11 Games to Play Like Pokémon Pokopia!
- Ellie
- Mar 18
- 8 min read
Not everyone can afford to drop £500 on a Nintendo Switch 2 and Pokémon Pokopia but if you’re getting FOMO from all the Pokopia hype then here are 11 alternative games to play that give me similar vibes.
As always there's a video version too!
I want to start by saying there’s nothing exactly like Pokopia, but hopefully these games will scratch the same itch for you and if you have your own suggestions of your own, make sure to drop them in the comments!
Dragon Quest Builders 2
Of course I have to start with Dragon Quest Builders 1 & 2.
I’m sure you’ve already heard this, but Pokémon Pokopia is actually co-developed by the Omega Force team, the same developers who made the Dragon Quest Builders games. In some ways, Pokopia actually feels like the third game in the Dragon Quest Builders series - just with a Pokémon reskin.
Because of this Pokopia shares a lot of similarities with Dragon Quest Builders, like the building and decorating, quest structures, and character interactions. Unlike Pokopia though, there’s a lot more going on in Dragon Quest Builders 2 with a deeper overarching story about saving the world from evil, as well as combat.
If you’re interested in trying out Dragon Quest Builders, I’d recommend starting with 2 as it has a lot of quality of life improvements. Dragon Quest Builders 2 is available on PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch, plus there’s a demo available on PC, PlayStation and Switch with 5-10 hours of content.
Viva Piñata
Alternatively, Pokémon Pokopia is definitely a spiritual successor to Viva Piñata and the closest thing we’ve had to a new Viva Piñata title in years.
Viva Piñata is a gardening simulation game, where you turn a neglected plot of land into a beautiful garden with the goal of attracting, taming, and breeding over 60 species of piñatas. Sounding familiar yet?
Every piñata has unique requirements you’ll need to meet in order to convince them to show up, so you’ll need to experiment with your garden planting new seeds and furniture and building new homes. Plus there’s buying, selling, and breeding to juggle as well.
Unfortunately as I mentioned, there hasn’t been any new Viva Piñata games in a WHILE, but you can play the original Viva Piñata on Xbox Game Pass if you want to give it a go!
Horticular
While mentioning Viva Piñata, I’d be remiss not to mention a new recent game called Horticular that is heavily inspired by Viva Piñata, except it’s isometric and built from gorgeous pixel art.
In Horticular, you are summoned by mysterious garden gnomes to restore a ruined wasteland and populate it with adorable creatures. Breathe new life back into a long-lost garden, rebuilding and creating animal habitats with each species requiring you fulfil its needs before it’ll come visit.
Upgrade and improve your garden over time, write to the residents of this world and protect your home from unsavory characters come evening in Horticular. This one is definitely similar to Pokémon Pokopia but without the need to build a home for each of your critters, and it’s out now on Windows and Linux.
Slime Rancher 2
PC | PlayStation | Xbox
The Slime Rancher series is also a great alternative. Although you’re not paying as a ditto-cum-trainer, you do get to play as a plucky young Rancher called Beatrix who travels to the Far Far Range to start her new life as a slime rancher.
Explore the world around you, collecting a range of adorable slime creatures that you can raise on your ranch. There are a lot of new slime species to discover, each with different needs, foods, behaviours, and produce, and you can even breed them to create hybrid slimes.
There’s a lot going on in Slime Rancher and it definitely gives me similar exploration and discovery vibes to Pokopia with you needing to learn how to cater to the needs of your critters but the building elements aren’t quite there in this one.
However Slime Rancher is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, while Slime Rancher 2 is out on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Ooblets
Another adorable creature-collecting game is Ooblets: a unique farming sim where you grow adorable little Ooblets from seeds and then do dance battles against other NPCs.
This one is definitely one of the wackiest games on this list - what I’m saying is it has character - and I had a ton of fun playing it on PC.
Like Pokopia it has themes of collecting Oooblets, upgrading the town and redecorating your home with lots of other elements thrown in, but it’s not as in-depth on the building. You can play Ooblets on PC, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch!
Dinkum
If you’re not as bothered about the adorable creatures, then Dinkum is a great alternative to the building portion of Pokopia.
Dinkum is all about creating a new town from scratch in the Australian outback and features the same block-building gameplay of Pokopia or Minecraft.
