When Pokémon Pokopia was released earlier this year, I was blown away. Omega Force and Game Freak crafted an undeniably wholesome and engaging life simulation game that puts Nintendo’s own Animal Crossing to shame, combining the freeform building and quest-based exploration of Dragon Quest Builders 2 with the vibrant personalities and quirky interactions that make an Animal Crossing village worth visiting each day. The game is a huge hit too, and now this dynamic development duo debuts the first part of their DLC, titled Bubbly Basin. While not as expansive as the main game (though two more parts are coming later this year and into 2027, included with the Expansion Pass), Bubbly Basin innovates on the familiar gameplay loop as Ditto dives beneath the ocean waves and befriends a whole host of seafaring Pokémon pals.
The story setup for Bubbly Basin is quite simple: after achieving the main goal in Bleak Beach, Professor Tangrowth sends Ditto out to a mysterious island. On that island, Ditto meets the legendary Pokémon Manaphy washed up on the shore. After feeding the famished Manaphy some seaweed, the diminutive legendary teaches Ditto the Dive transformation (a particularly cute one, as it mimics the Squirtle transformation from the main game, just with a big bubble around Ditto’s head to hold in oxygen). Upon Ditto’s return to town, they befriend Alolan water-type starter Popplio, who asks Ditto to tag along to their underwater town. This town beneath the ocean waves is the titular Bubbly Basin, and Ditto must build habitats to attract residents while also assembling Popplio’s wayward friends.
Revitalizing the town, bringing in new residents, and working towards the overarching goal of constructing a massive central structure (this time the Temple of the Ocean) follows the same tried-and-true gameplay loop that defined the four major story areas in Pokémon Pokopia’s main game. The wrinkle here is that everything is underwater, which significantly changes Ditto’s approach to building and exploration. For starters, you can swim freely horizontally or vertically in the deep blue, and you can also suspend yourself in the middle of the water at any height (no endgame Magnemite transformation needed here). This allows you to build new structures pretty much anywhere under the waves, from the seabed floor to suspended in the drink. To support this more open-ended construction, Bubbly Basin adds buoyant blocks that float wherever you place them, and can serve as a firm foundation for rooting any structure, even those from other regions.
Movement underwater is fast and fluid, so much so that I actually found returning to dry land rather restricting in comparison. Many games struggle to create smooth, intuitive controls in water environments, but in Bubbly Basin I glided through the ocean with ease, sucking up materials as I went. The underwater environment adds new considerations during exploration, since the deepest parts of the ocean are completely dark, requiring Ditto to place light sources to get their bearings in deep trenches or narrow crevasses. Between the smooth swimming mechanics and added tension of the murky depths, I found exploring Bubbly Basin the most rewarding region, with many buried treasures to find. The town also slots effortlessly into the narrative after you complete Bleak Beach, offering more glimpses into what life was like before humans disappeared without requiring knowledge of (or spoiling) the reveals at the end of the game. Uncovering the hidden secrets of Cerulean City’s past while noticing familiar locations like Misty’s Gym or the bike shop tickled my nostalgia in all the right ways.
The water Pokémon that dominate Bubbly Basin’s roster truly shine, giving well-deserved attention to the fish and crustacean Pokémon that are oft forgotten. Pokopia’s main game was mostly limited to amphibious water types that have no trouble existing on dry land; in Bubbly Basin, you can see Lumineon gracefully glide through the water, or clam-like Shellder and Cloyster propel themselves backwards. The personalities are just as big as ever, from the bubbly and personable Frillish who calls Ditto her “bestie,” to the macho Crawdaunt and Sharpedo who nearly come to blows talking a big game about their respective claws and fangs, yet decide not to duke it out after being intimidated by each other. One of my favorites is the hyperactive Totodile, quickly dragging Ditto from one activity to the next, forgetting what he’s meant to be doing until a bemused Popplio patiently reminds him (relatable to anyone with ADHD). The water-type Pokémon in Bubbly Basin remain the stars of the show, just with a new stage suited to their unique attributes.
The best part is that many of these additions are available without paying for the DLC at all. While the Bubbly Basin location, new Pokémon, and new furniture & prefabricated structure recipes are exclusive to the DLC, the ability to dive underwater, buoyant blocks, and many other quality-of-life updates are available to all players free of charge. Chief among these is the Portal Pod, a familiar device from Bill’s lab that lets you store items in one area and access that same storage in another. One of the biggest headaches in Pokémon Pokopia before this update was ferrying items from one area to another using your limited inventory, so this item alleviates the chore of sitting through numerous loading screens just to take supplies from one location to another. It’s thoughtful inclusions like this that make me confident the best is yet to come as they keep updating the game over time.
While Bubbly Basin’s narrative content isn’t super substantial (significantly shorter than the main game areas), it more than makes up for that by offering a completely new way to experience the world and by providing a place for undersea Pokémon to flourish. If the other two DLC packs can meaningfully expand the world and gameplay loop as Bubbly Basin does, then Pokémon Pokopia fans will be eating well off this fresh catch for quite a while!
