Having been disillusioned by Game Freak shipping out Pokemon Scarlet and Violet with both lackluster graphics AND abysmal performance, I became more curious to check out fangames than the next title, beginning with the fangame that seemed so close to the genuine article Nintendo chucked a DMCA its way several years ago: Pokemon Uranium.

I think the existence of fan games, particularly ones on this level of scale, can be fascinating. When created out of love, they can feel like a fan’s attempt to get more of the specific product they really adore, but they also tend to represent what said fans believe the genuine article had been lacking so they can fill what they perceive as a hole the series left in their hearts themselves.

Anyone can write a fanfiction, but creating a full on GAME to contain that writing actually takes another level of skill, and yet another level beyond that to have said game design feel even slightly like an officially released product. There’s been plenty of horrendously misguided fan games over the years (such dreck as Hunt Down the Freeman and Sonic Omens spring to mind) but I think Pokemon Uranium, despite its amateurish execution in places, is an interesting case that shows how far passion can go when trying to fill a void.

It probably further helps that mainline Pokemon, for years, has been a series of very low-tech games holding the kind of longstanding legacy where game mechanic concepts are constantly being changed on a micro level despite the macro concept being a constant. Thus, Pokemon Uranium brings a Generation 4 overworld with Generation 5 battle UI and Generation 6 battle mechanics.

You know you’re getting into a fan game story very fast when just starting the game shows you the heartbreaking story of your character’s mother dying in a power plant explosion and their father, a Pokemon Ranger, became cold and distant from you. After this introduction though, things mellow out and a lot of what you would expect to be in working order falls right into place.

Most of Uranium plays as you would expect from a sprite based Pokemon game. Explore a region, battle trainers along the way by making eye contact, defeat 8 gym leaders to collect badges to challenge the League to become champion, use HMs to gradually explore the world they couldn’t before, basic stuff. But there’s an admirable level of commitment in many spots. The game has a full day/night cycle it tracks with your computer. There’s over 100 original “fakemons” in this, and while it does make the arbitrary amount of true Pokemon stick out like a sore thumb, a fair amount of the designs do veer close to the mix of cutesy charm and anime cool Ken Sugimori has really refined over the years, in particular with Pokemon like the starter trio, the many Bug type variants, Urayne as a box Legendary and especially Nucleon, which fits right in with the other Eeveelutions present. I like that Uranium decides to make Double Battles take occasional prominence after the main series has shunted them out for years; they offer a level of additional planning without the gimmickier styles tested in Generation 5. The Elite Four is structured more like the anime, where it’s arena battles between randomly pooled opponents in a tournament bracket where neither side can heal, and that was a very distinct addition. There’s a Game Corner, you can rematch numerous trainers if they call you, there’s a sidequest where if you complete it, you get free grinding spots which is extremely helpful, one of the towns has a berry trading economy in lieu of a shop which is another standout moment feature that fits, and Legen Town’s aesthetic of feeling like it takes place inside a medieval castle made it a pretty memorable town. There’s a minigame to raise IVs if you’re into that stuff, and as a game it will offer more of a challenge even in a standard run than any of the mainlines. The original music is quite impressive for a fangame. It can be very rocking at times, but it can also be quite cozy in other places, with the use of synthesizers working well to punctuate the game’s original creation in Nuclear Pokemon.

That being said, despite all these nice touches, there are other aspects that feel noticeably undercooked, or straight up unpolished to the level you’d expect if this was an actually released title. Sometimes, it’s an imperceptible feeling, like when it feels as though wild encounters happen just slightly more often than they should, or that moves with status effects activate slightly more often than they should. Other times, it’s the many lines of comically corny dialogue (which I’ll share at the end) or major inconsistencies in its presentation. Screen tearing is a constant, and it can feel like motion blur in a sprite-based game whenever your character is running or biking around the map. Even in Performance Mode I couldn’t find a way to stop it so look out for that or see if you can find a way around it. Battles also, while they try to emulate the style of Generation 5, aren’t quite there. It can feel very inconsistent on whether a Pokemon’s sprite moves when it’s in battle, as some of the sprites move while others are stuck still. Any attempts at backgrounds are shockingly poor; they try harder to be actual backgrounds than Generation 5, but they have the feeling of taking photographs of sprite art and blurring them before placing them on. As if they were halfway committing to something new but also not fully wanting to abandon the more abstract backgrounds from Gen 5.

