[[2026 Games]]  ## 2026-03-17 **Pokopia** is basically **Dragon Quest Builders 2** without the combat. It’s made by the same team, and it may as well be **Dragon Quest Builders 3** in all but name. **DQB2** has always been, in my opinion, one of the best **Minecraft** clones, because it doesn’t hew so closely to the formula. In particular, it has focus and a sense of purpose that its blocky cousins lack. **Pokopia** continues this trend. You’re not dropped into a sandbox, although that exists as its own game mode. Instead, your goal as Ditto is to rebuild a post-apocalyptic Kanto, and figure out where all the humans went, including your own trainer. You do this by rebuilding the habitats of various pokemon. Arranging items and blocks next to each other in certain ways will create a chance for a pokemon to return to its habitat. That’s pretty much the entire loop of the game, and yet it’s engaging enough for me to have put an embarrassing amount of time into it. The game manages to capture[^1] the feeling of collecting all the pokemon perfectly, as you strive to learn every habitat set-up to bring them all home. As the game progresses, this task increases in complexity. You’ll start by putting four tall grass tiles next to each other, but eventually you’ll learn to craft items that certain pokemon types will like, and so on and so forth. From there you can increase the happiness of your new residents in a myriad of ways. Some pokemon will want to move into a whole-ass house, which is where the freer-form, customizable Animal Crossing angle comes in. Other pokemon will want to live in specific climates, with less humidity, or perhaps in a cave or near water. Like [[Yakuza and the Joy of Gratification|Yakuza]], **Pokopia** keeps its addictive claws sunk into thanks to how rewarding everything you do is. I was constantly wanting to see what pokemon I could get to show up next, and what new item I could discover to clean up the various, torn-apart cities of Kanto. Eventually I was cleaning up and decorating these areas just for the sake of it — which is a huge deal for me, as someone who’s not the target audience for these types of cozy games at all. **Pokopia** is likely to be a top ten game for me this year. I loved every second of playing it, will likely go back to it, and highly recommend it. And also play **Dragon Quest Builders 2** bro. Come on. Come ooon. Play it, it’s so good- [^1]: heh