I Have 3,000 Hours in Animal Crossing, Pokémon Pokopia is Exhausting

Like everyone else on my timeline it seems, I’ve been playing Pokémon Pokopia non-stop recently. In its first weekend, I clocked in 20 hours, and I’ve only just met Peakychu. But there's one very small problem I'm facing that I've not seen anyone talk about yet - the overwhelming scale of the world.

Back in the day, I would scoff when someone thought the terraforming in Animal Crossing: New Horizons was too much to handle. I absolutely adore a cosy builder game. The more freedom, the better.

With over 1,000 hours logged on my island, and 2,000 across the rest of the Animal Crossing series, I’ve moved museums, created waterfall entrances I’ve seen on Pinterest, and consumed an entire orchard moving a single cedar tree around. I thought I was ready for Pokémon Pokopia.

I was wrong.

Let’s make one thing clear, I’m not saying the game is bad. In fact, completely the opposite. In our review, Kate called Pokémon Pokopia a “true adventure that boasts a refreshing sense of freedom”.

Boy, were we right. Arguably, too right. I completely agree with Kate - this is my frontrunner for Game of the Year so far, but I’m running into a problem I’ve never, ever had before.

Nintendo

Pokémon Pokopia's Freedom is Overwhelming Me

I went into this weekend really skeptical about whether the Pokémon franchise could actually pull off a sandbox-style builder. By Sunday night, I realised I’d accidentally spent 10 straight hours on the game on Saturday alone. I am obsessed, but I am also deeply, deeply broken by it.

The scale of Pokémon Pokopia is unlike anything we’ve seen in this genre. I know I’m not the only one who spent the first few hours watering every patch of grass to make it bloom, only for Slowpoke to make it rain a few hours later. I can shake that off, no problem. As I broke through to the ocean, and then the caves on the right, I felt okay! One biome is manageable!

Then I walked through the gate to Vermillion City and fell to my knees.

I can’t do it. It’s too much.

In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you’re contained by your island acres. Not as rigidly as the original Animal Crossing, sure, but you know what I mean. These biomes in Pokémon Pokopia feel like the size of an island each. On one hand, 100 hours from now, I know I’ll be loving it. But right now, I want to unlock everything before I even think about decorating.

"Why don’t you just do that then?" you might ask. Well, there’s one story which proves why that’s just not doable.

One thing that really made me laugh when playing was just how bad I am at Pokémon Pokopia, if you can be at such a thing. My Animal Crossing: New Horizons island was THE go-to place for meet ups during lockdown. I’m a creative person when it comes to life sims like this.

Standing and crying in Pokemon Pokopia

But just look at my Vermillion City, known in the game as Bleak Beach.

It’s a tech-industrial mess of over 100 utility poles, most of which don’t connect to anything. I didn’t realise the game marked the places to put them with the small black dots. It’s less Cyberpunk 2077, more electric nightmare.

It is so ugly that I don't even know where to begin fixing it. This is a "me" problem, I know, but it highlights a very small issue with Pokémon Pokopia I’ve not seen anyone else raise.

Comparison is the thief of joy, and it’s a lesson I’m learning first-hand here. I fell into a trap I never did in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. I made the mistake of looking at what other players are doing. I’m convinced we’re not playing the same game at this point.

I’m one of those try-hard people who used forced perspective and simple panels to create skyscrapers and sprawling metropolitan cities in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. When I see what people are doing in Pokémon Pokopia, I’m inspired, but as a perfectionist, it’s paralysing. I look at my messy, pole-filled Bleak Beach and then look at a Reddit user who has already built a 1:1 recreation of Ditto, and I’m this close to giving up.

A Message to the Overwhelmed

I don’t believe for a second I’m the only player feeling this way. If you, like me, are stuck in the "Where do I even start?" phase, let’s keep going together.

I keep reminding myself of all the things I saw people say about Animal Crossing in the first week of its release - we don't have to have a Pinterest-perfect Kanto by the end of the week.

I love this game already. I love the relaxing tasks, the story, and the world it’s building.

Just please, don’t make me build on top of it, just yet.