Published Mar 2, 2026, 8:00 AM EST

Saving the world, one brick at a time

Pokopia captures Pokémon's environmentalism in a tedious but charming life sim

Image: Omega Force/The Pokémon Company, Nintendo via Polygon

Pokémon Pokopia poses a tempting question: What if we could just start again? Tear down our decaying infrastructure, shutter the factories pumping pollutants into our atmosphere, and rebuild a habitable planet for all creatures living on it? It’s a powerful fantasy, one that’s helped transform games like Minecraft from toy boxes to digital institutions. Maybe, Pokopia asks, it’s more fun to build a functional world than to destroy a dying one.

Developed by Omega Force, Pokémon Pokopia is a blocky life sim that applies the universal language of Pokémon to the creative joys of Koei Tecmo’s Dragon Quest Builders series.…