Just as I recovered from my months-long Pokopia fixation, the new Bubbly Basin DLC is here to reel me straight back in
Pokopia released its hotly anticipated Bubbly Basin DLC alongside an array of free update features, and it’s exactly what many players have been dreaming of.
Since the Pokémon Pokopia town-builder launched earlier this year, it seems like I've recovered from my months-long Pokopia fixation with the release of the Bubbly Basin DLC. This free update, paired with the newly released Expansion Pass, takes the game to new heights or depths, featuring a new underwater town based on Cerulean City and a plethora of aquatic Pokémon to discover.
The free update introduces Ditto with a new ability called Dive, which select Pokémon like Smeargle and Tinkmaster can also learn to help with building and decorating underwater. This addition, along with a series of quality-of-life updates, addresses many of my criticisms of Pokopia after months of play.
Bubbly Basin, the first of a three-part DLC package, brings a new underwater town based on Cerulean City and a ton of aquatic Pokémon to explore. For several reasons, it has become my new favorite town in Pokopia. Inspired by Cerulean City, Misty's favorite location, and home to water-type Pokémon, Bubbly Basin is particularly appealing for me. The town, submerged almost entirely, offers an underwater playground with the new Dive ability and creative opportunities for underground building.
Game Freak and Koei Tecmo's Omega Force have done a great job thinking ahead, as building-based games often struggle with water levels. However, in Bubbly Basin, removing or placing blocks rarely disrupts the water, and the only time unseemly flowing water tiles have appeared is when messing with the surface layer. Navigation is also a breeze once you get the hang of the swimming controls.
The town boasts verticality, with flooded subterranean tunnels, ruins above sea level, and new murky depths that need to be illuminated. There are treasure maps scattered throughout the ruins, leading to six Pokéballs necessary to build Starmie's habitat, providing additional purpose to the dowsing tool and search abilities. Bubbly Basin feels like one of the most photogenic towns in the game, and its vibrant, teeming-with-life appearance more than compensates for the effort needed to clear out the sand.
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