I mentioned before that some of the Fakemon were well-designed for what they were but there’s plenty that doesn’t apply toward. Pajay just looks like budget Ho-Oh. Terlard’s battle sprite when using it just looks like two Charizard heads attached together. And the new evolutions feel jarringly at odds with the original visions. The Uranium developers couldn’t have known this at the time, but when Primeape and Dunsparce got new evolutions in Generation 9, they felt perfectly right with the vision and inspiration of the original designs. Dunseraph in Uranium feels completely disconnected from Dunsparce itself on a pure concept design level, which is something I can’t say for the new evolutions for old mons added in Generation 4.

HM moves were always just situational progression blockers, but Uranium doesn’t do as much as it could to take advantage of them. Strength and Surf work as you’d expect; there’s even a few Strength puzzles near the end of the game to have you think a bit, but Rock Smash loses any sort of relevance very quickly after breaking a progression blocker, Dive is used to pass through a single blocker in the main game and nothing else, while Fly, even beyond how late you get it, can only take you to one side of the region or another. Meaning you’ll either have to Surf a bit of distance to get to the other side or pay a bit of currency every time you want to come over. It feels like a clunky tech oversight, compared to mainline Pokemon organizing the entirety of a single region on one map.

For something with both pros and cons: Nuclear Pokemon! They essentially looked at the Shadow Pokemon from Pokemon XD and decided to turn them from tanks into glass cannons. Every Nuclear attack is super effective on every type except Nuclear and Steel, but they’re also weak to every type. It’s an interesting way of punishing you for using Dual Type mons in your team for more type coverage, as it’s likely a single Nuclear attack would do 4X the amount of damage. It’s interesting, and it does help with the game’s honestly rather questionable level curving in the second half, but it also entirely comes down to a speed advantage. If a Nuclear Pokemon goes first and has a high enough attack, it likely kills, but if it's too weak to one shot for any reason, it’ll likely die in a single turn. On your end, this limits their utility without enough grinding, but the game’s main villain, Apocalypse CURIE, has an entire team of these, and will likely hold major level advantages, and therefore speed, if you don’t extensively grind. Which brings up the story itself.
If there’s one constant among many Pokemon stories, it’s the sense of escalation; often you’re going from catching small rats and racoons to defeating entire organizations of domestic terrorists trying to tame the power of God and anime on their side. But in Pokemon Uranium it sort of feels like the heavier plot is tossed off to the side while you go about the standard Gym badge journey. It’s not like in say, Generation 4, where Team Galactic happened to be occupying buildings within and around the major towns. A lot of the key story moments boat you away from the world to power plant islands, two of which hold dungeons with some atmosphere to them, even as the second one puts you in a suit where you have to slowly walk and repels don’t work to stave away random encounters. Some of the only times the plot takes place within the core world itself involves a two-time subplot involving scheming scientists and Garlikid, a Pokemon that really shouldn’t be. The single corniest thing this game’s story does is in this subplot. They introduce a translator device that lets you hear what Pokemon are saying, since until the ending it mostly comes down to “annihilate, kill, kill, human injustice, why am I trapped in a tiny ball.” It’s not endearingly goofy like some of the NPC dialogue ends up being, it’s just cringe, flat out and reminds me why Game Freak wisely stayed away from having the pets communicate their own abuse.

Disconnection from the world aside though, the Apocalypse CURIE encounters are some of the game’s more memorable moments. The twist regarding them is perhaps the most obvious of all time in the history of anything, but their existence in the story with their 12-year-old edgelord dialogue leads into some climatic battles.

But I should asterisk this as another instance where decisions made regarding said encounters would in absolutely no way fly in an officially released product. The first battle with CURIE is behind a door with a timer where you have to reach them in time, or else. The game does warn you about something big being behind this door, but if you save past the door and your team isn’t prepared, the time limit actively prevents grinding, and your file is screwed. Then there’s another encounter at the very end of the game with a Level 85 Legendary to contend with, 15 levels higher than the Elite Four. Its Nuclear type would make it extra vulnerable if not for its insane level jump compared to what’s likely your party at the time giving it speed priority. Losing this battle gives you a non-standard ending without an instant Pokemon Center warp. Meaning, if you decided to save at any point passed the Elite Four entrance, and it’s impossible to win with your current team and item setup, your file is screwed, FOREVER. It’s possible in one way to do even with a lower-level team (Focus Sash + Thunder Wave= likely win) but still, I have no idea how that got through. If you can make it through, the ending itself is overall a pleasant enough way to close out, accompanied by a strong somber music track.

