Pokémon Academia

Story

After a mysterious mass extinction event, Pokémon in the Cyniir region were sparse for centuries, with very few remaining indigenous species and a general lack of trainer culture entirely, outside of ultra-rich circles. But recently, after the dictator Supreme Leader Gharal took power, he enacted Operation Migration, sending his Pokémon Rangers across the seas to other regions in order to bring hundreds of species to Cyniir for the first time. With the operation brought to a standstill due to increasing tensions with Paldea, he has other plans for the second phase…

Because of the new influx of Pokémon in Cyniir, there’s never been a better time to study them. So as top of your class at the Naranja Academy in Paldea, you’ve been selected to assist Professor Ginkgo to help him develop a Pokémon lab. The biggest questions he seeks to answer: what caused the Pokémon in Cyniir to go extinct? And could it happen again?

Discovering seemingly endless floors beneath your new lab, Ginkgo decides to turn the lab into a service hub to generate income that will fund his scientific endeavors and bring life back to the town of Bismuth Village. But rumors say the town is cursed, and there may be more secrets hiding deep beneath the lab…

Features

• 910+ Pokémon available; all through Gen 8 (plus some Hisui, Gen 9, and Fakémon evolutions), start the game with a National Dex; Mega Evolutions and alternate forms available (~425 in v.0.2.0)
• New region with 8 Gyms + 8 Dojos, using challenging custom movesets and a tough Elite 4, plus rematches for them and most trainers (4 Gyms + 4 Dojos in v.0.2.0)
• Reputation system, 4 factions that affect the plot and your rewards – work with the anarchist Team Autonomy, the communist Team Unity, the capitalist Team Fortune and/or the fascist Pokémon Rangers of Cyniir’s government (and there may be another secret faction lying in wait…)
• Crafting system with 100+ unlockable recipes (50 available in v.0.2.0); many Pokémon hold (and drop) crafting items
• Study system that provides your character with new perks and other benefits the more you learn and experience in the world, ex. expertise in Hacking lets you break into computers, Negotiation gives you a word up in negotiation events, Botany gets you extra Apricorns, Finances gives you access to investment machines, etc.
• Built-in task log to keep track of loads of quests and side quests (84 completable in v0.2.0, many more to come); some have multiple solutions (ex. unlock a locked door for a heist by bringing a Klefki or a Pokémon that knows Thief, crafting a Lockpick, or negotiating with the person holding the key)
• Combat updates including Z-Moves, new Mega Evolutions, Strong and Agile Styles, and statuses from Hisui
• A variety of useful Pokégear apps to discover, including ones that show type matchups, track available wild encounters, and access a portable PC
• Every NPC has something to offer, no more useless one-liner NPCs – my least favorite quality of all RPGs!: get usable advice, quests, items, Pokémon, crafting recipes, new mechanics, Pokégear apps, faction reputation, recruits for your lab, eggs, battles, clues to get ahead in negotiations, information to help solve quests, and more; if an NPC seems like they provide nothing, they’ll likely offer something later (or you’ve made a choice that’s closed them off from you!)
• Interacting with items that normally gave nothing of substance may now provide new benefits (ex. books, TVs, sinks, fridges, binoculars, etc.)
• Choices matter; many different decisions you make will affect the plot, your standing with the four factions, who considers you an ally, how tough your battles are, and what rewards you’ll earn, as well as how well you make it through negotiation events
• 100 TMs, 100 TRs, and 100 SMs to customize your movesets even further, with revised eligibility so more Pokémon are able to learn more moves; SMs are all former signature moves that were previously usable by only one or very few Pokémon
• Reworked HM system; some obstacles only require an HM Device, but others require consumable HM Charges, offering limitations to HM field moves but without requiring HM slaves or entirely blocking progress
• Some Pokémon and type rebalances, boosts to weaker Pokémon like Magcargo, Ledian, and Tropius (among others), as well as (still-testing) type rebalances, including buffs to Bug, Ice, and Psychic and nerfs to Water, Fairy, and Steel
• No day/night system; no more limitations to when Pokémon can be caught or evolved, play whenever you want
• New ways of acquiring shiny and other different-colored Pokémon
• An assortment of QOL upgrades (quicksave, multisave, and autosave, egg groups in the UI, new evolution stones for easier evolutions, name randomizer, IV/EV indicators, unlockable happiness tracking, fast and turbo speed modes, text skipping, in-battle move and stat change details)
• Legendary breeding (with plot-related reason), new Natures and moves, a Berrydex, and numerous other new concepts and features!