Pokemon Pokopia Players Playing After Work Are Being Forced To Wake Pokemon For Hard Labour

A Pokémon Pokopia player with a lot of time on their hands gets to experience the world in full swing — the sun is shining, Pokémon are walking around; the land is living and breathing.

However, people who can only find time to play Pokopia in the evening after the responsibilities of the day have been handled have a different experience. They log on to an island in slumber, a sleepy land where all the Pokémon (except the nocturnal ones) are recharging for another long day of adventure and play.

However, there are chores on the island that need to be done, and one ditto-turned-human can’t do it alone. The Japanese outlet Defaminicogamer (per Automaton) has noticed players expressing regret about being forced to wake sleeping Pokémon to perform labour around the island.

Let Sleeping Poochyena’s Lie

“It is heartbreaking to wake a sleeping Pokémon,” writes one user. “I feel guilty about making them work when they only want to sleep.” That’s life, Pokéfriends. That’s life.

Pokémon Pokopia, like many Pokémon games, uses a day/night cycle that syncs with the Switch 2’s system clock. It’s a neat bit of immersion, but I imagine seeing a permanent nightscape can become grating for players who can only play after work.

There have been advocates for speeding up the day/night cycle rather than tying it to the real world, but Omega Force and Game Freak are unlikely to change something so fundamental at this late stage.

In my younger days, I almost exclusively played Pokémon Platinum in the dead of night after hiding my Nintendo DS under my pillow. As lovely as Sinnoh is at night, sometimes I wanted to experience the blossoms of Floaroma Town in the sun. I was guilty of changing my system clock from time to time, something that’s generally frowned upon by players.

In games like Animal Crossing, the manipulation of the system clock to speed up progression is not in the spirit of the game, which is supposed to be played at a slower, more relaxing pace. The vibe of Pokémon Pokopia is similar, and I completely understand why people would be reluctant to change the system clock even if it means they’ll never see their island in the sun.

Pokemon Pokopia

Systems

3.0/5

Released

March 5, 2026

ESRB

Everyone / Users Interact, In-Game Purchases

Publisher(s)

Nintendo, The Pokemon Company

•