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Ahead of its August 5, 2026 launch, we got some early time with Pokémon Pokopia Expansion Pass Part 1: Bubbly Basin, and it takes the slow-life building game somewhere it hasn’t really gone before: underwater.
Where the base game keeps players mostly on land, this first chunk of paid downloadable content sends your Ditto beneath the waves to build a whole new Town from scratch. Here’s what stood out during our time with it, along with what you’ll need before you can even get your feet wet.
A Free Update Opens the Door
Before Bubbly Basin is even reachable, players need the free Ver. 2.0.0 update, which arrives the same day as the paid DLC. This update adds Dive, a new move that lets you learn to move underwater, taught by Manaphy. To unlock it, you’ll need to already know Surf, know how to jump, and complete a request tied to raising the environment level at Bleak Beach. One detail worth knowing going in: meeting Manaphy through the free update doesn’t make it a friend right away. That part is saved for the paid content.
Bubbly Basin Welcomes New Faces
Once you’re in, Ditto arrives at Bubbly Basin alongside Popplio, and the town takes shape by fulfilling requests from the Pokémon you meet there. During our preview, Popplio, Totodile, and Corsola were among the new faces we crossed paths with, and most of the Pokémon that can be recruited into this town lean Water-type, which fits given the whole setting sits underwater. It’s a nice change of pace from the land-based recruiting in the main game. Manaphy also becomes a proper Friend here, once you take on the special requests tied to the paid content.
The town itself is built around new buoyant blocks, which let you construct floating structures at different heights, giving underwater builds a sense of depth that land-based towns don’t really have. New furniture rounds things out, including pieces designed to suit an underwater room, and even a Sharpedo submarine build that can turn a space into something closer to a Secret Base. A few of the new furniture sets lean into an East Asian-inspired look, which adds some welcome variety to the overall style options.
Growing plants changes underwater. On land, Water-type Pokémon paired with Grass-type Pokémon handle the plants directly. But in Bubbly Basin, Water-type Pokémon blow bubbles onto the plants to help them along, and other Pokémon specifically pitch in to help things grow, giving underwater farming its own distinct rhythm compared to how it works on land.
It’s not entirely a wall-to-wall underwater experience, either. There are spots within Bubbly Basin that can be dug up or opened into dry, cave-like pockets of land, giving a bit of variety to what is otherwise a fully submerged town. There’s more to explore than just the town itself, too.
Glowing coral scattered along the path lights the way and makes it far easier to see where you’re going, though it’s not strictly necessary — you can still make your way through without it. Part of the fun comes from placing aquatic lamp decorations yourself to brighten small pockets of the area as you explore. Exploring deeper also hints at new bits of lore waiting to be uncovered, giving players a reason to push further into the dark.
Learning and Living With Dive
Dive is central to all of this, but it comes with a quirk worth flagging. Even after learning the move, you can’t swim straight downward on command. You can swim forward or upward just fine, but to actually descend, you need to let gravity do the work by dropping from a high point, which takes a bit of time to pull off. It’s a small thing, but it’s the one part of the underwater movement that felt a little clunky compared to the rest of the experience. On the visual side, though, there’s a fun touch: Ditto takes on a Squirtle form while diving, which is a neat detail to notice as you’re exploring.
Release Details and What’s Next
Pokémon Pokopia Expansion Pass Part 1: Bubbly Basin launches Wednesday, August 5, 2026, alongside the free Ver. 2.0.0 update, and existing save data carries over. Shortly after, an in-game event called Fetching Scales for Feebas runs from Thursday, August 13 through Friday, August 28, letting players collect prism scales to befriend Feebas and Milotic and trade for swimming-themed furniture.
Anyone who picks up the Expansion Pass also gets a recipe for crafting dynamic Ditto print blocks and wallpaper, plus a bonus code for 30 rare Pokémetal ingots. Looking further ahead, Part 2 is planned for later in 2026 and focuses on accessories along with more Pokémon and furniture, though it won’t add a new town. Part 3 is set for 2027 and is confirmed to bring another new town.
Overall, Bubbly Basin looks like a solid first step into new territory for Pokémon Pokopia, giving players a genuinely different environment to build in. The core idea of building and befriending underwater comes through clearly, even if the Dive controls could use a bit of smoothing out.
