In Pokémon Pokopia you will be able to shape the world as you like. This brought MeinMMO editor Jasmin back to her childhood.

In an interview on VGC, Senior Game Director Shigeru Ohmori spoke about his beginnings in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. He was responsible for the map design there. He mentions that the habitats from Ruby and Sapphire, where you first meet the monsters, served as inspiration for the prototype of Pokopia.

In fact, there are also habitats in Pokopia that need to be prepared for the pocket monsters. As soon as they settle, they develop needs and desires that must be fulfilled in the form of items or furniture.

When I read the editions of Ruby and Sapphire, it immediately brought me back to my childhood. For me, a different feature than the habitats is needed to make the perfect Pokémon game.

A feature that made Ruby and Sapphire lovable

As a child, I collected all 8 badges and wandered through the Hoenn region. The map consisted of different areas such as rocky lava fields or the vast sea. Occasionally, there were special spots where players could set up their secret base.

With TM43 Secret Power, you could smash a hole into trees or rock walls. Behind it opened a room that could be decorated. That was my first encounter with video games that involved decorating rooms.

First of all, the right secret base needs to be chosen. Depending on where this secret room is located, it has a different design. Secret bases in rocky areas, for example, have stone walls and floors. I always liked the tree house best, as it made me feel as if I was actually high up in the air in a tree when I was a child.

Then came the decorating. My secret base was always characterized by being full of pink furniture, and not a single inch of the room was left free without a plush toy looking into your soul.

My brother was a bit more creative: he took inspiration from the secret base of the rival team and placed arrows all over the floor. Whenever you hit one of these arrow spaces, you would be flung in the direction the arrow pointed. As a result, visitors often spent several minutes in his room being tossed from arrow to arrow.

In hindsight, there weren’t as many options as in today’s cozy games. For example, the colors of individual furniture pieces or the walls and floors couldn’t be adjusted, which is often possible in many games today.

Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were the first games where I could express my creativity. It wasn’t that important to me to collect all 8 badges. Much more important to me was to complete my collection of posters, cushions, and dolls.

The nice thing was that you could show your creations to friends and family. Although Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire are focused on collecting Pokémon and battles, for me, the feature of secret bases was the most important. This is how I discovered my love for cozy games.

Pokopia would be perfect for it

If a game were to evolve this system, it would indeed be Pokopia, wouldn’t it? In the 10-minute trailer, there were already some scenes showing that players could build their own houses with blocks. There is also supposed to be a room that can be freely designed.

However, it still needs to be shown how the personal space comes into play. I wouldn’t have much fun building buildings myself, as I prefer to decorate pre-made rooms like in Animal Crossing – or indeed the secret bases from Ruby and Sapphire. Also, the blocky look of the world currently rather discourages me than motivates me to terraform.

However, if there is a personal space that can be freely designed and into which you can invite your friends, Pokopia would be a dream come true for me. It is different whether you can shape the entire world freely or whether you decorate the place available to you as best as possible.

Additionally, I am curious how much you can express your creativity when decorating in Pokopia. In Ruby and Sapphire, I liked the fact that there are floor tiles with functions, such as the mentioned arrows or music tiles that play a sound.

However, there is also an aspect that discourages me about Pokopia. Normally, I prefer to have my games physically on the shelf – as a completely physical version. But the Pokémon game comes as a game key card, which leads many players to boycott: Pokémon is clashing with Palworld, but fans want to boycott the game for a completely different reason

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Monster Hunter Stories 3 will be released in March 2026. MeinMMO editor Nikolas Hernes was able to play the first 2 chapters in advance and was thrilled after just a few hours. The RPG has the potential to become one of the best sequels in the genre.

I like monster collecting games. Be it Pokémon, Digimon, or indie games like Coromon. The games are most enjoyable when you have a personal connection to the monsters. That caught my attention in Monster Hunter Stories 1. Using the creatures as partners that made hunting so difficult for me in the main series is a great feeling.

That’s why I started with excitement for Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection to play the first 2 chapters as a preview: Although I had positive expectations, I was still surprised. The game is not just a new installment in the Stories series; it shows right from the first areas that it could become one of the best Monster Hunter games.

A fusion of Pokémon and Monster Hunter

What is Monster Hunter Stories 3 anyway? At its core, the game is a monster collecting RPG. Just like in Pokémon or the Digimon games, you catch monsters (or their eggs from their nests) and build your team. Unlike most of these games, however, you fight yourself. For this, you have armor and weapons that fans of the Monster Hunter series will recognize.

