Pokémon Pokopia is a hit, and it’s no surprise, but just because Pokemon games are (usually) good. Koei Tecmo’s got form. Dragon Quest Builders 2, the team’s previous block-building game, shares a lot of features with Pokopia, only it’s even bigger, with more ways to build and reasons to branch out and try new things. If you’ve made every Pokemon a comfy home and find yourself wanting more, Dragon Quest Builders 2 should definitely be on your radar.
At a glance, Dragon Quest Builders 2 looks a lot like Pokopia. The world is busted. Everyone leads fragmented lives in isolation from each other. You have a special power to build things and make the world whole again, so you do, ’cause you’re a nice person. So nice, in fact, that you adopt a very villain-coded amnesiac in the hope that he’s actually a good guy.
This is where Builders 2 diverges dramatically from Pokopia. Where Pokopia‘s story is fairly loose contextual framing for your daily activities, Builders 2 makes it more central. It’s a spinoff from Dragon Quest 2 that picks up on the “what if you made the wrong choice” ending, where Hargon, the Big Bad, takes over the world. Building is forbidden, so when you’re bringing people together and making hovels, then eventually little villages, for them, you’re basically declaring war on an evil godlike being.
He doesn’t like that and occasionally sends armies of monsters — deadly, despite being drawn in Akira Toriyama’s signature (adorable) style — to attack your settlements. That’s another point of divergence between Builders and Pokopia. Not only do you have to fight (which sounds complex, but it’s just pressing one button to swing a sword), but you also have to build defensively. Towns need fortifications, or at least a layer of stone walls to stop monsters from attacking vital infrastructure like… public toilets.
No, seriously. Pokopia is all about the little comforts of daily life. Dragon Quest Builders 2 is as well, since people need beds and chairs and all that. But it also asks you to take a step back and look at what your little village needs to function on a daily basis. Like water supplies, taverns for morale boosting, access to food sources, recreation, beauty, and, yes, toilets, alongside other essential amenities. You’re building entire communities from the ground up and, eventually, mega structures like castles as well. Each region has different aesthetics and requirements, so while you’re following a similar “rebuild, do quests, repeat” structure for most of the story, there’s plenty of variety even when it comes to deciding what your new home’s basic structure is like.
And if you want to take a break from building and gathering, there’s a lot to see outside your home bases:
- Spots with rare, useful resources
- Monster strongholds
- Mini-dungeons
Among other things. Town residents also make requests that send you out to collect hard-to-find items or craft things outside your usual selection of recipes. It’s a massive game, but one that also gives you the means to keep yourself from getting overwhelmed. Residents will eventually help you with things like cooking, farming, battling, and even building, taking some of the pressure off so you’re not stuck in a loop of survival with no time to do anything else. And if you just want to ignore all that and make massive buildings, there’s a sandbox build mode a bit like Pokopia‘s Palette Town where you’re free to do whatever you want.
Better still, Dragon Quest Builders 2 usually costs $49.99, as opposed to $70 or even $80 for Pokopia. It’s also available on multiple platforms, not just Switch 2. There’s a free demo you can check out as well, and once you clear it, you can transfer your save progress to the full game.