Pokemon Uranium is a mixed bag, some genuinely thoughtful game design inclusions and a decently amount of creativity hurt by technical inconsistencies and overly strenuous market unfriendly design at points, but it reflects the kind of passion fangame creators provide out of love and appreciation for the accomplishments of a series, even if it can be misguided. I’m curious to check out other full on fangames in the future to see if they’ve better balanced those sensibilities, but for now, I’ll leave off by sharing some of the absolutely incredible dialogue contained within this game:

“Okay, listen: How do you get 50 Pikachu on a bus? You poke’em on! Haha, geddit?”

“Mom just doesn’t understand why I hate sand. It’s coarse, and rough…and it gets everywhere!”
(yes they did just reference a prequel meme)

“I love playing video games. Pokemon’s a really fun one. Wanna play?”

“Hey n00b! Wanna see my 1337 skills? Let’s fight!”

“Lololol im a grrrrl gamer! Y aim a girl and I play video gamezzz! o3o.”

“KILL THE INTRUDER CRUSH DESTROY KILL” (from a Pokemon)

“You may know me as Cameron Caine, engineer, private contractor, and father. However, this is not the truth about who I am. My real name is Cameron Stormbringer.”

Thank Arceus! (used as a sub for Thank God because Pokemon god)

HOLY SHINX! (obvious expletive)

A sign saying “Wow, you found this place, good job.”

“I can’t believe it… you SAVED the day. I knew you could SAVE us. …Why am I shouting SAVE you ask? Well… I just think it’s a good idea to SAVE things!” (helpful but still goofy as heck)

“I’M JUST SO HAPPY TO SEE MY FAMILY AGAIN!! sniffle”

‘’Los monstruos son reales y los fantasmas también: viven dentro de nosotros y a veces, ellos ganan’’

-Don Ramón.

Comenzar esta reseña es complicado y creo que no lograre expresar todo lo que pienso u siento sobre este fan game, son tantas los comentarios y análisis, ideas que sacar u decisiones creativas que es complicado abordarlas todas, es altamente probable que termine escribiendo una MEGA RESEÑA, oh quizás un ensaño, pero si en una sola palabra, en una sola debo expresar lo que me hizo sentir este juego, es una sola y maldita palabra una palabra corta pero potente, este juego me genero genuina tristeza, tal cual tristeza y otros sinónimos porque realmente tiene todo lo que un fan veterano busca, pero en su ejecución, en su ejecución todo se derrumba como un castillo a así que esta reseña se dividirá en diferentes apartados sobre el juego y mi experiencia, intentare mencionar las cosas más interesantes que ‘’ofrece’’ y por qué en algunos apartados simplemente se estrella contra el suelo y arde en llamas, pero debemos ir parte por parte a sí que lo primero que debemos hablar es:

Pokemons nuevos y pokedex:

Una de las razones por que esta reseña me hace sentir algo melancólico es insultar el trabajo de estos fans que hicieron esta obra con un amor descomunal a la franquicia, el problema es a pesar de todo ese amor en la formula existen fallos muy feos que existen en el mero inicio, los tres iniciales tienen ciertos problemas de diseños al evolucionar solo llegando a ser el mismo bicho, pero más grande y enojado, hagamos una pequeña comparación entre eletux contra popplio si uno de los diseños más polemicos, si analizamos a eletux es un Pokémon con características de caballo posiblemente basado en conceptos como el kelpie (caballo acuático escoses) o el hipocampo que es un caballo acuatico, ¿es un gran concepto verdad?, Como podemos ver el pokemon sería un pequeño potro así que como pregunta, que harás con este concepto tan interesante, pues obvio solo que aumenté de tamaño y este enojado, el concepto no evoluciona ni llega a nada, nació con ese concepto y no cambia a otro o consigue algún rasgo más característico, es solo el mismo concepto aumentado por 2 haciendo que la ‘’evolución’’ no sea interesante, ahora mira a popplio es una simple foca si bien un animal carismático en concepto comparado con eletux queda vacío pero que pasa cuando agregamos otro concepto más, ¿Qué tal si decimos que es un payaso?.

