When Pokémon Go came out last summer, it took the world by storm. It seemed like there was a news story every day about people doing dumb things while playing the game. It even managed to outshine the more standard Pokémon games released, those being Sun and Moon. Whether or not you managed to catch them all, The Pokémon Company has now unveiled a whole new game for players to become obsessed with.
Pokémon Duel, the brand new mobile game, had nothing like the build-up before its release that Pokémon Go had. In fact, it was more of a surprise to see the game come to mobile stores. This may be due to the new game following on the heels of several other game releases. It’s also a more simple game than the VR-heavy experience of its mobile predecessor.
Unlike Pokémon Go, Duel has nothing to do with catching real world pocket monsters. It’s also not anything like the standard games, either. Pokémon Duel is more like a board game, in line with chess or checkers. Players must move their six Pokémon statues (not Amiibos) across the board to the opponent’s goal. They can battle other Pokémon along the way, but the focus is more on movement-based strategy.
Whether this game has the success of Pokémon remains to be seen. However, as someone who has now spent a day with the game, I’m not sure it”ll be anywhere close for at least a few more days. The loading times still take a while, and a few elements are still confusing. For instance, the concepts of “evolving” statues and “abilities” are still confusing. These are all issues that will likely be resolved through various bug fixes, but for now, I’d advise sticking to other Pokémon games. Or maybe play Yu-Gi-Oh instead.
