Hands-On Preview: Pokémon Pokopia

21 hours ago 1

Published Feb 11, 2026, 9:00 AM EST

Ethan Krieger (He/Him) is an editor at DualShockers that got started in the writing industry by covering professional basketball for a sports network. Despite being a diehard sports fan (mainly formula one, basketball, American football, and golf), video games have always been his #1 interest.

A good cozy video game can take over your life, and in the best possible ways. If you were gaming on Switch in 2020, you remember how critically important Animal Crossing: New Horizons was to millions of us around the world. If you know the genre, you understand. There's just something about a cozy title that can transport us far away from the worries of the real world, at least temporarily.

The Pokemon character is displaying Pokemon Legends Arceus, Pokemon HeartGold, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.

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While Pokémon itself is a franchise brimming with nostalgia and warm/fuzzy feelings for longtime fans, the series hasn't really had an entry quite as cozy looking as the upcoming Pokémon Pokopia. Launching on March 5th for the Switch 2, Pokopia definitely seems to be the Animal Crossing-ification of the series at first glance.

During the end of January, I was able to take a trip to New York City to test out a collection of upcoming Switch 2 releases. One such demo I got to partake in was for Pokémon Pokopia, which featured about an hour of playtime total split between both single-player and multiplayer sessions of this new, co-developed title between The Pokémon Company, GAME FREAK inc., and KOEI TECMO GAMES.

While I still feel like I just barely scratched the surface of Pokopia in my preview, I can still confidently predict one thing as March 5th inches ever closer: Pokémon Pokopia is going to be absolutely huge, and for what seems to be good reason. Ready to dive in? Ditto!

Cozy Charm for Days

To get you up to speed, you play as Ditto in Pokémon Pokopia. Well, sort of. In the opening sequence of the game, you'll create a human avatar, which Ditto will then transform into. Narratively, it's implied that whatever human form you design is what Ditto's former trainer used to look like, which is why it chose to copy this image.

That sets up the basis of Pokopia's lore, which is actually of a pretty concerning nature if you think too much about it. Humans have vanished, and Pokémon themselves are now extraordinarily rare in this region of the world. What exactly happened, I've yet to learn. But it does imply this sort of possible post-apocalyptic vibe in a way that you wouldn't really expect from a game that promises to be so cozy as well.

Pokémon Pokopia is going to be absolutely huge, and for what seems to be good reason.

Fret not, however, as the coziness soon comes in waves after the intro. You'll meet Professor Tangrowth, who immediately gets to work giving you the lay of the land. From a third-person camera perspective that's actually much more zoomed-in, up close, and personal compared to, say, Animal Crossing, you'll soon be roaming a desolate-looking area with the goal of cleaning things up, rebuilding, and perhaps luring Pokémon and humans alike back to the area as a result.

You'll need help to do all of this, which is why Pokopia quickly introduced me to the OG, Gen 1 starters, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Charmander, to help get things in motion. Since you're a Ditto, you're able to learn useful moves from various Pokémon, like Leafage from Bulbasaur and Water Gun from Squirtle. These moves are rotatable and deplete a meter as you use them (think Mana/MP), but have extremely valuable uses in the world.

Leafage pulls patches of Tall Grass up from the ground, which as we all know, are often frequented by wild Pokémon. Water Gun is used to rehydrate plants and trees on the ground, bringing them back to life instantly. Eventually, I also got to use a move from Drilbur to till the ground. Your learned moves, of course, become your main way of interacting with the world, and improving things in the area as a result.

There are also a ton of crafting items to collect in Pokopia, which start off as sticks, stones, and leaves you'll find on the ground. There are also crafting stations placed around the map, where you can utilize your collected goods to create a vast collection of furniture and items. All of these things aid you in completing quests that pop up, either at the request of Professor Tangrowth or the Pokémon you're befriending along the way.

For example, Tangrowth suggested I build a campfire to attract Pokémon. I built it using some sticks and stones, and then Charmander ignited it to get the fire started. Bulbasaur requested a more comfortable bed, so I was able to craft one with some leaves to meet its demands. All of these requests are tracked in a quest log on the pause menu, so you can reference everything you need to do.

Eventually, I also found a rundown Pokémon PC, which prompted me with a ton of additional little goals to juggle with rewards upon completion. This largely functioned like Nook Miles in AC:NH, with tasks like "Gather X Amount of Sticks" or "Attract X Number of Pokémon," with the reward of coins I could spend to unlock new items, crafting recipes, and more.

