Despite releasing so early in 2026, Pokémon Pokopia quickly became a solid contender for my game of the year. It still remains high on my list, even after we've seen so many top-tier releases. The past few months have thrown quite a few challenges and trials at me, and I've not had much time to play, but I always looked forward to heading back to this cozy, Pokémon-packed sandbox as soon as life settled down again. Well, things haven't quite settled down yet, but the Pokopia Bubbly Basin DLC came along and pulled me back in anyway - and I'm so glad it did, as it turns out it's just what I needed.
When I heard Pokopia was getting a DLC expansion pass with three waves of content, I knew I was going to be pretty easy to please. As long as they gave us more of what was already there - new areas, more 'mons, and additional cute items and materials to decorate with - it would be a recipe for even further success. However, I still find myself absolutely delighted with the sheer amount that Bubbly Basin brings to the table, and even more so with the free update that arrived alongside it.
As you likely know, the base game features four main areas with their own questlines and stories, not including the expansive blank slate that is Palette Town. The Bubbly Basin DLC adds a new, aquatic location to this list that's primarily located underwater, where the remnants of a human town appear to have sunk below the surface.
In order to find your way to the depths, you have to make use of the new Pokopia move Dive, which is also available in the free 2.0 update for players who haven't picked up the DLC. This move sees you don your Squirtle backpack and blow a bubble helmet around your head, allowing you to breathe underwater.
The Dive move adds so much to the game that I was genuinely surprised to see it also come to the base game for free. After unlocking it, Dive instantly activates whenever you go underwater, allowing you to explore any body of water without finding yourself teleported back to land two seconds later. It also allows you to use your other moves underwater, meaning you can gather materials, terraform, and build to your heart's content. You can even get Pokémon with the Build specialty to help construct pre-fabricated structures for you.
The underwater controls are surprisingly smooth and seamless, with the L and R shoulder buttons allowing you to freely ascend and descend, the ZL button allowing you to hover in place, and the B button giving you a moderate swim speed boost. Considering how drastically this move changes the playing field of the game, it's genuinely impressive how smooth it all is, aside from a few hiccups with more advanced underwater building strategies leading to odd air bubbles. It really adds a new dimension to gameplay, to the point where I now feel restricted when building on dry land.
It's a good thing that the Dive move and controls are so well implemented, too, as Bubbly Basin adds a lot of content for you to explore. The map itself is really quite expansive, with both horizontal and vertical exploration making it feel larger than previous areas, and there are secrets and fun surprises to discover in every cove and cavern. There are even deep water sections where you're essentially plunged into pitch darkness and have to rely on coral or the lights you place in order to navigate, which is a very fun touch (though I wish there were a few more of these areas in the end).
Getting to explore this new area really refreshed my love for the game, reminding me of the pure excitement whenever I unlocked a new location upon first playing. It's also a very enjoyable area to build in, with plenty of ruins for you to restore if you want to go the classic route, and a whole heap of blank spaces and interesting land shapes to experiment with if you would prefer to get a bit more ambitious with it. Personally, on this playthrough, I've mostly stuck to rebuilding what was already there as I'm already fond of the vibes and structures, but I'm very excited to try some unique builds on my other save in the future.
As you would likely expect from a deep sea area, Bubbly Basin is absolutely gorgeous, too, with beautiful color palettes, a variety of kelp, coral, and shells in different shades, and some genuinely stunning furnishings and items. There's a really interesting mix of mermaid and ocean-inspired aesthetics with pearls and pastels, alongside the 'imperial' collection of items and blocks with intricate carvings, black and red lacquer furniture, and patterns inspired by ancient East Asian architecture. I really can't wait to see what the eternally creative Pokopia build community comes up with involving these elements over the coming months.
Of course, there's no point building a bunch of homes if there's no one to inhabit them. Luckily, Bubbly Basin also introduces 50 new Pokémon to the game, once again spanning a wide range of generations and different vibes. You start by meeting the mythical Pokémon Manaphy, and shortly after, Popplio comes to seek your assistance.
