Pokémon Pokopia cozy rival to launch on Steam with added battles thrown in

Pokémon Pokopia is arguably the very best offering that the cozy gaming space has to offer this year.

Its habitat building system is a nice change of pace for those of us who have played umpteen farming sims.

The extensive building tools and enormous biomes have left all players with tons of work left to do, especially now that the paid Bubbly Basin DLC has landed.

Pokémon Pokopia’s only limitation is that it is, of course, only available on Nintendo Switch 2 consoles; that being said, we have the perfect PC solution for those with FOMO.

Spirit Rancher is an upcoming cozy creature collector that ticks a lot of the same boxes as Pokémon Pokopia, although in this game, you can battle your spirits too.

Developed by Yangyang Mobile, the game’s synopsis reads as follows: “Adventure into a mythical world where every aspect of nature has a corresponding spirit. You wake up with only fragments of your past life — guided by a friendly Kitsune, you are tasked to purify and tame wild spirits in order to build a ranch and make sure these spirits are properly cared for.”

As you’ve perhaps gathered, the spirit creatures you collect in Spirit Rancher are actually your crops and materials - to begin with, at least.

It’s a weird concept, but essentially cabbage spirits will, yes, grow you cabbages while iron spirits will supply you with iron. There’s essentially a spirit type for every resource you’ll need.

By all accounts, you can group spirits together to create a food chain “wherein one spirit’s produce becomes another spirit’s food,” which I’m sure is less The Human Centipede than it sounds.

Outside of harvesting resources, you’ll have the chance to explore a magical world with your spirits in tow, with each biome reflecting a different season.

In the open world, you’ll battle spirits before adding them to your line-up

Yangyang Mobile

In the game’s world, you’ll discover new spirits to add to your collection - some of which unlock new areas of the game and boast special powers.

This isn’t a game without a sense of threat, though, as you’ll also need to fend off some spirits who aren’t quite as receptive to your presence.

However, once you’ve depleted an enemy spirit's health by so much, just like you can in Pokémon, you’ll be able to catch them and add them to your collection.

Some spirits boast combat and exploration skills, so they’re not all tied to your base ranch.

READ MORE: 13 upcoming 2026 cozy games to wishlist if you're sick of farming

There are villagers to befriend and as with any good cozy sim, you can offer them gifts; festivals will also be held throughout the year in Spirit Rancher.

The overall narrative sees you attempt to paint life back into the world, with the player somehow able to affect the fate of the world, although details are a bit vague for now.

Spirit Rancher, unfortunately, lacks a release date. We simply know that it’s coming to PC via Steam with a possible 2027 launch window.

There’s not a demo at this stage either, but you can wishlist Spirit Rancher to be kept up to date on its progress.