Resident Evil Requiem already has new competition for the best game of 2026 as Pokémon Pokopia receives rave reviews.
While the decision to hold Pokémon Winds and Waves back for 2027 was a surprise, there is still a brand new Pokémon game out in time for the franchise’s 30th anniversary, in the form of spin-off Pokémon Pokopia.
A strange hybrid of Animal Crossing, Minecraft, and Fallout 4, it’s not something many people were looking forward to, even though it’s essentially a rebranded continuation of the successful Dragon Quest Builders series, by the same developer.
Pokémon Pokopia isn’t just a fantastic spin-off, but one of the best Pokémon games we’ve played in years and we’re clearly not alone in thinking this. In fact, in terms of Metacritic, it’s technically the best Pokémon game ever made.
Shortly after the first batch of reviews dropped, Pokémon Pokopia shot up to an aggregated score of 90 on Metacritic, handily surpassing every other Pokémon game Game Freak has made.
According to Metacritic, the second highest scoring Pokémon game is Pokémon Y (one half of the Generation VI games on the Nintendo 3DS) at 88, while Pokémon Pokopia now sits just above it at 89 – although that is subject to further change as more reviews come in.
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This also makes it the highest rated video game of 2026 so far. At the time of writing it’s in first place, followed by Resident Evil Requiem, strategy game Mewgenics, and Disco Elysium/Dungeons & Dragons hybrid Esoteric Ebb, all on 88.
Even if the score changes, the fact that Pokémon Pokopia was outpacing Resident Evil Requiem, and still has a higher average score than almost every mainline Pokémon game, speaks volumes to its quality.
Whether or not this’ll have any meaningful impact on Game Freak’s output is uncertain, although the studio does appear to have taken prior feedback on board for Winds and Waves, considering it’s taking longer to come out and already has far better graphics than Pokémon Scarlet and Violet and Pokémon Legends: Z-A.
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Whether Pokémon Pokopia will be a hit in terms of sales remains to be seen, but it’s only likely to strengthen Nintendo’s working relationship with Omega Force and parent company Koei Tecmo.
Nintendo must value the relationship already, as evidenced by all the Hyrule Warriors and Fire Emblem Warriors games, but hopefully Pokopia’s success will steer them away from those considerably less interesting games.
As for the rest of the year, there’s nothing to indicate Nintendo has another secret Pokémon game planned, although fans do have the Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen re-releases to keep them occupied.
Plus, while it still lacks an exact date, GameCube spin-off Pokémon XD: Gale Of Darkness will be added to Nintendo Switch Online’s retro catalogue later this month. Hopefully its predecessor, Pokémon Colosseum, will follow before the end of 2026.
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