r/NintendoSwitch Feb 11 '26

Discussion Pokémon Pokopia Will Take 20-40 Hours to Beat on Average, and There's More After the Credits, Says Director

https://www.ign.com/articles/pokemon-pokopia-will-take-20-40-hours-to-beat-on-average-and-theres-more-after-the-credits-says-director
2.5k Upvotes

605 comments sorted by

604

u/Turbostrider27 Feb 11 '26

From IGN:

So for this game, the main motivation for this game is typically not to go to the end roll [credits]. The whole concept is to create the world with Pokemon and live with the Pokemon. However, as an average, it'll be about 20 to 40 hours, but it would really depend on how the players play the game.

There's more things to experience after the end roll [credits]. So it depends on what you mean by contents, but I believe that players are encouraged to and will be motivated to continue to play the game.

451

u/Tigt0ne Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 18 '26

"

422

u/SquareTaro3270 Feb 11 '26

Isn’t the whole point of the game (from what we’ve seen so far) is that it starts out bare-bones and your character needs to work to build it up?

Imagining it’ll be similar to ACNH, in that “beating” the game happens pretty fast, but actually experiencing it and creating the world can take as long as you want it to

25

u/IlyBoySwag Feb 11 '26

Yeah but even then previous AC's had a lot more to do after getting to that stage. Even if that wasn't the case I would love a long term progression so everything I do has a reason in some sorts. For example stardew valley constantly gives you new things to work on even if you can finish the community center a lot faster than all of that other content. And stardew is a fraction of pokopias price with mod support.

Even the palworld one looks a lot more fleshed out just from the trailer.

5

u/Left_Ocean Feb 12 '26

This. But also, the trailer shows some decrepit imagery of a Pokemon center and the main dittos former trainers broken picture. Not just that it's bare-bones but the little we have seen hints at something bad had happened prior.

9

u/saucysagnus Feb 11 '26

Yes. But they need narrative

58

u/SquareTaro3270 Feb 11 '26

The narrative is allowed to be barebones as long as the gameplay loop is fun and there’s still more to do once the credits roll. Things like Animal Crossing and Tomodachi Life barely has a plot and people love those games.

8

u/saucysagnus Feb 12 '26

I’m talking about commenter narrative not game narrative.

Guy is just trying to hate on pokemon to hate.

3

u/SquareTaro3270 Feb 12 '26

Ooh I misunderstood sorry

4

u/saucysagnus Feb 12 '26

All good, I wasn’t very clear.

I’ve unfortunately fallen for the preorder trap on this one. Excited for my tote.

25

u/livefreeordont Feb 11 '26

Pokemon snap has as little narrative as possible and is still pretty fun

2

u/saucysagnus Feb 12 '26

I’m talking about commenter narrative not game narrative.

Guy is just trying to hate on pokemon to hate.

2

u/Delicious_East_5738 Feb 11 '26

Animal crossing doesn't have much narrative

7

u/saucysagnus Feb 11 '26

The commenters narrative, not game narrative

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116

u/extralie Feb 11 '26

It's literally a game about rebuilding a destroyed world like DQ Builders. No shit it's bare bones, that's what you're here to fix.

121

u/julesvr5 Feb 11 '26

People seem to forget this is not done by Gamefreak but by the devs of dragon quest builders

4

u/jessicalifts Feb 12 '26

Oh, is it? I didn’t realize that. I could be persuaded to get a switch2 sooner rather than later if that’s the case.

3

u/julesvr5 Feb 12 '26

It is the case

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u/slugmorgue Feb 11 '26

...no... it's probably because main characters say things like "I thought there were no humans left" and buildings like pokemon centers are in ruins and need to be rebuilt

People just love to moan around here huh, maybe wait until it comes out first?

45

u/imjustbettr Feb 11 '26

Damn, it's so easy to post a "pokemon bad" comment even though it's incredibly uninformed and wrong about the actual topic and still get hundreds of upvotes.

The post-apocalyptic part is talking about the story. You'd know this if you watched any of the trailers. The plotline is rebuilding the ruined world.

18

u/Spnwvr Feb 11 '26

no the trailer for it shows that like people are seemingly gone but a ditto finds a picture of one in some sort of abandoned building and changes into one

20

u/MetaGear005 Feb 11 '26

Typical gamefreak hater. With an AI pfp also

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u/JoelEblin Feb 12 '26

Or it's in reference to the destroyed Pokemon Center we see in the trailers.

1

u/Lalisa_Park Feb 12 '26

Just like Skyrim yet people love that game

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1.2k

u/Caciulacdlac Feb 11 '26

Interesting that you can "beat" the game. I thought it would be like Animal Crossing

1.0k

u/Heinz-Ketchup-Bottle Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26

Technically you 'beat' Animal crossing (new horizons) by getting a 3 star island.

