Pokemon Quest opened pre-registration not long ago, and now the unique and mostly automated game is out on the Play Store for all to download. The first thing you’ll notice about this game, besides the art style, is that it’s not your traditional Pokemon game by any means. You still pick a starter Pokemon and go explore, but that’s about all this one has in common with most entries in the series, replacing typical Pokemon play with bite-sized and potentially addictive action that happens with little intervention from the player.
After you land a boat on Tumblecube Island and pick your starter, you’ll head out into the field. The Pokemon will amble about and throw basic attacks entirely on their own. Since you can send out teams of up to three Pokemon, however, this makes sense. Player input is limited to two things; telling Pokemon to use special skills, and telling Pokemon to turn around and run in the opposite direction for a second to escape attacks, a command that should be used wisely since all three Pokemon on your team will obey at the same time. At your base camp, you can attach special stones to your Pokemon to upgrade their capabilities, you can change out your team rosters, you can check your Pokedex, you can decorate your camp, and you can cook meals out of the ingredients you’ve found in the field. Cooking will attract wild Pokemon to your camp to join your cause, and which ones you get depend on what you cook. Naturally, all of these are also affected by the game’s crafting system. Elemental and type advantages in battle are gone, it’s worth noting, but different special moves can have different effects on environmental hazards. When you build a team, their combined HP and attack stats make up your strength rating, which can be compared to a level’s strength number for a quick preview of how challenging a level will be. As an aside, there is online play, and it’s cross-compatible between iOS and Android.
This highly unusual Pokemon Quest isn’t the only Pokemon raising simulator on Android that’s radically different, though it’s far less focused and zenlike than its peer, Magikarp Jump. This is essentially a watered-down team dungeon crawler that apes the likes of Diablo, Gauntlet and Akuma: Demon Spawn, with mechanics, art and of course content diluted for a small-doses mobile experience that’s meant to appeal to all. The happy-go-lucky game may not satisfy tournament-lurking series zealots, but if you want something that will scratch your nostalgic itch for those first 151 iconic Pokemon in a bite-sized package, hit the Google Play button below.