From there, you get to befriend all sorts of aquatic animals and bubbly buddies, from tiny fishy friends like Finneon and Luvdisc to fan-favorites like Totodile and big boys like Sharpedo. And, like the base game, Bubbly Basin does a great job of shining a spotlight on less popular Pokémon, making you care about critters you'd likely never given a second glance before.
The storyline, as with the ones in the previous areas, is short and simple, revolving around you helping to liven up Bubbly Basin, bring back the Pokémon that used to be there, and help them build up a new life. In addition to rebuilding the Pokémon Center, the central focus is on helping Popplio build a 'big, beautiful building' by gathering a specific set of Pokémon, each of which have their own requests that you must fulfill before they'll assist you.
There are, of course, a heap of other requests from other new residents, too, including ones that improve the environment, and others that draw your attention towards new mechanics or items that have arrived in the game. These include the new treasure maps that lead you to items required for a special Pokopia habitat, and the new smoothie recipes (which you can find in our Pokopia cooking recipes) that allow you to power up Surf and use it underwater. After a few hours of playing, I also discovered that you can now use Surf to destroy a large chunk of blocks at once, which made clearing out a large area to unearth Bubbly Basin's gym significantly easier.
All of this is wonderful and adds countless more hours to a game that already has endless playability. The attention to detail is, as always, absolutely delightful, and even the new soundtrack that plays throughout your time in the new area is a perfect accompaniment to the fresh, underwater adventure. However, I'd also like to draw attention to the other additions that arrived alongside the Bubbly Basin DLC in the 2.0 update, as they offer heaps of quality-of-life improvements and are available for free to anyone with the base game.
Firstly, there are the new additions to the storage system. Anyone who played the base game extensively likely knows how frustrating managing your items could be, especially as your stockpile grew and you began building and optimizing across the different areas. Well, as you may have heard by now, the 2.0 update introduces the Portal Pod. This new container has 80 slots and acts as universal storage, meaning you can place them in different locations and access the items within from wherever you are. This is something I, and many others, have dreamt of since Pokopia's launch, as it means you don't have to fill up your inventory and drag materials from one area to another every time you need to craft something.
However, that's not the only major update to the storage system. The 2.0 update also introduces a safe that requires a combination to open and functional trash cans. The latter means that you can now place items inside a trash can, and the game will permanently delete them at the start of the next day. Now, while ash, sand, and other terrain blocks have their uses, this is a massive quality of life improvement as far as I'm concerned, as I can finally clear out my trash chests without leaving piles of shame all over the place. If you know, you know.
On top of all of that, the 2.0 update also introduces new emotes, fresh hair colors, the option to transfer items in bulk between storage and your bag, the option to disable the confirmation prompt when coming out of the Magnet Rise mode, the ability to eat food and suck up items without leaving Rollout mode, mass relic approval, more paintable items, and a heap of other seemingly small but functionally huge tweaks that make playing so much more enjoyable. There are still some minor changes and additions I'd love to see, but I'm now confident that they'll arrive in the future.
The reason I'm so happy about all of this is that it shows Omega Force is listening to its players, addressing actual concerns, and continuing to perfect an already very polished game, while also producing DLC of such high quality. Add to that the consistent stream of free in-game events we've seen over the past few months, and it's safe to say Pokopia is in good hands.
After playing countless hours over the past few days, I can safely say that Bubbly Basin and the 2.0 update are everything I hoped for, adding heaps of value to an already wonderful experience. So, when I remind myself that this is just phase one of the DLC and there are two more to come, all under the same price you pay for Bubbly Basin, I can't help but buzz with excitement.
Pokopia is a really special game, and I'm so glad to see that this new content only enhances that, regardless of whether you spend the extra cash or not. And, with the high amounts of goodwill these long-term free updates generate among players, I'm sure most won't mind splashing the extra Pokécoins. This is paid DLC done right, and I can't wait to see more.