We didn’t get an Animal Crossing announcement in today’s Nintendo Direct, but we might have gotten something even better. Pokémon Pokopia essentially looks like Animal Crossing with a Pokémon skin, although it comes from Game Freak and Koei Tecmo Games. It’s hard not to see the similarities to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, especially visually, but instead of playing as a Villager, players play as a Ditto transformed to look like a human.
Ticking all the boxes of a cozy farming game, Ditto will learn moves from various Pokémon to expand and create a paradise for all its residents. Collect berries and seeds to grow vegetables, gather rocks and wood to build furniture, and create homes for Pokémon you meet, among other activities. Anyone who has played Animal Crossing: New Horizons will recognize many of the game’s mechanics, and it’ll be interesting to find out whether Nintendo EPD has a hand in the game’s development.
No exact release date was announced, but Pokémon Pokopia will head to Switch 2 sometime next year.