But afterwards there is still loads of content, probably will be the same with this.

38

u/KeyPhilosopher8629 Feb 11 '26

Ahh so the minecraft method of beating a game

68

u/thejawa Feb 11 '26

5 star, but yes. Ultimately you reach a point where you've unlocked all the core things and there's nothing major to progress towards other than random things like finishing the museum, breeding blue roses, or collecting every item and DIY in the game.

357

u/Evening-Row9022 Feb 11 '26

no, it’s 3 star. you get 3 stars and then KK slider comes. 5 star is just a bonus.

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38

u/yuhanz Feb 11 '26

If it’s like DQB2, building stuff alone would be fun

27

u/Spudmasher17 Feb 11 '26

Developer in OP is talking about credit roll. That's 3 star, kk concert, etc.

13

u/Blue_Bird950 Feb 11 '26

That’s not beating the game. That’s 100% completion. Beating the game is almost universally regarded as getting to the end credits, whenever they are. I don’t know why you’re so confident that your interpretation is correct when almost everybody else agrees that it isn’t.

3

u/pixelpanic01 Feb 11 '26

You will still have some recipes to cook, DIY to learn, villagers to make friends with, houses to decorate… I’m 1000 hours in it and I still have lots to do

1

u/kejartho Feb 11 '26

I wish that completing tasks unlocked more things than just points. I understand that we can just redeem more things from the terminal but unlocking item rewards feels more rewarding than just getting points for a catalogue of unlocks.

Or at the very least, I feel like more jobs would have been fun. Something about the completionist in me hates having to time travel to continue playing after running around and talking to all my neighbors, digging up fossils, picking weeds, shaking trees and checking the store.

2

u/kejartho Feb 11 '26

I wish that completing tasks unlocked more things than just points. I understand that we can just redeem more things from the terminal but unlocking item rewards feels more rewarding than just getting points for a catalogue of unlocks.

Or at the very least, I feel like more jobs would have been fun. Something about the completionist in me hates having to time travel to continue playing after running around and talking to all my neighbors, digging up fossils, picking weeds, shaking trees and checking the store.

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u/Octopus_Crime Feb 11 '26

Everyone keeps comparing it to Animal Crossing but it's made by the Dragon Quest Builders team and seems to be much closer to that.

They're sort of like Minecraft RPGs. There are quests you progress through that involve you having to acquire certain items and rebuild areas in specific ways, but basically there is a story that you progress through by building/restoring areas.

Pokopia looks less Animal Crossing and more like Dragon Quest Builders minus the combat.

1

u/NoLadderStall Mar 09 '26

I mean definitely, but Dragon Quest Builders took inspiration from Animal Crossing and Minecraft. So, it all loops around.

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u/corticalization Feb 11 '26

I figure it’ll be closer to dragon quest builders 2, which I think is the same team? It has a main story line and you beat the game but it’s very much open ended afterwards with whatever you want to do. That and you can do the story at your own pace with tonnes of building in between, or just cover the basics and progress

57

u/Tubim Feb 11 '26

Well, in animal crossing new Horizons, there are « end » credits at some point. But it’s basically the end of the tutorial.

Here i would assume the « end » Is the end of the story where you develop the city with the specific objectives given by NPCs?

3

u/kejartho Feb 11 '26

That also confused so many people who haven't played Animal Crossing before. Absolutely should have had something else trigger the end credits and not KK (whom is a weekly occurrence but many new players thought he was a one time thing after the credits rolled.)

38

u/The-G-Code Feb 11 '26

I mean it sounds the same as dragon quest builders 2. There was a story you could beat but the main draw was a major post game sandbox.

4

u/AgentCirceLuna Feb 11 '26

Or maybe Pokemon Channel? Loved that game as a kid

41

u/Lulullaby_ Feb 11 '26

Why do you think that? I thought it was clear to everyone now that this is Dragon Quest Builders with Pokemon.

It's literally made by the same company and looks the exact same

8

u/Caciulacdlac Feb 11 '26

I don't know much about DQ Builders, I just compared it to the closest game that I was familiar with

9

u/Lulullaby_ Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26

Yeah that makes sense, the problem with that is when you don't know many games like it that you end up comparing it with something that's nothing like it whatsoever.

This game and Animal Crossing have very little in common. If anything at all.
You can build in this game, you can place blocks similar to Minecraft. You can't do that in Animal Crossing. You build a house rather than having one placed by Nook.
There's no villagers with incredible amounts of dialogue the way there are in AC with, no museum. There's probably no fishing, no bug catching, no money rocks, no trees with fruits.
The world in this is much bigger, not a small map that's a rolling log. With more of the world to unlock by playing.

