Pokemon Pokopia Completely Surpasses Animal Crossing in One Major Way

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Starting a new save in Animal Crossing: New Horizons can be a bit of a slog, if we’re honest. There’s not a ton of direction early on, and many of the game’s features don’t open up until you’ve put in a bit of a grind. And that grind is slow going thanks to the real-time clock. Pokopia uses a similar real-time building mechanic, but the way it showers the player with clear, rewarding things to do while we wait is a real level-up of the Animal Crossing formula I really hope we see in the New Horizons sequel.

Building Happens in Real Time in Pokopia, But There’s Plenty To Do While You Wait

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One of the reasons I’ve never been as big a fan of New Horizons as you might expect is that the grind takes a while to get good. Early on, there’s just not that much to do in the game. Most of the major milestones require waiting until the next day for a real-time build or event, so you can really only put a little time into the game per day unless you really enjoy fishing, catching bugs, and gathering resources. That made me a little worried I wouldn’t love Pokopia as much as I wanted to. But despite using real-time building elements, Pokemon Pokopia doesn’t suffer from the same slow-to-start problem.

Right from the beginning, your goals are much clearer (and more varied) in Pokopia. Professor Tangrowth doesn’t hold your hand too much, but he does offer a bit more guidance than our friend Tom Nook. You’ve got habitats to restore, Pokemon requests to fulfill, and an environment level to raise. Not to mention all those daily and ongoing missions from the Pokemon Center PC. That means that waiting for a house or Pokemon Center to be built doesn’t feel like a stopping point. There’s just so much to do while you wait.

There’s also the fact that not every real-time build is a “it will be done tomorrow” situation. Some of the bigger restorations do take that long, such as the Pokemon Center. But asking your Poke Pals to craft a windmill or a smaller house often only takes a few in-game minutes. And that does a nice job of encouraging you to find something to do while you wait 20 minutes for that next milestone to be completed. It’s a smart way to use real-time builds to draw the player in, rather than gently nudge them towards “save and quit” until tomorrow morning.

Pokopia Gives Players a Varied Grind Right from the Start

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Like New Horizons, the world of Pokopia does open up the more you play. Early on, you’ve got a fairly limited scope with one biome and a handful of Pokemon habitats to craft. As you sink into the game, you’ll unlock new mechanics, new areas, and new goals. But, much like the real-time building, this happens with better pacing than the early gameplay loop of New Horizons. The way Pokopia is crafted basically guarantees you’ll never get bored.

There’s always something to work towards in Pokopia, even if you’re waiting on a build or for materials to be processed. If Torchic is still working on those bricks you need to craft your latest home, you can check in with other Pokemon’s comfort levels. Or you can roam in search of shiny bricks or ripples to mine for goodies. If that doesn’t interest you, there’s also the Pokemon Center PC full of missions and goals to reach for. In this way, the “what should I do” of it all is rendered a lot clearer in Pokopia compared to games like Animal Crossing.

I still love Animal Crossing, of course. The slow pace of the game feels very much by design, and it’s not a bad thing to have a game that feels satisfying to play in smaller chunks. But I have to admit, I was happy to see that Pokopia gives the player a much more varied gameplay loop right from the start. In this way, it ensures that the real-time elements don’t interfere with your ability to lose a weekend to the game if that’s what you want to do. And in my book, that’s a pretty big reason why Pokopia could well have the kind of longtime fanbase that Animal Crossing has cultivated.

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