Discover Your Inner Child in Pokopia!

Pokémon Pokopia ( 2, £58.99)

Verdict: Creature comforts

Rating:

Unlike my five-year-old son, I am not obsessed with Pokémon. So the prospect of a Pokémon-themed game in the spirit of Minecraft or Animal Crossing, in which you tend to a little landscape and build a little community, left me cold.

But then I actually played Pokopia – and was flooded with warmth. This isn’t just my new favourite Pokémon game, it’s also the best game I’ve played since... well, last week’s Resident Evil Requiem. But it’s special.

It casts you as a Ditto, a cutesy critter who can morph into other forms. He’s dropped into an area that has mysteriously been abandoned by people and Pokémon alike. His mission – and he has no choice but to accept it – is to restore this former haven.

The way he does this is by copying other critters’ abilities. First of all, he learns to spray water from his appendages, which helps the foliage to return, which in turn attracts more Pokémon. Eventually, he’s lighting fires and bashing soil and delivering on your grandest designs.

It’s a tremendously relaxed form of play but not an undemanding one. Pokopia is constantly setting you small challenges to achieve, though you’ll soon start setting them for yourself – and for others. This game’s multiplayer mode, in which up to four players can work on a shared island, is a blast.

The real draw, though, is the Pokémon themselves. Seeing your screen fill up with these characterful creatures, seeing them interact with each other, is what sets Pokopia apart from other releases in this busy genre. They suit this type of gameplay.

And this type of gameplay suits them. We’ve spent so many years trapping Pokémon in Poké Balls and hurling them into battles that we’ve neglected to wonder: what if we could all just live together peaceably? Pokopia corrects that. My five-year-old is in heaven – and so am I.