Pokopia made me look at Pokémon’s high-tech future in a whole new way

Gaming Entertainment Report Pokopia made me look at Pokémon’s high-tech future in a whole new way Pokémon has always featured advanced technology, but I didn’t truly think about it until Pokopia. Pokémon has always featured advanced technology, but I didn’t truly think about it until Pokopia. by Kallie Plagge Mar 5, 2026, 9:00 PM UTC Image: The Pokémon Company, Nintendo Kallie Plagge is The Verge’ s senior copy editor. She was previously senior copy editor at Polygon and reviews editor at GameSpot . Pokémon Pokopia features, of all things, a 3D printer. I wasn’t sure why this surprised me so much, given all the other high-tech gear in pretty much every Pokémon game. But I was not expecting to find, inside the once-crumbling Pokémon Center I’d just worked hard to restore, a kind of machine I’d never seen before. Until Pokopia , I hadn’t spent much time thinking about tech in the Pokémon world. I’ve been Pokémon -pilled for so long that I took all its sci-fi technology for granted. Sure, there are magic PCs that can digitally store living creatures — that’s how it’s always been. Obviously fossils can be resurrected and obviously sometimes pokémon can travel through time. These are just facts. The power of science is amazing . Pokopia is different. In this world, humans are long gone, and pokémon are slowly repopulating the ruins left in their wake. Here, technology is not guaranteed to work. Climate change has led to widespread environmental disasters, and as a result, pokémon have been safely stored in PCs for some time. But a collectible journal entry reveals that the PC storage system can’t keep working without regular maintenance, and it seems that explains what’s been happening: The pokémon are showing up now because the storage system has finally failed. That fallibility made me pay closer attention to the technology in Pokopia — and see the high-tech world of Pokémon in a new light. Related Pokémon Pokopia is an expansive adventure disguised as a cozy life sim ...