Pokémon Pokopia’s first paid expansion is charming, colourful and packed with room to build. It also repeats the base game’s biggest weakness: too much structured instruction before the creative freedom begins.
Bubbly Basin is the first part of the Expansion Pass for the Nintendo Switch 2 life simulation game, which launched on 5 March. The update adds a water-filled biome, underwater Pokémon and a new settlement to restore. It is a pleasant extension of the existing sandbox, but its familiar mission structure makes the game’s long tutorial-like opening especially noticeable.
A new underwater settlement
The expansion starts when Ditto learns to swim and dive from a stranded Manaphy. These abilities open the seas around the existing regions and provide access to Bubbly Basin, an area located just beyond Bleak Beach.
As in the original adventure, players arrive at a settlement in poor condition and gradually bring it back to life. That means constructing habitats, inviting Pokémon to move in, answering requests and increasing the town’s Environment Level. The early objectives include rebuilding another Poké Center and completing familiar crafting fetch quests.
The routine remains enjoyable, particularly because Bubbly Basin initially feels enormous. Its deep-sea caves and broad spaces could be intimidating without some direction, so the story missions provide a useful path through the area. Characters such as Corphish also point players towards important tasks, including house construction.
By the end of the story content, the necessary tools are in place for more ambitious building. The difficulty is that reaching that point involves repeating a process many players will already know well.
Familiar chores in a different setting
Bubbly Basin introduces activities such as making smoothies, growing watermelons and polishing pearls. These are welcome additions, but they mostly rework ideas from the main game and are introduced as though they are entirely new systems.
The new habitats do not substantially alter the light puzzle-solving element either. Even the biome itself feels assembled from earlier ideas, combining features associated with Rocky Ridges and Withered Wasteland beneath the water. After around 50 hours in the base game, returning to the expansion can feel surprisingly close to starting over.
There are better decisions in the expansion’s movement and building systems. Swimming functions much like Magnet Rise, the powerful traversal ability obtained after completing the main game, allowing Ditto to move freely underwater without spending PP. Exploring caves and searching for Easter eggs is considerably more convenient as a result.
That freedom also highlights how long the main game waits before granting Magnet Rise. Floating houses are another practical improvement, removing the early need to flatten awkward terrain simply to make space for a small home.
Useful improvements and limited abilities
Portal Pods are perhaps the most useful quality-of-life addition. Stored items can be accessed from any pod, rather than forcing players to remember which chest contains a particular resource.
Returning players also have a significant advantage. A stockpile of bricks, glass and other materials makes it possible to begin construction immediately. That head start is valuable because Bubbly Basin’s water-type focus can restrict the Pokémon abilities available during the early stages.
The expansion adds 50 new Pokémon. Abilities such as Burn and Build are available, but finding enough Pokémon with particular utilities may require searching for rare species. The concentrated water-themed cast makes that limitation more noticeable than it was in the broader base game.
A beautiful place to build
The same focused theme that narrows some of the gameplay gives Bubbly Basin a strong identity. A town populated by Luvdisc, Finneon and other aquatic Pokémon can feel like a living aquarium, while the cool colour palette and dreamy music create the most attractive setting in the game so far.
There is also plenty of vertical space and a collection of hidden corners to discover. Once the missions stop directing every step, the sunken settlement becomes an appealing blank canvas for experimentation.
Verdict: a welcome expansion with a familiar problem
Bubbly Basin is a positive addition to Pokémon Pokopia. Its underwater setting is attractive, its movement upgrades improve exploration and the new settlement offers another satisfying project for creative players.
However, the expansion repeats the same design pattern as the base game. Players must complete a lengthy sequence of guided tasks before reaching the open-ended building that makes Pokopia special. After spending so long learning the original systems, being asked to relearn variations of cooking, farming and crafting can feel unnecessarily slow.
For players who enjoy the game’s gentle construction and Pokémon-filled towns, Bubbly Basin provides another enjoyable space to shape. Just expect to complete the chores before the sandbox truly opens up.
Pokémon Pokopia Expansion Pass — Part 1: Bubbly Basin is available on Nintendo Switch 2. The game was reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2 using a prerelease download code supplied by Nintendo.
For more gaming and arcade coverage, visit the RETROCADE Arcade Blog, or explore the arcade video collection. If Pokopia inspires a home gaming project, the arcade machine buying guide can help with planning your setup.
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