Spoiler warning: This article discusses major story details from Pokémon Pokopia, its base game and the Bubbly Basin DLC.
Pokémon Pokopia presents itself as a bright, gentle rebuilding game, but Bubbly Basin reveals just how much sadness sits beneath its colourful surface. The new underwater region is beautiful, yet its ruins and discoveries make it the most melancholy part of the game so far.
The wider story takes place in a post-apocalyptic Kanto after humanity abandons Earth to escape a climate disaster. People leave their Pokémon behind in the PC, intending to return once conditions improve. As exploration continues, however, it becomes clear that humanity did not come back when expected. Ditto’s arrival in this world even raises the possibility that people may never return at all.
That premise gives every familiar ruin an undertone of loss. Notes found throughout the world hint at what happened to people connected with locations from the original games. Some messages are lighthearted, but the larger picture is difficult to ignore: beloved characters may be dead, or stranded so far away in space that they will never see Kanto again.
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Bubbly Basin makes that grief especially concrete by placing recognisable locations connected to major characters throughout the area. Misty’s gym is the clearest example. It sits in a cavern near the town square and can be identified by the Pokémon statues outside. Sand has filled much of the interior, but clearing it reveals the building’s swimming pools.
A room behind the gym contains Mermaid furniture, a reference to Misty’s famous “tomboyish mermaid” title. The abandoned gym becomes a painful reminder of the water-type Gym leader from the first season of the anime. Misty is either dead or permanently separated from Kanto, unable to return to her gym or reunite with her Starmie, which still appears to be waiting for her.
The environment design and restoration mechanics may appeal to players who enjoy building and customising physical setups too. RETROCADE’s arcade machines collection offers a different way to bring game spaces into the home.
Northeast of the town, a small house contains a computer and a portal pod. The pod is one of the expansion’s new items, allowing storage access from any other portal pod. Its location and equipment strongly suggest that this was Bill’s home.
Bill created the original Pokémon PC storage system and famously turned himself into a Pokémon by accident before meeting the player. It is reasonable to infer that he also developed the portal pod technology shortly before leaving Earth. Bill is gone now, though, and will never witness how valuable his invention becomes as Ditto rebuilds the world.
Other discoveries deepen the feeling that Ditto is restoring plans made by people who will never see them completed. A large Japanese-style tower and bridge lie deep beneath the ocean, with no clear explanation of their original purpose. Nugget Bridge has also sunk below the water, leaving behind the memory of its former trainer battles.
Notes describe humanity’s intention to construct a Dewgong clocktower in the centre of the city. The project was never finished by its creators, but Ditto succeeds in completing it. The achievement is hopeful, although the people who imagined the landmark will never see the result.
There is an added layer of dramatic irony in all of this. Ditto cannot read the information discovered around Bubbly Basin, so it does not understand that humanity is not returning. The player can read the notes and recognise the hopelessness, while Ditto continues rebuilding with complete faith in a future reunion.
If this kind of world-building inspires your own restoration project, the DIY arcade kits catalogue is a useful place to explore hands-on cabinet ideas.
One final discovery is hidden beneath a trapdoor near a ruined house. The small room below clearly belonged to a familiar character, even though the game leaves the identification for the player to work out.
That contrast defines Pokémon Pokopia. Its cheerful Ditto, cosy rebuilding systems and inviting colours conceal a story about grief, hope and carrying on after civilisation has failed. The game also offers bleak commentary on climate change and the world people leave behind.
Bubbly Basin is the expansion’s saddest region so far, and its discoveries make the final area of the expansion pass feel increasingly intimidating. Possible destinations such as Lavender Town, Cinnabar Island or the Indigo Plateau could carry an even heavier emotional weight.
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