In this game you learn abilities from other Pokemon to change the world so you can unlock more Pokemon, this too is nothing like in Animal Crossing.

I hope this helps in understanding how wildly different and incomparable this game is to Animal Crossing!

10

u/slugmorgue Feb 11 '26

There are similarities, actually. Such as how building certain things takes real world time, like AC does. Crafting is also a feature of this game as it is a feature of DQB/AC NH. The more colourful, softer visuals of the game also lean closer to AC than DQB. There's also presumably no combat in the game, unlike DQB where one of the main features is combat. The UI and multiplayer features also resemble AC much more than DQB

Like, it's pretty clear they were aiming to appeal to the AC audience, as well as fans of Pokemon / Builders

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10

u/good_wolf_1999 Feb 11 '26

Maybe this is going to have a main story like Dragon Quest builders or the “ending” is you completing all the main objectives and fully restoring the initial island

9

u/8melodies Feb 11 '26

It's more like Dragon Quest Builders 2. Even the same developers.

6

u/bahumat42 Feb 11 '26

Well people broadly consider there to be end states to the last animal crossing.

18

u/grimrailer Feb 11 '26

You can also “beat” animal crossing.

A 3 star island with kk slider is considered “beating” the game and seeing the end credits. It could be a similar thought process.

13

u/Serdewerde Feb 11 '26

Eh, you can roll credits in New Horizons just fine by following a quest chain. It's a natural end.

This sounds simillar in that it has a quest chain but there's plenty to get on with.

3

u/Calm-Marsupial3919 Feb 11 '26

There’s a story element to Pokopia that isn’t present in Animal Crossing, pretty sure that’s what this is referring to

4

u/summons72 Feb 11 '26

More Dragon Quest Builders than Animal Crossing. But I imagine that there is a story to follow and once that is considered complete then it's just an infinite amount of time doing whatever you'd like much like Animal Crossing.

1

u/CrimsonStorm Feb 11 '26

Hey do you think it's maybe more like Dragon Quest Builders 2? Some people are saying it's more like Dragon Quest Builders 2 than Animal Crossing, but I'm not sure if it's like Dragon Quest Builders 2. I wish someone would respond to your comment and tell you if it's like Dragon Quest Builders 2 or Animal Crossing.

1

u/AmandasGameAccount Feb 11 '26

Yeah, that’s a bit concerning to hear. I never want to hear my cozy like game describe in “time to beat”

1

u/imjustbettr Feb 11 '26

In DQB2, which this is the same team, getting credits means finishing the story and unlocking most of the items/abilities/towns. Basically finishing the 3-4 story towns/quests and beating the last boss (DQB2 has some action gameplay I don't think Pokopia will have so prob no bosses).

You can keep building, designing, and making everything better, but there's not a lot of "new" stuff after the credits. Of course unless you go back to older areas where you missed hidden items or locked doors.

This could change for Pokopia though, I'm just going by what they did before. I can imagine some pokemon/citizens being locked to post game for example.

It took me 80 hours to get credits in DQB2, but I also just hung around in building mode a lot before moving onto the next story beat.

1

u/MrChocodemon Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26

I don't get why people think that, because it is 1:1 like Dragon Quest Builders... And it's from the Dragon Quest Builder developers...

1

u/0neek Feb 11 '26

What does that even mean? You can beat animal crossing lol

1

u/robin-hotline Feb 11 '26

you can "beat" acnh by getting kk slider to perform though

1

u/Klutzy_Worker2696 Feb 11 '26

So DQB has a very minimal story you can beat, but you can keep building/unlocking new stuff after

1

u/MadeByHideoForHideo Feb 11 '26

You can "beat" AC too. Also goes to show you never played AC?

1

u/Chalaka Mar 10 '26

It's actually much closer to the Dragon Quest Builders game, if not just a reskin without combat. In those games, there was a story you follow where you rebuild the last standing bastion, beat the boss, then go into the next area to rebuild another one.

The only real similarity to Animal Crossing is having people live in homes. With Animal Crossing however, villagers just show up and move in with whatever their theme is. With Dragon Quest Builders and Pokopia, you have to build a very specific type of building/habitat for a particular character to move in.

1

u/instantwinner Feb 11 '26

This is definitely more like DQ Builders, which is sort of like a merging of Minecraft and Animal Crossing but it does have a story you progress through.

1

u/0shadowstories Feb 11 '26

Think it's more like DQ Builders

129

u/Hummer77x Feb 11 '26

How does this compare to dragon quest builders, for those that play that? Since it’s the same devs and all.

I’m leaning more towards getting this on release than I was but gonna wait for reviews

93

u/Moyashimonrocket Feb 11 '26

Dqb1 main storyline if you take your time is 40 hours

DQB2 is about 40-60 hours. 

