Nintendo announced a new mobile game in the form of Pokemon Quest this Tuesday, having launched it as a free-to-play offering for the Nintendo Switch console along with a promise that a mobile port for Android and iOS devices will be coming this summer. Set on a fictional Tumblecube Island, this spin-off combines pocket monsters with pixel graphics, crafting, base building, and some light role-playing elements. Combat is a real-time affair and highly automated, requiring players to only tap their companions once their attack meters once they’re ready to start hitting, with the overall gameplay formula being a combination of Minecraft, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, and the Pokemon Rumble beat ’em up from 2009.
The Android version of Pokemon Quest should be identical to the Nintendo Switch game, with the title being authored by Game Freak, the same developer that’s responsible for the main RPG franchise revolving around pocket monsters. The main incentive to build and improve your base is that doing so will help you attract more Pokemon, with that particular gameplay design decision being reminiscent of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp which Nintendo debuted late last year. In Nintendo’s own words, the new offering is “unlike any Pokemon game you’ve seen before.”
As is the case with the vast majority of mobile games from the Japanese entertainment giant, Pokemon Quest is being described as a “free-to-start” game, though the vast majority of its content should be available to everyone who’s patient enough. The Switch version offers three DLCs so far: a $4.99 Expedition package, a $9.99 Great Expedition pack, and an Ultra Expedition one priced at $17.99. Buying all three will set you back $29.99, thus saving you a little money, with Nintendo specifically describing the paid additions as DLC and not recurring microtransactions. Pokemon Quest should hit the Google Play Store in late June, i.e. early summer, though it remains to be seen whether it will allow for cross-platform gameplay.