Tu dirás que como demonios una foca payaso será más interesante que un maldito caballo mitológico antiguo, aquí es donde encontramos el concepto de evolución pokemon, una de las razones por que consideró que es lo mejor de la franquicia es sentir el progreso tanto de tu Pokémon, tanto en la fuerza como en su concepto, si miras la línea de popplio se puede ver que parte del concepto es el entretenimiento, cada vez representa figuras del mundo del espectáculo más refinado y maduros, siendo primero un payaso algo relacionado al entretenimiento infantil y los circos, siendo muy frecuentado para niños y familias, demostrando la personalidad juguetona del pokemon, ahora veamos a brionne en su diseños se ve cierto concepto de que ahora es más ágil y acrobática siendo su otro concepto los acróbatas de un circo, este es un arte algo más peligroso haciendo que algunos circos más ‘’artísticos’’ se enfoquen más en este arte que en el uso de payasos, intentando deslumbrar al público con movimientos gráciles pero entretenidos por eso tiene esa sonrisa y esa ‘’ropa’' menos fina que su próxima evolución, demostrando si bien ser más elegante no pierde sus ganas de asombrar al público con su habilidad, manteniendo ese estilo juguetón de su preevolucion.

Luego tienes a primarina la cual se vuelve una cantante de ópera, un espectáculo relacionado a la alta sociedad y con el arte fino, el Pokémon se vuelve más fino en su totalidad y más ‘’bello’’ (Dios esta reseña me va a dejar como un puto rarito), volviéndose una diva que después de trabajos más honestos por fin alcanza el estrellato, con esto vimos una evolución tanto en diseño como en el concepto, quizás utilice un diseño muy moderno o algo del estilo por lo cual pueden argumentar que no es justo, pero si utilizamos a charizard o blastoise, logras ver un cambio en la creatura tanto físicamente como por conceptos y fuerza, los iniciales de tandor no tienen esta evolución en sus diseños, otro punto que odio es su nivel de progresión, la idea de los iniciales es que tengas un compañero que va evolucionando junto a ti, por eso son tres etapas que se acomodan a los estándares de equipo que debes tener en cierto punto de la aventura.

Pero acá todo lo contrario deben llegar al maldito nivel 27/28 para llegar a su última forma haciendo tener un Pokémon más débil que el resto de tu equipo por un momento si bien no infinito del juego se siente como tu pokemon se queda algo atrás comparado con tu equipo, sobre la demás pokedex está muy irregular, muchos diseños caen en lo exagerado rayando más en diseños de otras franquicias que la de pokemon o notándose mucho lo fan art, la pokedex se nota una variedad de calidad de diseños bastante cuestionable, con algunos simplemente aburridos o feos, no consideró que es totalmente basura, existe un pokemon llamado garlikid que si bien, me parece super feo su diseño tan feo como una patada de monja, pero a pesar de eso el diseño logra emitir su personalidad heroica y justiciera, ósea si se nota se basó demasiado en saitama pero no quiero quitar algo de mérito al juego.

Pero existe un detalle que me molesta mucho, La mega evolución está metida con calzador en el juego, no existe ningún motivo real de por qué esta en el juego, en el lore solo te dicen que existen en la región y listo déjate de joder, no existe mayor razon para que estén presentes, pero debo decir que a menos agradezco que le diran megas a pokemons no muy populares y a los originales de la región, a pesar de que las mega piedras no tienen ni puto sentido que estén presentes, le da más vida a la región y una oportunidad a viejos pokemons, por lo cual si soportar los diseños cuestionables tienes una buena variedad para formar tu equipo pokemon, con uno que otro viejo conocido y con nuevos compañeros.





La Región de tandor en general:

Tengo que admitir que la verdad la region tiene un diseño que le parte la cara a galar en tantos apartados que me asombra, es un mapa bien conectado que te deja conseguir atajaos gracias a las mo, pudiendo agilizar mucho las revanchas contra entrenadores ayudando un poco, en mantener a tus Pokémon fuertes, pero no mentiré que a veces si extrañas poder utilizar vuelo, porque te lo dan CUANDO OBTIENES TODAS LAS MALDITAS MEDALLAS, lo peor es cuando llegas a la parte oriental donde si quieres volver debes ir a una ciudad en específico y tomar un barco, pero cuando obtienes vuelo eso no significa que automáticamente puedes volver a esas zonas, debes si o si volver a tomar un barco, otro tema es el farmeo no sé qué onda pasa pero a pesar de tener un repartir exp sentí el subir el nivel tedioso por los abruptos subidas de niveles que tenían algunos entrenadores y lideres, haciendo que a veces solamente estas perdiendo tu tiempo, también algunas zonas son putas tediosas como la calle victoria o te interrumpen la progresión como las secciones de las plantas nucleares creando un cansancio mental abismal al jugador haciéndome pensar varias veces dropear el juego, la region no tiene lugares muy carismáticos la verdad, creo que serían solamente 3 que uno es literalmente Venecia, otro un pueblo en medio de la jungla y el pueblo antes de entrar a la calle victoria, a que no consideró esto un pecado realmente horrible y condenar el juego por esto cuando le eh dado mejores notas a juegos que ni se esforzaron en este apartado seria realmente hipócrita, esto solo lo menciono por si alguien se fija mucho en estos detalles.