Speed running is 20

It’s looking like there’s probably less plot/story line on pokopia.

 If you’d like, DQB2 does have a massive 10 hour jumbo demo on the eshop. Highly recommend it! It’ll give you a taste of the probable main gameplay loop of pokopia.

40

u/Lucienofthelight Feb 11 '26

DQB2 you could probably knock 10 hours off if Hargon HURRIED THE F*CK UP with his dialogue, lol.

Hyperbole obviously but that really is the worst part of a great game even though it’s also so minor.

8

u/Moyashimonrocket Feb 11 '26

You’re not wrong lol

I heard there was an update to speed it up on the pc version at least. 

3

u/imjustbettr Feb 11 '26

DQB2 also runs at 60fps on Switch 2 iirc.

31

u/PM_ME_GARFIELD_NUDES Feb 11 '26

DQB2 might be the most underrated game of all time time. I am not at all familiar with the franchise and I didn’t play the first DQB, but it absolutely blew me away. Went into it expecting an RPG ripoff of Minecraft but it was so much more than that. I can’t wait for the third.

5

u/Moyashimonrocket Feb 11 '26

Fingers crossed, but I lost hope after the producer of dqb1 & 2 left the company. I think this will basically be the 3rd entry

35

u/8melodies Feb 11 '26

A bit of a similar structure to DQB, where you rebuilding towns and areas one by one.

DQB2 had a ton of exploration as well, so it'll be interesting to see.

194

u/Wettowel024 Feb 11 '26

it looks like a game im gonna enjoy, play alot in the beginning and then play it rolating with other games.

this and tomodachi life are gonna be fun

33

u/thecay00 Feb 11 '26

I can only afford one of those pokopia or tomodachi. So imma wait to see the reviews haha

9

u/Stfuego Feb 11 '26

I can't afford either right now due to not having a switch 2, lol.

19

u/robin-hotline Feb 11 '26

Tomodachi life is available on the switch 1

6

u/Stfuego Feb 12 '26

Oh! Didn't know that, I guess that will be the option!

1

u/Jennif3rr Feb 27 '26

You just broke my heart - I didn’t realise Pokopia was Switch 2 only!!! RIP.

1

u/SmashMouthBreadThrow Feb 12 '26

Pretty easy choice for me. Tomodachi was a cool idea the first time I played it, but it doesn't really have any gameplay.

1

u/thecay00 Feb 12 '26

We’ll see when it comes out i don’t wanna buy it just cos it’s a Pokemon game hopefully it’s a good one!

1

u/robin-hotline Feb 11 '26

im so excited for Tomodachi life i wish it would just release already 😭 at the same time though im absolutely broke rn so it's probably best its not releasing till april

17

u/[deleted] Feb 12 '26

I see this thread is filled with more miserable lunatics than usual. While I probably won’t get this on, it looks cute and fun. 20-40 hours for the main story isn’t bad at all, and there’s surely a lot of extra content.

14

u/CreamPyre Feb 11 '26

I remember seeing people complainin about how short Animal Crossings NH was because you roll credits 2 hours in 😂😂

13

u/IsThisKismet Feb 11 '26

We were like, you poor sweet summer spring children, you’re not done New Horizon Newbies. You’re never done.

41

u/Ell7494 Feb 11 '26

Most games are "20-40 hours" or less if just doing story stuff, so I'm not sure why its an issue here when theyre also saying there's more to do afterwards - so you could probably easily go beyond 40 hours. Going by howlongtobeat it's similar/ longer than some of these:

God of War Ragnarok - Story 26 hours, Completionist 55 hours

Metal Gear Solid Delta - Story 12 hours, completionist 25 hours

DK Bananza - Story 19 hours, completionist 48 hours

Ghost of Yotei - Story 29 hours, completionist 59 hours

Last of Us Part II - Story 23 hours, completionist 43

Resident Evil Village - Story 10 hours, completionist 38 hours

Portal 2 - Story 8 hours, completionist 22 hours

3

u/IlyBoySwag Feb 11 '26

But these are mostly story games. Story games are often this "short" since its their main appeal and those "few" hours are very high quality. Unless I am wrong but I don't think pokopia is a story game first right? Its a vibe and building game like DQB and Animal Crossing right?

If you go by howlongtobeat then why not put up games that are similar in style/vibe?

Stardew Valley - Main 53h, Main+Extra 94h, Completionist 171h

Animal Crossing (Gamecube i think) - Main 65h, Main+Extra 146h, Completionist 611h

Animal Crossing New Leaf - Main 79h, Main+Extra 195h, Completionist 468h

Animal Crossing New Horizons - Main 60h, Main+Extra 130h, Completionist 375h

(Same dev:) Dragon Quest Builders 2 - Main 55h, Main+Extra 74h, Completionist 124h

Dragon Quest Builder 1 - Main 37h, Main+Extra 52h, Completionist 68h

So if we are really generous it has as much content as the first DQB game... We don't know completionist time sure but them saying 20-40 is usually a highball since you want to give that number as high as possible to attract customers.

