It feels HUGE, way bigger than New Horizons – I’m guessing it might be ten times the size! I’m excited to eventually get out there, but there’s just so much to do at home first.

Plus, as you level up as a Trainer, you’ll unlock access to new areas through special gates. Each area has unique environments and Pokémon to discover.

It’s no exaggeration to say that after completing the main story, you could easily spend over 100 hours customizing your island and still find things to do.

Players have spent years building their dream islands in games like New Horizons, and Pokopia offers a similar experience with so much detail and content that many will likely become completely immersed for countless hours.

Pokopia can be really tough, and as someone who isn’t particularly strong, it often feels impossible to finish. But what seems like a huge, never-ending effort for me might be an enjoyable challenge for others, and I admire anyone who tries to complete it.

Thinking about my own shortcomings, my time in Pokopia really highlighted how impatient I can be.

Sometimes, you’ll need to complete tasks, like restoring the Pokémon Center, as we discussed before.

To start these projects, you’ll need to assign specific Pokémon to them, meaning they won’t be available for other tasks while working on these.

This works okay for quick tasks that take under an hour. However, some things can take a full day to finish, which means you might be stuck waiting if you’re trying to advance a Pokémon’s story or get their help with something else.

It’s funny, because this game is totally the opposite of my experience with New Horizons. I remember finishing that one pretty fast – the island was small and I could accomplish everything pretty quickly. With Wild World and New Leaf, though, I played for years! This new game feels like it’ll keep me hooked for a long time, which is awesome.

Pokopia has a huge world I’m excited to explore, but I’m stuck waiting to do so. It feels like one of those free-to-play mobile games that constantly asks for money, except instead of spending money, you just have to wait.

While there are a few minor flaws, Pokopia is still one of the most enjoyable Pokémon spin-off games I’ve experienced, though Mystery Dungeon remains my personal favorite.

Like many Pokémon games, it seems designed for children, which means it can be quite simple, particularly in terms of its storylines and tasks.

Honestly, I was blown away by how huge this world feels! It’s not just big for the sake of it, though – everything is really easy to pick up and genuinely fun to play. Plus, there are secrets everywhere, which kept me totally invested and wanting to explore more.

It’ll be perfect for unwinding after a long day, whether you want to spend time playing with your kids or just relax on your commute.

After a slow start for the console with few new games, Pokémon Pokopia would be a perfect fit for the Nintendo Switch 2. It’s easygoing and perfect for casual play, but also offers enough depth to really capture your attention when you’re looking for a more involved experience.

Honestly, Pokopia surprised me – it’s really good! I probably won’t be playing it constantly after finishing my review, but I definitely plan to keep coming back to it often.

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

Authors

Alex RaisbeckGaming writer

Alex Raisbeck writes about video games for TopMob, covering both big-budget titles and smaller independent games. He’s also contributed to well-known gaming publications like VideoGamer, GamesRadar+, PC Gamer, and PCGamesN.

  • Visit us on Twitter

Read More

2026-03-02 18:37