We explore the cosy world-building spin-off with Game Freak’s Shigeru Ohmori and his fellow developers – and learn how it began with a Pokémon-hunting dream
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okémon is celebrating its 30th anniversary this month, and everybody knows what to expect from these games by now. The concept is simple: head into a cartoonish paradise full of whimsical creatures, capture them in red-and-white balls and assemble a team of warriors from them, before battling other aspiring Pokémon masters. But the latest entry in the series is different – a game that’s more about building than battling.
In Pokopia, a refreshingly pacific twist on the series, players are dropped into a virtual world where Pokémon are freed from their spherical prisons and happily roam their natural habitats. There’s one minor caveat – you have to create those habitats by hand, building them from what you can find.
Taking its cues from Nintendo’s all-conquering Animal Crossing, this Switch 2 game sees you rebuilding decaying habitats in order to attract new Pokémon to move into your sanctuary. (Players of the Xbox classic Viva Piñata, rejoice.) It’s a welcome departure from the main series’ long-running training and battling loop. Veteran Pokémon developer Shigeru Ohmori, who started thinking about Pokopia’s concept while working on 2022’s Pokémon games Scarlet and Violet, says that the idea for Pokopia arose after spending many years dreaming about finding Pokémon in tall grass.
