On the heels of the highly anticipated announcement of Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Pokémon Let’s Go Eevee, the series’ first core Nintendo Switch game, The Pokémon Company quietly released Pokémon Quest, the next free-to-download Pokémon game, digitally on the Switch. A mobile release of the game was promised to follow sometime in June. This morning, The Pokémon Company announced that starting today, Pokémon Quest will be available on both Apple and Android app stores.
The game totes itself as a “rambunctious action RPG” where a team of Pokémon explore the world of Tumblecube Island looking for treasures, similar to the previous Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games released for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS.
The game also features a different playstyle than the core games. The series’ traditional turn-based combat mechanics have been replaced with a tap-to-battle feature in the same vein as another previous Pokémon spin-off called Pokémon Rumble, a beat-’em-up series with games released on the Wii, Wii U, and 3DS.
Like Pokémon Rumble, Pokémon Quest also has highly stylized graphics, with everything in the game — even the Pokémon — being cube-like. The capturing system from the main series is gone, being replaced by a befriending system that works randomly based on cooking meals for different types of Pokémon. By exploring, Pokémon can level up and become stronger, but their strength is partially determined by Power Stones found randomly after battles.
The game also features a premium currency, which can be used to speed up wait times or purchase upgrades to powerful items within a special shop. This currency can be obtained through normal gameplay or purchased through microtransactions.
Switch trainers beware; there is currently no way to transfer existing Pokémon Quest data from the Switch to a mobile device. It is currently unknown if this feature will eventually be available.