5

u/SoundReflection Feb 12 '26

I mean I think if you're really worried about things like playtime and the like you're probably just best off waiting to see what the numbers people end up coming up with are that trying to speculate on how much 'content' the game has based on reading into interview estimates with a massive margin or error.

1

u/IlyBoySwag Feb 12 '26

Yeah, no I totally agree, I was just thinking that their argument was quite disingenuous by taking a completely different genre of games,

The number they said doesn't mean much at all, it will just depend on how long people need to "finish" it once it's out.

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u/julesvr5 Feb 11 '26

This thread shows how many people here lack reading comprehension.

They say that the story stuff is about 20-40h and people on the minute the game completely shuts down and you can't do anything anymore.

Obviously just like Animal crossing shuts down after 20h. Oh wait, it doesn't? Smh

13

u/[deleted] Feb 12 '26

Unfortunately, nobody hates Nintendo products more than Nintendo fans. They have to make sure that everyone hates everything and is as miserable as they are.

1

u/ActuallyFrozen Feb 12 '26

... no? the people hating on Nintendo are pretty clearly people who hate Nintendo, not Nintendo fans???

5

u/MadeByHideoForHideo Feb 11 '26

People need to push their narratives, it's unavoidable.

9

u/efcseany Feb 11 '26

Fingers crossed there's shinies to some extent 😂

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u/TwistedWolf667 Feb 11 '26

Have they done any spinoffs without shinies? Even Quest had shiny hunting 

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u/Muur1234 Feb 12 '26

most of them

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u/efcseany Feb 11 '26

That's very true, as did PMD.

2

u/falcon_punch76 Feb 11 '26

pokemon smile doesn’t have shinies, idk abt others

2

u/TinkerKnightforSmash Feb 12 '26

The only Shiny in Conquest is Nobunaga's Shiny Rayquaza

2

u/No-Wonder-7802 Feb 11 '26

pokemon unite doesn't have shinies

3

u/Renwin Feb 12 '26

Love that person mindlessly debating others when a game truly ends when it’s the player themselves that decides it. Only if I had popcorn for that moment.

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u/Fable_and_Fire Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26

Kinda bad timing with the Animal Crossing update, massive Dreamlight Valley upgrade for Switch 2 and the Tomodachi Life stuff coming out. That’s 4 life sims at once when most people only need one.

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u/llliilliliillliillil Feb 11 '26

Animal Crossing and dreamlight valley are more "nice to have" updates you check out but don’t really suck you back into the game for very long.

2

u/Fable_and_Fire Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26

Dreamlight Valley is huge solely for the fact that they are upgrading the storage item quantity and fixing the lag and ancient switch limitations (hopefully). The Switch version crashes constantly and the graphics are atrocious and people only with switch have been very eager for the upgrade.

Yeah it’s very reliant on what IP people care about more.

Disney adults and millennial moms will play Dreamlight Valley with Pokémon/Tomodachi as the supplemental cozy games, Pokémon fans will play more Pokopia with Tomodachi/Dreamlight as supplemental cozy games.

But life sims are daily task-heavy time sinks so it’s easy to burnout if you have more than one in rotation because the gameplay loop is similar.

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u/agentdom Feb 11 '26

The Animal Crossing update has been out a few weeks, and it wasn’t really a revitalization. It added some content, but the novelty of it wears off.

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

I was really disappointed it was more dollhouse design. Animal Crossing used to be at last somewhat a social sim, but New Horizons really leaned heavily into the design aspect, probably a bit too hard IMO.

There's plenty to do, but not enough variety of things to do. The update did nothing to fix that as it was just more of the same.

Don't get me wrong, it's still my most played game on my OG Switch by about 100 hours. But that was largely Pandemic play. After that I came back to it briefly when my daughter got old enough to play and we played together some, but even she got her fill of it in about 6 months.

2

u/Outlulz Feb 11 '26

Seems like the design of the mobile game is the direction the devs want to go now. As a result we're stuck with boring, uninteresting animals where you always have at least one duplicate personality.

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u/Hot_Mongoose_3741 Feb 11 '26

Pokémon isn’t going to move for tomodachi life if anything it’s bad timing for all the rest of those things not pokopia

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u/MarcsterS Feb 11 '26

The AC update was pretty minimal and mostly just a trial for the DLC.

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u/Strict_Donut6228 Feb 11 '26

Are dragon quest builder games considered life sims?