Dificultad y reto:

El juego se pone Desgraciado de un momento para otro pidiéndote horas y horas de leveleo por la subida artificial de niveles de entrenadores poniéndote pokemons mega rotos para que digas oh que dificil, oh el juego poniéndose genuinamente en tu contra, como cuando un pokemon acertó CINCO VECES SEGUIDAS FRIO POLAR, CINCO MALDITA SEA oh que justamente tu pokemon retrocedió cuatro veces seguidas, literalmente la subida de niveles y esta cosa me arruino el final del juego, existia este personaje que no podía derrotar pero había creado una estrategia para hacerlo, pero como la liga es como la del anime los combates son un poco aleatorios, así que el personaje que me gano cuatro veces seguidas con su misma porquería de pokemon no salió y no solo eso, sale un enemigo mucho más débil, como que sientes que tu victoria no fue ganada y oh peor, QUE JUSTO EXISTA UN AUTO GUARDADO QUE TE IMPIDA INICIAR DE NUEVO PARA OBTENER LA REVANCHA, genuinamente odio el sistema de combate aleatorios sin revanchas, haciendo que pasarme este juego se volviera más una prueba de paciencia que habilidad, haciéndome sentir uno de los finales menos satisfactorios de lo que eh jugado en mi vida Y ESO ES MUCHO.





Música:

La música me gustó no mentiré seria deshonesto con la persona que lee esto y conmigo si no lo menciono, si bien mucha de las zonas tiene remix de otros pueblos de la saga lo que le quita más personalidad e identidad propia algunas zonas, pero las canciones que si o si son originales llegan a tener de cierta manera ese adn del ost de pokemon pero una identidad propia, haciendo que para que mentir a veces mover la cabeza en algunos combates y sin darme cuenta subirle al 100 a una que otra canción, pero es una lástima que al final estas canciones están entre puro remix, quizas en el fondo eso hacen que sean más especiales, si tuviera que hacer un top como el de la reseña de live a live o el de sonic rush creo que mi lista seria la siguiente:

1)Wild nuclear pokemon: El estilo más frenético y alocado logra manifestar que este no sera un combate normal con otro simple pokemon salvaje, estas creaturas manifiestan energía extraña y provocan cierto sentimiento de ajenidad comparados a los otros especímenes siendo más violentos, todo esto con una melodía caótica pero rítmica.

2)Championship trainer: Luego de una aventura que me gustaría decir llena de emociones, toca luchar frente a frente con gente con tu mismo deseo, ser el mejor de la liga, la música manifiesta el esfuerzo tanto tuyo como el de tu rival de llegar a la cima y que esta no sera una batalla cualquiera

3)Last pokemon: La última carta del líder, su Pokémon insignia y en el cual tiene depositado todas sus esperanzas para detenerte, la música logra identificar que ese pokemon tiene algo especial tanto en su combate contra ti como para su entrenador (Se nota que estoy sobre analizando un montón), la música se vuelve alocada e inspiradora a la vez tanto para el jugador como para el lider.

4)Amatree town: Relajante y que refleja a su perfección un pueblo mágico y distinto a los conocidos anteriormente, con una música más folclórica que demuestra lo alejada que esta de un mundo actual lleno de progreso, como un sitio donde el tiempo por fin encuentra algo de paz.



