Pokémon Pokopia Twists The Knife On One Of The Series’ Saddest Stories

I’m still very early into Pokémon Pokopia, but I’ve been reading fan reactions and uncovering the big lore reveals, and man, this game is sad when you zoom out and look at all of it in context. Some of this melancholy comes from its dark premise, but other times it feels like Game Freak and Omega Force were just leaning into the types of darker backstories the series has always dabbled in. 

Cubone, a skull-wearing ground-type creature from the original Red and Blue, has a sad history. The helmet it wears is the skull of its deceased mother, and this part of its lore has been referenced several times over the course of the series, both for drama and for laughs, like in that one scene in the Detective Pikachu movie when protagonist Tim Goodman tries and fails to relate to a Cubone he’s trying to catch.

In Pokopia, in order to attract Pokémon to your island, you have to prepare a habitat to their liking. Some of the requirements for this are pretty straightforward, such as making sure there’s a patch of grass with some shade arranged just to their liking. For Cubone? You have to…create a grave. When Cubone arrives, it will note that its mom would’ve probably liked the place too.

Pro Cubone spawnar em Pokémon Pokopia, você simplesmente precisa construir um TÚMULO no jogo

E ele ainda fala que a mãe dele provavelmente gostaria de um lugar como esse também 😭 pic.twitter.com/99fXg4mWxe

— LaurisKitty 🎀 (@LaurisKittyy) March 4, 2026

Rip my heart out, why don’t ya? Pokopia is full of sad details like this, including in its Pokédex entries and some of the human journals you’ll find lying around the environment. It hurts nice and good. Hopefully I find more things of this devastating variety as I play more.