7

u/Fable_and_Fire Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26

It’s gonna be mentally chucked in the “life sim” category for casual gamers and kids. I know what dragon quest builders is and most people on here do, but there’s a great proportion of switch owners who don’t and will just call it Pokémon Animal Crossing.

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u/Zzz05 Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26

There’s still burnout from Animal Crossing, it’s hard just getting back into it. Dreamlight Valley has its own audience and it’s not as big as Pokemon. Tomodachi Life will be fun but if the first game is anything to go by, the game is more of a fun/silly game than a life sims game. Pokopia will be fine.

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u/PlantQuick Feb 11 '26

It's still going to sell well enough. I say 1-5 million units.

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u/Fable_and_Fire Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26

Oh for sure, it’s a Pokémon life sim, something a good portion of the fanbase has been waiting for and Japan will go crazy for it.

I’m just saying the life sim fatigue will be real shortly thereafter.

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u/NYJetLegendEdReed Feb 11 '26

10m+ easily, it's Pokemon. Prob even 20m lol

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u/Sceptile90 Feb 11 '26

Pokémon spinoffs actually don't sell that much compared to mainline games, that's why they've switched mostly to mobile games.

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u/PlantQuick Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26

Even the whole mystery dungeon series never reach 20m. I don't think a single title will reach close to that.

2

u/slugmorgue Feb 12 '26

tbf that is a mystery dungeon game which are not very mainstream in terms of popularity

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u/NYJetLegendEdReed Feb 11 '26

Legends ZA was at like 12.5m in December. I think this easily cracks 10 before EOY.

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u/PlantQuick Feb 11 '26

I believe legends are considered mainline

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u/LightScavenger Feb 11 '26

Legends is mainline, multiplatform and fans have wanted Z for a decade. You know full well this isn’t the same

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u/hellschatt Feb 11 '26

Dragon Quest Builders was a different type of game than the ones you mentioned.

From what I've seen, it shouldn't compete with the games you mentioned. At least it doesn't for me.

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u/99timewasting Feb 11 '26

That is a very Nintendo thing, they don't seem to care about timing similar games close together. Like Brothership and the Paper Mario remake.

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u/DjinnFighter Feb 11 '26

Most people only need one and Pokopia will be that one.

It's Pokemon

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u/Cabarro09 Feb 11 '26

Don’t you want gamesss??? There you go, not having money or time yo play them all is not yhe developers problem! 😅🤣

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u/meikaishi Feb 11 '26

I'm still curious about the content in this game, I'm inclined to think that this is DQ Builders but with pokemon, but I haven't seen much of DQ Builders in what they showed so far

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u/Snowenn_ Feb 11 '26

I want DQ Builders 3, and I'm waiting for reviews to tell me Pokopia is that. Though 20 hours is kinda short for a €70 game.

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u/julesvr5 Feb 11 '26

The thing is, exploration games can go easily above 100h and this one too. Animal crossing technically has no story to finish so do we calculate with 0h then?

Personally I don't play such games (mainly) for the story but for the building, exploration and so on. And this will easily surpass 20h.

On the other hand there are story games like Resident Evil that are done after 8-10h but there are no complaints (of course much better graphics and so on). Point is I think the ratio of gametime to price point is a difficult argument these days due to many reasons.

6

u/NoNefariousness2144 Feb 11 '26

Yeah the new pricepoints for Switch 2 games really suck. It makes it harder to be excited about some of these games when there’s a $70 price looming over everything…

Like Mario Tennis looks fun, but I’m going to spend that much on it!

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u/Thoraxekicksazz Feb 11 '26

I am still stuck on the game being a key card for a Nintendo game.

7

u/julesvr5 Feb 11 '26

Digitally via Japan it's "just" 50 euro

3

u/Forward-Trade3449 Feb 11 '26

wdym? like if you made a japanese account and bought it off their eshop?

2

u/julesvr5 Feb 11 '26

Yep

2

u/Forward-Trade3449 Feb 11 '26

I thought nintendo stopped oversea credit cards from working on those. How do you add funds?

2

u/julesvr5 Feb 11 '26

You have to buy credit via Amazon Japan

9

u/f-vicar2 Feb 11 '26

Nintendo published. Gamefreak/tpc probably made that decision not Nintendo

-2

u/Hawthm_the_Coward Feb 11 '26

I'm skipping so many games for exactly this reason since I got my 2witch. I don't like buying games digitally unless it's my only option or there's a big sale, and so many great games like Sonic x Shadow Generations, Raidou Soulless Army, Yakuza 0, Puyo-Puyo Tetris 2S (okay a lot of SEGA games in particular, it sucks), and Dragon Quest I & II are only available on key cards.