La historia:

Esto, esto genuinamente es lo que más me molesta de la obra, de cierta manera logra estorbar a la progresión de tu como jugador y de sí misma incluyendo basura que se nota que los creadores introdujeron sin razón, ejemplo de esto son piratas y malditos ninjas surfistas, no estoy jodiendo malditos ninjas surfistas que aparecen de la nada, creo que en el post game logran obtener mucho más protagonismo, pero en la trama principal apenas tienen una razón de existir más que ser una trama que hace sentir al jugador perder el tiempo o aburrirse más rápidamente, haciendo que como dije antes el jugador sienta fatiga, el rival teo tiene una idea interesante pero se siente que se pierde gran parte de su desarrollo y para que mentir a veces puede ser algo pesado con sus dialogo poco inspirados, los lideres de gimnasio están ok, son algo carismáticos para que mentir pero no diría que son personajes de los que me enamore, pero existe un punto en la historia que me hace hervir la sangre, el villano tiene un plop twist tan fácil de adivinar que simplemente enoja ver como lo hacen tan poco sutil, es casi un insulto y habla alguien que cuando decían quién era el malo en detective conan o scooby doo quedaba alucinando, también sus motivaciones llegan a ser tan pretenciosas que simplemente no te lo puedes tomar en serio, además de utilizar uno de los peores métodos para justificar un villano, lo peor de esto es que gracias a este villano entramos en partes algo tediosas, intentan cosas diferentes que igual me hace apreciar un poco más, pero otro problema es que este villano aparece PUTAS EN LA RECTA FINAL, ni si quiera son de esos de oh soy tan malo que manipulaba todo desde las sombras y no solo eso después intentan que simpatices con el malo luego de bueno, CASI MATARTE A TI, A TU RIVAL Y A TU PUTO PADRE oh y no olvidar toda LA MALDITA REGION.



Pokemon uranium intenta cosas nuevas y eso es lo que odio, como todo lo que pedíamos esta delante de nosotros y aun así, no disfrutarlo quizás no es culpa del juego, quizás simplemente yo soy el que no abordo este juego con el chip correcto, existía un punto donde solo avanzaba porque, ni si quiera yo lo sabía, ¿en busca que mejorara?, ¿Qué se pusiera peor?, no lo sé solo avanzaba y ya, casi en automático, quizás la tragedia de uranium no es la misma obra en sí, si no que yo falle a jugarlo con el chip correcto, a pesar de todo lo que dije a pesar de la ejecución cuestionable, por favor si te interesa el juego, no retrocedas por esta reseña casi destructiva, en una lo juegas tu con el chip correcto y consigues la experiencia Pokémon que parece que se perdió hace tanto, tiene una dificultad interesante, una pokedex que vive más de los viejos conocidos y una región no tan lineal, una historia que a que sea por un poco se sale del ser menor que nadie más, Uranium no me fallo, creo que yo fui el que le fallo a uranium

Gracias por leer.

All press is good press as they say, right?

I think the most entertainment you can get out of this one is the lparchive that keeps devolving into a more tired mentality, slowly losing sanity to the game's discombobulate mess that grasps at nostalgic straws. The game released in a very hacked together way, but the changes and patches didn't really reveal a charming core, instead something that feels almost insecure. It's dark in a 00s fanfiction edgy way, but not quite carrying that energy into some real heart or message. It's genuinely hollow, and even the worst pokemon game has a more earnest understanding of life, people, and childhood sentiments than this shit. Radioactive my ass this isotope is as inert as they come.

Here's where I'm at with Pokémon Uranium: I think I'm someone who is more or less perfectly suited to discuss this game in a macroscopic sense. I am currently working on a PhD in Radiation Detection and Measurement, so I work with radioactive material, nuclear science, and even some energy and non-proliferation policy on a regular basis. I played this on stream with a number of peers who are all very well-educated in nuclear science, and we spent our time commenting on some of the nuclear-related things we saw. We did not finish the game, we dropped it around Gym #5, and I went and watched some of the gameplay on the internet to see what the rest of the game has to offer.

As previously noted, I have a degree in Nuclear Engineering, and I am working on a doctoral thesis related to radiation detection and measurement. I therefore, take umbrage with the way much of the science in this game is conveyed. It's a fictionalized game, sure. It's relatively unrealistic to expect the game devs to understand what the Klein-Nishina Cross-section is. But I really, really dislike how the "Nuclear Pokemon" are essentially just different Shadow Pokemon seen in the Gamecube Pokemon games. I think from a gameplay mechanic perspective, this is a really interesting take on the type chart, but from a story and flavor perspective, I just can't take it seriously. I understand it's not necessarily fair to critique a game strictly on its story and presentation, but the foundation of nuclear being presented as this mystical miasma of power is just plain faulty, and it really paints nuclear energy in a questionable light at best.