It’s definitely more of a traditional life sim with all the typical life sim elements like farming, fishing, ranching, bug catching etc, but the town-building is more in depth with you literally being able to create a new town by building and inviting new villagers to join. It also has survival elements like hunting, trapping, as well as vehicles, treasure hunting, and more that make it stand out from other games of this genre.
Dinkum finally hit 1.0 last year and it’s available on PC and Nintendo Switch.
Critter Cove
There are some smaller indie titles that I feel would also scratch this same town-building itch, such as Critter Cove.
Critter Cove is currently in Early Access on PC and is also about rebuilding the ruins of a rundown town in a post-apocalyptic world. Start with nothing and gather all the resources you need to rebuild the town.
As you build and expand, new villagers will move in and you can go out exploring across the vast archipelago to rescue lost animals and bring them back. There’s also some light management, treasure hunting, gardening, and fishing to keep you busy too!
On the whole Critter Cove is a relaxing open world life sim that you can play on PC in Early Access.
Snacko
The other game I want to mention is Snacko, which might also scratch that town-building itch.
Move to an abandoned island with your childhood friend and start your new life there building a place you can really call home. One of the best things about Snacko is that it has a flexible build mode so you can really set up the town you’d like with no restrictions on how you build, plus lots of tools to make building easier!
Whether you want to spend your time collecting resources, crafting, cooking, fishing, farming, decorating, or exploring, there’s literally so much to do in Snacko, but it’s only available on PC at the moment.
My Time at Sandrock
PC | PlayStation | Xbox | Switch
Another game that has also mastered the community and town-building elements in a post-apocalyptic world is My Time at Sandrock. While this doesn't have the adorable creatures of Pokémon Pokopia, it’s an incredible game with hundreds of hours of content available.
Take on the role of a builder tasked with restoring a rundown community and returning it to its former glory. Rebuild the workshop and your homestead, befriend the locals, and protect Sandrock from monsters — all while saving the town from economic ruin!
My Time at Sandrock has a strong plot that drives the entire game forward and you can see that the work you’re doing has an impact on the world around you. Plus there are extensive stories for the 30 characters you can meet, befriend and maybe even romance.
My Time at Sandrock is available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
PC | PlayStation | Xbox | Switch
Like My Time at Sandrock, Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is another good example of an open world exploration game crossed with a town-builder that has a strong story to follow.
The town-building in Fantasy Life is probably more similar to Pokémon Pokopia than My Time at Sandrock because it features the same block-building elements and you can decide exactly where you want to build everything to create your dream town. Each of your villagers have needs and requests and you’ll need to build them all a home to keep them comfortable.
That’s not to take away from the main mechanics of Fantasy Life, which are definitely interesting and appealing in their own rights. There are different jobs to master like Painter, Hunter, Miner, and more, each with their own skills and quests, as well as the overarching time-travelling story.
This one is definitely more combat heavy and grindy but is a great game too! Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
When everyone first saw Pokémon Pokopia, their first thoughts were “it’s Pokémon Animal Crossing”! Now that we’ve played it, this might not be 100% true but there’s still definitely themes of Animal Crossing woven through Pokopia.
Like Animal Crossing, Pokopia is locked to real-time, there are daily challenges to complete to unlock coins for new furniture and recipes, homes to decorate for your villagers, as well as resources collecting and crafting. But that’s where the similarities end. If anything, I would say Animal Crossing is a more basic version of Pokopia and that’s not a bad thing!
Pokémon Pokopia has more of a puzzle to enticing new Pokémon to move to your town, where you need to create the right environment to attract them. Plus with the Pokémon abilities to grapple with too, where you literally need to fix the environment it adds a lot more complexity to expanding your township.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is definitely a great alternative to Pokopia, especially with the Happy Homes DLC where you need to create dream vacation homes for your clients.
Palworld: Palfarm
As a final bonus suggestion that isn’t out yet, I also wanted to shout out Palfarm - an adorable farming spin-off of Palworld.
As both games were announced at a similar time, Palfarm and Pokopia have been constantly compared since they were first released, but I wouldn’t complain about having more of a good thing!
Palfarm definitely seems to be more focused on building a farm together with your Pals than Pokopia though. Take care of the land together, discover different seasons, and find love, even with your Pals… Yeah! But as with Palworld, this one does have a darker twist where you’ll need to defend your farm and Pals from Pal raiders, and there’s a black market of sorts which looks a little dodgy.
Hopefully this list helped to banish your Pokopia FOMO and you’ve found something new to take up all your free time.
Byeeeeeee