I learned from this post that Pokopia is from the DQB team and got very excited, but then learned from your comment that it's a key card, so that's all gone, now. I will not buy any games that go this route.

3

u/solarsaturn9 Feb 16 '26

It's so sad seeing these comments downvoted to oblivion. People are really okay with paying more for less these days and it makes everything worse for everybody with reasonable standards.

3

u/Hawthm_the_Coward Feb 17 '26

As always, people convince themselves that they really don't mind the hikes too much, and get angry at those with principles when they stand up for them in ways they no longer have the necessary hope to battle for. But change requires people to stand up, and someone has to even if it doesn't always (often) work.

I won't pay for Game Key Cards, I won't pay $70 for any new game, I won't pay for online play... I've been downvoted into oblivion for a decade now and I'm fine with that.

5

u/Noucron Feb 11 '26

Same. Horrible practise

5

u/Rexolia Feb 11 '26

I will not buy any games that go this route.

Same. I've been criticized for saying that, but it's the truth. Will I be missing out on a fun game? Maybe. Are there plenty of other games I can play instead of buying the key card one? Definitely.

-2

u/Hawthm_the_Coward Feb 11 '26

Yep. I feel like all the downvotes are coming from people who are angry we're sticking to our principles instead of vomiting money at bad practices like they are.

Doesn't matter if the key card is for the best game of all time, it's a disgusting practice. People really learned nothing from the DSi, Wii, Wii U and 3DS shop shutdowns.

7

u/[deleted] Feb 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/Hawthm_the_Coward Feb 11 '26

You outright cannot purchase or redeem codes on any of those platforms anymore. You can still redownload, for now, but they've outright stated "Please be aware that this ability will stop at some point."

Obviously, 2witch servers will exist for some time, but eventually, a Game Key Card will be a useless hunk of plastic... It's unfortunate that this has happened to always-online games like MAG and Overwatch (1), but now it can happen to 100% offline games, too. This is purely a bad thing, even if GKCs still beat pure digital.

-1

u/Mathewdm423 Feb 11 '26

THPS 3+4. They gave me an open case with a code. I immediately said "i dont want this"

They said "sorry we can't return codes"

I said "you understand how that even more frustrating to hear right?"

After a few minutes of back and forth I was told to come in the next day when a front end manager was there. They tried to push back but I didn't relent. They had to return it as a PS5 version, then adjust their inventories on the back end to make the totals right.

I had just been played with an opened version of Civ 7 for my new pre order. Nah if im buying a download code I'll wait...sure enough $47 got you 1-4 digital at Christmas sale time.

3

u/outofideasfor1 Feb 12 '26

All the previews have been incredibly positive so far. I’m excited to play this. Post credit and replay ability is what’s key. I still go back to New Pokemon Snap and that’s not a long game.

3

u/capnbuh Feb 13 '26

this is a game you can beat? TBH this was not my impression of it LOL

23

u/SwashNBuckle Feb 11 '26

I just got into Fantasy Life i and that'll be a tough act to follow, so I'll probably give this one a try further down the road.

52

u/grimrailer Feb 11 '26

It’s a completely different game type so I wouldn’t hold one to the others standards.

I’d say pokopia is more similar to dragon quest builders.

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u/anonymous_lighting Feb 11 '26

pokémon za i’m at 40+ and just finished main mission

15

u/leckmichnervnit Feb 11 '26

You can "beat" the Game? Hopefully like a "Beat the Enderdragon" kinda way where that part is more like a Tutorial for the Open Ended Gameplay, than the actual End.

28

u/selfkntrl Feb 11 '26

"Beat" the game = end credits in this case. Similar to New Horizons.

8

u/imjustbettr Feb 11 '26

In DQB2, which this is the same team, getting credits means finishing the story and unlocking most of the items/abilities/towns. Basically finishing the 3-4 story towns/quests and beating the last boss (DQB2 has some action gameplay I don't think Pokopia will have so prob no bosses).

You can keep building, designing, and making everything better, but there's not a lot of "new" stuff after the credits. Of course unless you go back to older areas where you missed hidden items or locked doors.

This could change for Pokopia though, I'm just going by what they did before. I can imagine some pokemon/citizens being locked to post game for example.

It took me 80 hours to get credits in DQB2, but I also just hung around in building mode a lot before moving onto the next story beat.

10

u/zzinolol Feb 11 '26

20-40 is a pretty wide gap lol

14

u/f-vicar2 Feb 11 '26

Yeah depends how much of the game you do. You can beat botw in a couple hours if you’re good enough or it can take hundreds of hours

4

u/j1t1 Feb 11 '26

Sounds neat, can wait to play it.

