Pokemon Pokopia Build Leaks Online, Is Playable Early

Pokémon Pokopia surprised us all when it was announced during the last major Nintendo Direct, but even more surprising is a leaked demo of the game.

Many Pokémon fans were confused and a little bit disappointed when it was first shown off, as many were expecting something a bit more substantial from a Pokémon announcement like the classic games being added to Nintendo Switch Online.

Others ripped into the gameplay, believing it was a cheap attempt to copy the success of Animal Crossing; but with Pokémon characters thrown into the mix.

Judging from a leaked prototype though, Pokemon Pokopia was going to have more in common with Stardew Valley at one point.

Shared via Centro LEAKS the leaked gameplay looks similar to what we saw in the reveal trailer but from a different, more zoomed-out perspective.

The biggest difference is the main objective of the game. In Pokemon Pokopia you’ll be building a home//community for a wide variety of Pokemon as a Ditto. By copying other ‘mon’s abilities you’ll be able to do more and more with your land but in the prototype version of the game it’s other Pokemon doing all of the work.

The Pokémon Company

Players seemingly assigned their Pokemon to do jobs for them, with the player’s character simply reaping the rewards.

Obviously at some point in the game’s life plans changed and 3D graphics were implemented, or they were always planned and this prototype was simply used to get the core game mechanic nailed. Either way fans are right in thinking it’s clearly trying to build off the success of games like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley.

For those interested in playing the early build of Pokémon Pokopia you can find it online, though I can’t imagine it’ll be up for long as The Pokemon Company is notoriously protective of its IP.

Future Pokémon Games

Recently Game Freak and The Pokemon Company suffered an enormous data breach that leaked plans for several generations of games.

After Pokemon Legends: Z-A and next year’s Pokemon Pokopia the next games in the series will go back to the traditional formula we’ve come to know and love over the years, and apparently they’ll be exclusive to the Nintendo Switch 2.

However the Legends series isn’t over yet, as it’s become the fifth best-selling Pokemon game and apparently another Legends game set in Galar is being considered/developed.