One example that generally stood out to all of us took place at Nuclear Plant Epsilon before the third gym. Not only is it entirely unrealistic that a new nuclear plant would be sited right next to an old site that had had a significant nuclear accident only 10 years prior, but the way that radiation is shown as this weird green gas is flat out wrong. I get that your player passes out from radiation sickness, and is later "treated" for it for the sake of a story, but that's just not how it works. If the game is going to lean into something that is extensively researched as nuclear science, I personally feel like there should be at least some responsibility from the devs to make sure that they get it a little closer to reality. It really feels like a few devs were really interested in what happened in Chernobyl and explored the idea of "what if this but in the Pokemon world?". I might be being a little too hard on the game for not being entirely accurate, but in a world where nuclear energy still struggles to be widely accepted by the general public through concerns of safety, Pokemon Uranium does little to assuage those concerns and instead leans into the idea of a modern "mystical corrupting ether power".

There's another factor that I want to bring up related to the presentation of "nuclear", the fact that there's an item that allows you to talk with Pokemon in English in this game. Generally, I feel as though it's a bit of a cop out to have the magical fantasy creatures to be able to suddenly speak English with the help of some device. I preferred the abstraction of people being able to understand their Pokemon through a serious of verbal cries. With the inclusion of the P.E.S., suddenly you can have Pokemon monologue which feels really weird. Then there's the fact that on Route 6 you have to knock out a series of Owten, that you can now understand. It gave me a weird ick feeling that I'll have to generally explore more, but in short I felt really uncomfortable attacking these animal-like Pokémon that could speak English. It's like if a Slime in Dragon Quest could suddenly demonstrate extreme intelligence. It's the exact problem Undertale demonstrates: "would you attack innocent creatures if you could understand them?". Ultimately, I won't dwell on this ethical concern too much, but I had to roll my eyes when I learned that Nuclear Pokemon (or "irradiated Pokemon", which agian, not how that works) are menacing killing machines who can only say something to the effect of "CRUSH KILL DESTROY".

As a Pokemon game, it's quite similar to the early 2010s Pokemon games where you REALLY have to grind to get Pokemon that can stand a chance. I think there's something to be said that the team was able to make a variety of relatively interesting fan-Pokemon, and it's great that they have a lot of ideas of what could be done to shake up the standard play loop. But at the same time, I really have to wonder why some obviously frustrating features were carried over, HMs being the prime example. Then there's also the fact that some Pokemon are hilariously intrinsically broken. Inflagetah, which I used for maybe an hour, is so obviously better than anything I had used up to that point that I have to wonder if it was worth using anything else, especially given how long I often took for anything to level up. I'm not expecting an Exp. All here, but fighting countless numbers of Smores and Minyans gets old quickly. I can't fault them for this too much though, this DOES feel like a Pokémon game, and quite impressively so.

From a pure Pokemon fan perspective, Pokemon Uranium is a really interesting and exciting fan game that presents a lot of interesting ideas, and creates a world that feels lived-in, and fleshed out. Design-wise the Pokemon are interesting, the world is interesting, and the story is nothing we had seen in a Pokemon Game until maybe until Sword and Shield. But I cannot get past my many gripes with the experience. It wasn't terribly fun to play, and I couldn't get into the story when it mattered most (mainly because of my own mental blocks).

Play it if you'd like, it's a really well-made fangame from a technical perspective, but I didn't really enjoy it.

First off, this is a fan game that Nintendo had failed to scrub from the internet! The community is still alive and I have links below where you can still get this game and get to hang out with the really cool members of the community and even learn about the new pokemon game they're working on, Pokemon Flux.

For more information for where to get the game:

Fan Website

Discord Server

Now for talking about the game itself. This is a game made by fans, for fans. The gym battles will have you on edge as they are no pushovers and will certainly do their best to exploit any and all weaknesses by being armed with useful moves that span multiple types so they're far more flexable in combat than your typical trainer in a mainstream pokemon game who have only one type and then get beaten by you because their water type are all 100% water type with water type moves and can't do anything against grass or electric type or something like that.

There are abilities that can manipulate the battle field so that you give your own types a home advantage, boosting their attack power and defence such as setting off a rain storm for your water pokemon.

Being a pokemon game, they also have a trading system with certain pokemon that only evolve when traded, however, you are also able to trade with yourself so you don't have to risk yourself if you don't have any friends you trust who play the game. You can just trade to yourself and back and it's done.

There are also sections where you and your friend get to fight side-by-side, using two pokemon at once in battle when fighting either tag-teaming enemies or wild pokemon.