In addition, there is a bit of story, a world divided into larger areas, and plenty of side content. I was able to play the first 2 areas for this preview and spent about 17 hours in the game, going through side quests and smaller grinding sessions.

Even in the relatively short time, Stories 3 has improved everything that was present in its predecessor.

But let’s start with the story. The focus is on the countries of Azuria and Vermeil, which are on the brink of war. As the child of the king of Azuria, you are a Rider. Together with a Rathalos and other monsters, you complete missions, research, and explore.

You are not alone; the Riders consist of a whole group of characters with different designs and personalities.

Compared to its predecessors, the story is more mature. This is not only evident in the character proportions, which no longer resemble chibis, but also in the focus of the story. It is significantly stronger than what you would expect from Monster Hunter, and also much more exciting.

From the very beginning, I was engaged, and the side stories that focus on the other members are a good point for worldbuilding. The world itself already feels larger in the first 2 chapters, and a new feature makes it incredibly fun.

Just 2 areas already show: Exploration will be incredibly fun

You could already ride monsters in the two predecessors, but in Stories 3, it has been made smoother. During a jump or fall, you can call your Rathalos and glide; if you see an item in the water, you can quickly switch to a water monster to swim there.

There are no loading times, making exploration more enjoyable. Monsters have different operational areas, which is why not only combat abilities are important for team building. Thus, monsters that you might not use in combat can still be valuable for the world.

In the world, you can, as usual, encounter monsters or loot eggs from monster lairs, filling your stable with new monsters. This time they are not only useful as team members or for passing on abilities. A new feature allows you to influence the world differently.

With habitat restoration, you can restore endangered species. They will then not only appear more frequently in lairs. If you increase the eco rank of monsters in an area, they can gain stronger skills.

Moreover, you can ensure that you get new variants. For example, if you increase a Rathian’s rank in the first area, you unlock the opportunity to find a Dreadqueen Rathian. Additionally, the element of the area can also influence the monsters. For instance, it is possible to obtain a Tobi-Kadachi that is normally just electric in addition to a fire element. Its appearance changes as well.

All these mechanics quickly developed into a nice flow during the preview. Nothing felt sluggish and everything integrated well into the world.

Fine-tuning the combat system

How did the combat system perform? At its core, the turn-based combat is based on a rock-paper-scissors principle combined with the elements. If a monster uses a power attack, you can use a speed attack if it comes at you. This negates its attack. But the reverse can also happen, and monsters often use several attacks that are not solely based on the 3 types.

Right from the start, there were challenging battles that, thanks to the ability to increase speed, were not frustrating. As in the main series, you can check your notes to see which elemental weaknesses the monsters have.

Also, there are weapons that you can use to destroy various monster parts. This increases damage and can send monsters reeling to initiate a powerful attack.

But the most important thing: Kinship attacks are back. If you fill your friendship meter in battle, you can perform a powerful monster attack. There’s a little cutscene for it (which can also be skipped). If you enjoy seeing a Rathalos create a gigantic flame explosion, you will be happy here. These animations can even compete with anime.

Monster Hunter stands for a satisfying gameplay loop

The great strength already in the first hours is not the individual elements I have described, it is the loop of all these. Story, grind, side quests, and monsters merged into a strong flow that made hours feel like minutes.

I never felt that anything was dragging on, and even if: You can skip many things if you want, and monster breeding doesn’t have to be ground for hours, at least in the first hours I was able to play.

Only the story could fail. So far, I quite like it, but it remains to be seen if it expands and whether the gameplay flow might be disrupted. However, if you like anime atmosphere, you will probably have nothing to complain about in that regard.

As for the Switch-2 version, it ran quite well for me. Although there were occasionally some textures reloading, I had no issues with the framerate on the TV. Handheld had occasional stutters, but overall, they didn’t bother me.

For my part, I am confident: I will definitely spend 100 hours in the full game of Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection.

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You can even take a look into the game yourselves. A demo has been released on Steam that allows you to spend quite a bit of time and hides some secrets.

Otherwise, the game will be released on March 13 for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam. But before that, another series from Capcom returns: Resident Evil Requiem has achieved something after 3 hours that I thought impossible: I am afraid of zombies again

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