MeinMMO editor Nikolas Hernes thought that Pokopia is just an Animal Crossing with Pokémon, but he was surprised after a short time. It reminds him of Planet of the Apes and offers an exciting story.
When Pokémon Pokopia was first announced, I was quite indifferent. Cozy games are generally not my thing and Pokémon probably wouldn’t have changed that. Until the release on March 5, 2026, new images, trailers, or information were released.
Slowly, my interest grew, especially because Pokopia had visually interesting ideas. For MeinMMO, I took a look at the game and was thrilled, mainly because of the story. It has the best story in the series because it reminds me of Planet of the Apes.
A World Like in Planet of the Apes
In Pokopia, there seem to be no humans. Their remains can be seen in the ruins, but even the Pokémon do not really know where the humans have gone. As Ditto, you try to rebuild habitats and places while bringing the environment back to life with various Pokémon.
The game already tells a story visually. You can see ruins of Pokémon centers, abandoned buildings, but also broken bridges. Nature has reclaimed a lot, and the overgrowth of plants shows that the humans must have been gone for a while.
This visual detail reminds me of Planet of the Apes: New Kingdom from 2024. There, too, nature and the apes have taken back the Earth and formed their own communities. This is also happening in Pokopia. You create your own societies with Pokémon residents in various areas, each with their own speech patterns and personalities.
Movies like Planet of the Apes or Flow are among the most exciting post-apocalypses for me because they do not place humans at the center and portray the path of nature. This is visually cooler than showing deserts or an empty wasteland.
This is cool in principle and a good example of visual storytelling, but there are also text pieces that can be found in the world. Normally, I find such things in games a lame solution for world-building, but in Pokopia, it fits quite well.
The texts are usually short and tell little snippets about the town. For example, you learn about a Picochilla and find an image of it in another ruin. There is also talk of evacuations, which shows the drama without explicitly addressing it. As a player, I have to figure it out for myself and can piece together my own interpretation from a puzzle.
Unlike the other Pokémon games, the story is not spoon-fed to me; I can explore it myself and theoretically ignore it.
However, what I particularly like about Pokopia compared to Planet of the Apes is the hope and good mood that always accompany the Pokémon.
No Matter How Bad the Ruins Are, There is Always Hope
If you want to read something into Pokopia, you can see implications of climate change or environmental pollution. As Ditto, together with your Pokémon, you restore everything, sometimes even manipulate the weather.
It would be easy to tell a sad story here, but Pokopia remains positive at all times. Sure, Pokémon is usually positive, but in the context of the habitats you rebuild and the ruins you repair, an atmosphere of hope is created without portraying humans as something evil.
The Pokémon miss the humans and create something of their own based on their former trainers. This is different from Planet of the Apes, which fundamentally separates itself from humans.
Pokopia shows that not everything is lost, no matter how broken or abandoned something is. You can restore it, even without blatant drama, as long as you maintain hope and work together.
In a time when the news seems full of negativity, it is a nice change, and this potential is exactly why I still love the franchise today. The Pokémon in Pokopia also have interesting backstories: Pokopia contains special Pokémon designs, the one from Pikachu is just sad
