Everything The Next Animal Crossing Game You Should Learn From Pokémon Pokopia

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Everything The Next Animal Crossing Game You Should Learn From Pokémon Pokopia

Pokémon Pokopia was a huge success for Nintendo and the Nintendo Switch 2. My review called it a “cool Pokémon life simulator,” and it left me wondering about the future of the Nintendo brand.

Pokémon Pokopia is a truly special, once-in-a-lifetime game that changes the entire landscape of the genre. There may be nothing new or revolutionary here, but that’s not the point. We were sold on a cute, fun, and charming Pokémon spinoff that could hold our cool gaming hearts until something like Tomodachi Life or the next release of Animal Crossing. What we got was a game that asked if we would be willing to put down Pokémon Pokopia when those games came out.

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You should remix them all!

At the end of the day, all three of those games will deliver three different experiences. Pokopia feels like a city builder with some life simulation thrown in. Tomodachi Life is a high and fun life experience, but where does that leave Animal Crossing? It’s very likely that when the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Animal Crossing is released, fans may find their fix elsewhere.

Now, I don’t expect Animal Crossing to rest and deliver the same feeling it has, especially after the wake of New Horizons, which sometimes feels like it’s missing that special sauce. Actually, I fully expect the next Animal Crossing game to take inspiration from what Pokémon Pokopia does well and use that to its advantage..

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Animal Crossing Villagers Need Lots of Personality

Collaboration Is Key

It sounds weird to say this when you consider how much of Animal Crossing’s value comes from interacting with the villagers, but it’s true. The Pokémon in Pokémon Pokopia are full of personality in ways that the inhabitants of Animal Crossing are not.

All Pokémon do a great job of interacting with you, each other, and the environments you build. It really helps that they live in apartments and not real houses, so you can see them walking around 24/7.

That’s not to say that Animal Crossing residents don’t go to town, because they definitely do. Yet I feel like I’m interrupting their day more often than not. In Pokopia, talking to each Pokémon makes it feel like I made their day. Animal Crossing’s inhabitants have their own personalities that lead to fan favorites, but I can’t help but feel like they’re getting old faster than I’d like. For now, it’s still fun to talk to my Pokémon.

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Remove Timing

Let’s Play At Our Speed

By far, my favorite aspect of Animal Crossing is the amount of time it has.

Turning my internal system clock forward to progress in the game is not only frustrating, but also breaks immersion and ultimately impairs my experience. Also, I learned from Resetti a long time ago not to participate in such events.

The best thing that Pokémon Pokopia does is its timing. Sure, it will take some time for some things to finish building, but I’m not deterred from the rest of the game experience. This is especially true in the beginning. I can customize my city as I see fit while waiting for everything else to finish. It leads to me spending more time with the game than waiting for the actual time to pass. The result is, surprisingly, I’m working more on my game and building more relationships with Pokémon.

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More Customization Options for My Village

Outdoor Design in the Works

We’ve all been there when it comes to planning the perfect town. It always feels like something is interfering with that, whether it’s someone moving in and putting their house in the wrong place or the game physically limiting what you can do.

Pokopia’s freedom when it comes to terraforming is a breath of fresh air that Animal Crossing desperately needs. It allows our creative minds to come to life and truly deliver the city of our dreams. It’s also something that’s long overdue in the Animal Crossing world.

In fact, it’s troubling that this Pokémon spinoff does this better than the franchise that made its name as a comfortable life simulator. Imagine that being possible in a world where Animal Crossing gives you the freedom to work in your environment that Pokopia does.

It’s something I really hope the next Animal Crossing introduces. I mentioned in the Pokémon Pokopia review that I’m not sure where the Animal Crossing franchise goes from here, and this is a very big reason why. It would be hard to play Switch 2’s Animal Crossing without some of the features that make Pokopia so great. While Animal Crossing takes some of the right steps forward, it needs to do more.

The player and client celebrate a completed design in Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer.

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Have Resident Jobs Delivered by an Additional Agency

Purpose in Life

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By far, my favorite thing about Pokémon Pokopia is that every activity Pokémon gives you has a purpose. It’s not a trivial task to find furniture that you can throw away quickly. Instead, it acts as an agency to naturally introduce you to the game’s mechanics without throwing you straight into the deep end.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve started Animal Crossing over the years, realized there was nothing I could do, and thought to myself, “Well, maybe tomorrow there will be something to do.” It is something that Pokopia takes to heart; Every little task from Pokémon has the intended purpose of making it easier for you in the gameplay.

As a result, I spent more time exploring and customizing the world of Pokopia than I thought possible. There are so many little things that the game does well that encourage me to spend more time with it. Compared to the world of Animal Crossing, where it feels like I usually have to do my own agency, it’s a night and day difference.

There are many simple ways this can be accomplished, too. Ask residents to ask to bring a particular store to the area. Give me the task of hunting down some kind of bug, fish, or fossil to put in the Museum. Do something that motivates me more to participate in the game’s programs than me a.

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Don’t Rest In Its Plays

Long-Desired Innovation

I am sure that one of the reasons for Pokopia’s overall success and good reception is the way it caught people’s attention.

Look, let’s not mince words here; The Pokémon franchise is not known for bringing new, simple experiences that work in the year 2026. It feels like the recent mainline Pokémon games (rightfully so) have taken a big hit by making a little less, and spin-offs closer to the popularity of the IP.

Not so with Pokopia, however. This is a game that would work even without the Pokémon franchise attached to it. It’s a fantastic survival simulator/city builder that succeeds on every level while at the same time giving people a reason to buy a Switch 2. Animal Crossing, on the other hand, feels like it’s been too long to reach commercial popularity. Everyone was clamoring for the Switch version of Animal Crossing, and what we got was a game that finally played it safe.

The next Animal Crossing needs to be brave enough to take risks. It’s new, it introduces something new, and gives us a reason to explore it rather than just relying on a tried and true formula that starts to feel old.