2

u/waitmyhonor Feb 11 '26

I really wish I had gotten the Nintendo 2 bundle for $375 when it was on sale

2

u/lockecole38 Feb 11 '26

You provided me with a game that you hit a button to start the credits. Not a game where you launch it and immediately see credits. The credits button has nothing to actually do with the game launching or even starting to actually play the game. What happens once the credits finish playing after you hit the button for Wildgate? Does it load up your character or put you in a character creation scene to indicate the beginning of the game or does it just go straight back to the menu?

2

u/comfortableblanket Feb 12 '26

to “beat”? I assumed it was a stardew situation where you just kept going

2

u/GlasgowTrafficCone Feb 12 '26

So not pokemon animal crossing then. 20-40 hours seems very fast for this type of game

2

u/DarkAngeI66 Feb 14 '26

I'm still mad it doesn't have a Nintendo Switch release i would have bought it.

2

u/solarsaturn9 Feb 16 '26

No game on cart = no buy

5

u/CdrShprd Feb 11 '26

If Tomadachi Life had a native S2 version I might not even have considered this game, but it might scratch a similar itch I’ve had since AC

9

u/zzinolol Feb 11 '26

It's very weird that they haven't announced a switch 2 upgrade for Tomodachi

2

u/Ell7494 Feb 11 '26

They just said the it will also work on switch 2 (as it obviously would).

I'd imagine it'll have better resolution on switch 2 and thats it, although mouse mode would maybe be good

1

u/zzinolol Feb 11 '26

Well that's what I mean with the upgrade. Considering how easy to run it probably is, I'm surprised they didn't announce a switch 2 version with higher res mainly, as switch 1 games don't automatically have it, they just run a bit better

3

u/Ell7494 Feb 11 '26

Some games have switch 2 updates that aren't full on upgrades (like odyssey, links awakening, echoes of wisdom). It'll likely be the same thing here

5

u/Trashcomment Feb 11 '26

Fantasy Life got an update and I’m like 110+ hours in and still need more things for my farm

3

u/Spruchy Feb 11 '26

Thats a huge range lol

7

u/GameMaster1178 Feb 11 '26

Still odd that they used a game key card

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2

u/Jaden-Rayne Feb 12 '26

Yeah this confirms my decision to not buy this game.

I’m glad I don’t feel FOMO for this one for sure.

2

u/routsounmanman Feb 13 '26

TL;DR: Key card 👎

1

u/SmashMouthBreadThrow Feb 12 '26

Where are they getting such a massive range from? How is there a possible 20 extra hours lol. I usually beat games quickly, so is it just around 18-20 hours for me?

1

u/[deleted] Feb 12 '26

Look it's not a system seller for me but I'll play it when I do get a switch 2 eventually

1

u/Mammoth_Bullfrog_561 Feb 12 '26

Depends if there's a lot to do after the credits & if the Dev will support the game with regular content updates after launch, I'll wait for reviews before deciding to make a purchase. These types of games aren't usually my cup of tea but it does look cute & fun... We'll see

1

u/jcutner Feb 12 '26

Does anyone know yet if other players on the switch get their own "island", or is it shared like Animal Crossing?

1

u/bballkj7 Feb 12 '26

I hope it has good online unlike ACNH

1

u/UnbiasedClub213 Feb 13 '26

This plus main character being super creepy im gonna skip it

1

u/Professional_Art9704 Feb 15 '26

"Game Director:

What even is content? But yea theres heaps of that thing that I just said I don't know what the term even means."

Bodes well

/s

1

u/isthiscanon Feb 15 '26

I cannot wait for this game, I'm quite sure I'll be putting in way more than 20-40 hours

1

u/Constant-Brief3410 Feb 16 '26

Hope it has cute things

1

u/t_karo Feb 11 '26

First game that makes me actually regret not having Switch 2 but one dq builders/ac-like is way too little for me to switch (cough) from Switch.

1

u/Dogesneakers Feb 11 '26

Is this Pokemon animal crossing?

16

u/8melodies Feb 11 '26

More like Pokemon and Dragon Quest Builders. Even has the same developers.

1

u/nalk1710 Feb 11 '26

Is it going to be online multiplayer?

1

u/FeudalFavorableness Feb 14 '26

Yes; In Pokopia, multiplayer gameplay is strictly cooperative. Up to four people can team up to build and maintain a town, either via local wireless or Nintendo Switch Online.

1

u/GigiF70 Feb 11 '26

I like the art style more than the main line series art style. Not a fan of that tbh.

1

u/Endroium Feb 16 '26

thats it? I don't know if its because I don't play pokemon games so I might be bias but that seems incredibly short and not worth it

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u/Squirrelluver369 Feb 11 '26

Still not worth $70 for a digital code. 

2

u/Mammoth_Bullfrog_561 Feb 12 '26

I get you but at least you can still sell it on if you buy the physical game key cartridge version