Habitats for Hire

All of the above did feel vaguely familiar and similar to other cozy life management games I'd played before, but Pokopia really started to stand out to me when learning more about the habitats needed to attract specific types of new Pokémon. Investigate a shiny patch on the ground, and you can catch a Pokémon's scent, which then clues you into what type of habitat they prefer, giving you crucial information about how to get them to come to town.

For example, a shiny patch next to some water told me that Blastoise prefers Hydrated Tall Grass, so I used Leafage to summon a connected patch of four Tall Grass pieces next to a pond. There's no actual guarantee that a Blastoise will immediately spawn there, and rarer Pokémon are less likely to show up quickly. Still, it's very interesting to get these habitat recipes for your favorite 'mons and then figure out what you need to do to get their attention.

Pokopia really started to stand out to me when learning more about the habitats needed to attract specific types of new Pokémon.

Another time, I stacked four boxes on a cart, which was the required type of habitat to try to spawn a Makuhita. Lo and behold, after a few minutes passed, a Makuhita was now part of my island population. While we still don't know just how many Pokémon are present in Pokopia, the premise of "catching" 'mons in this game by creating their ideal habitat is a really cool one.

And with that, I unfortunately don't have too much else at this point in time to pass along about everything you can get into while playing Pokopia solo. I was surprised when the staff at the event told us how much time we'd have with the game, because it felt like a long play session for a demo. In truth, it wasn't really enough to get fully into the swing of things.

Of course, this is totally okay. Heck, games like Animal Crossing always take at least a couple of hours to really let you loose to start living the cozy life that you crave. It seems like Pokopia will be this same way, and so there's still not really a ton to report in terms of the moment-to-moment functionality of it all outside of the "create habitats, attract Pokémon, learn moves, craft items, complete quests" loop.

Ultimately, the preview still absolutely did its job, as I'm now simply more curious than ever about what else Pokopia has in store for us. What I played was certainly fun, interesting, and incredibly charming, but I also know I've yet to really see the full thing in motion. I absolutely expect the game to hook millions of solo players extremely easily. I just can't say to what lengths quite yet.

With that, my single-player demo of Pokopia was complete, but there was still one more thing to test out: the multiplayer.

Chaotic, Cool Co-Op

After a quick intermission, the event staff set up a multiplayer session with me and the three other media members sitting closest to my station. This is actually where we were finally set free in Pokopia, with the only real guidance given being to rebuild a deserted/destroyed Pokémon Center. This would require a few crafting items and a couple of specific Pokémon to get the job done.

And yet, my group and I really decided to just run around like maniacs for the first part of this play session, curious to see what Pokopia would let us get into. There's a Minecraft/Dragon Quest Builders vibe to Pokopia, even allowing you to do some terraforming of the blocky landscape. I didn't see it happen, but was told later that one of our party members built a tower to the sky, asked someone, "Wanna see if there's fall damage?" then hurled himself to the ground to see a goofy animation of Ditto splatting, then springing back to life.

I quickly fell in love with some additional transformation options that had now been unlocked, including turning into a goofy-looking Dragonite to fly around the map, or a Ditto-faced Lapras complete with my same baseball cap that could surf through any body of water. There is so much cozy charm in these transformations, and I can't wait to see what else we'll be able to morph into later.

I also then found a nearby village, where several fan favorite Pokémon were living in houses. Umbreon and Arcanine both made appearances, and I was sure to use a button prompt to have them follow me around the map, since they're objectively two of the coolest Pokémon ever.

Later, I realized I could drink water from a vending machine, then spit never-ending streams of water from my mouth to flood the whole area. I heard one of my teammates ask out loud, "Wait, how'd this area get flooded?" Don't mind me, I'll just be over here cackling in the corner.

Eventually, after enough tooling around and testing Pokopia's limits, my group and I did, in fact, complete the main task of our demo and rebuilt the Pokémon Center. This was rewarding in its own right, and I'm curious to see what else we could've joined forces for after that.

At the same time, it became abundantly clear in this particular session that multiplayer has the potential to be a hilarious, chaotic sandbox, which is where I think it'll ultimately thrive and end up being an absolute blast for many, many players. This gives Pokopia the potential for massive staying power, endless memorable moments unique to your squad, and plenty of outrageous viral clips we're sure to see all over social media.

Multiplayer has the potential to be a hilarious, chaotic sandbox, which is where I think it'll ultimately thrive.

Whether you ultimately plan to play it solo or with friends, I've seen enough of Pokémon Pokopia to only be more intrigued, curious, and optimistic about the game as the launch date comes ever closer. Thankfully, we'll all get to learn more soon when Pokopia launches for Switch 2 on March 5th.