The story, like this game, is more mature than your typical Nintendo game. You play as a new trainer who is going to get their first pokemon and your friend/rival is there to get one too, but because they're impatient and pay little attention, they choose the pokemon that's of the weaker element to you (if you pick fire, they pick grass and ect) which leaves them open to getting beaten very easily and though he's annoying at first, later this character matures and becomes a much better person.

Before this happened, there's a backstory for your character where their mother was at a nuclear powerplant before it went into meltdown and she dissappeared, but the father being the head of the rangers got out of there and fully pushed himself into his work after she was missing, leaving you to be raised by extended family.

Some swearing also exists, but only for the scenes that call for it and are certainly not over-used at all. They all fit in the game so well that you'd swear this was an official game!

A must have for any Pokemon fan and the people behind it are still working on content for the game too!

Gameplay + Stream

Uranium is a Pokémon game, so it defaults to being at least somewhat good. Its issues come both from staying too faithful to the official games and from deviating too far.

There was really no need to keep HMs in the game, especially since there's an NPC who gives you items to replace them. Even the official series dropped them in Sun and Moon shortly after Uranium's release. Even worse, you don't even get Fly until after the eighth gym. The game also has trade evolutions, which is the worst thing you can add with online functionality. Even Gamefreak has started putting in in-game trades for some of the trade evos.

Uranium, being a fangame, does not have to be family-friendly like the official games are. Uranium's story was a shot at a Pokémon story with darker and more mature themes. What they did with this was make an edgy antagonist who feels like a cartoon supervillain that we are supposed to take seriously. For most of the game, the villain's motives are "I suffered and now everyone else has to" and it's not until the end of the game that we're hit with the Tragic Backstory™️ that tries to redeem the villain in a single lore dump.

Uranium's fakemon have a decent ratio of good to bad, similar to that of an official game. They can range from really good designs (Gellin is cooler than any official grass type) to ones that I question how they made it past the drawing board (Barewl and Titanice). A lot of cute, well-designed first stages evolve into somewhat disappointing final forms (Lunapup, Minyan, Selkid).

Speaking of fakemon, the game is incredibly unbalanced, and the devs knew it, too. Pokemon like Nucleon, Inflagetah and Harptera are all completely broken and the game takes advantage of it once you get into the upper levels (Theo's hyper voice Nucleon, Tiko's choice-speced contrary overheat Chimiconda and Mega Inflagetah, a Pokemon that was overpowered before mega evolving).

The level curve is obnoxious, sometimes the wild pokémon will be ten or more levels lower than the trainer pokémon, and that gap is even worse for gym leaders. The best grinding sources (EV ninjas and Championship) aren't even available until you're done with all eight gyms.

Despite my paragraphs of complaints, It is still a Pokémon game and I did have fun with it. Really it just needs some polish and a few minor tweaks (or a bit of rewriting to make the villain less edgy) and it would be a much better experience. I'd recommend it with a warning that it has some issues.

I just want to start out by saying that even though I stopped playing this game, I did enjoy it for the most part. For one, I really enjoyed Tandor as a region. Most of the different areas, while still fitting within the normal Pokémon area archetypes, felt a bit more interesting and detailed than they usually do. I also appreciated the increased emphasis on story and all the references to the Pokémon Ranger series (great spin-offs, those).

It's unfortunate, then, that the game is plagued by a bit of a balancing issue. I was already underleveled pretty early on, but by the time I finished the 6th gym, for which I had to grind my starter like 7 levels just to beat, I saw that the next gym jumped a whole 10 levels, and my patience kind of wore out. By the time I had reached that point, it already felt like the game should've ended about 5 hours ago, so realizing I would have to spend another 5 hours or so just grinding, without even progressing the story, kind of caused me to lose interest. Honestly if this game was better balanced, I'd probably have rated it a 4/5 and said it was better than all the mainline games currently on Switch (honestly it still kind of is but that's besides the point) but a game has to either be really special or have an extremely streamlined combat system to make me put up with grinding that much, and Pokémon Uranium unfortunately doesn't quite reach either qualification.

there's a LOT of extremes on the sentiments of this fangame, so I guess I'm gonna be the weirdo with a more neutral opinion

it's probably the best Pokemon fangame I can think of but it's still fairly okay and the lack of optimization hurts it quite a bit. there's a lot of neat concepts, interesting Pokemon, and nice characters that accompany some really good fanmade music, but I just don't think it gels well enough to be anything other than a game that's ultimately kind of stuck in Pokemon's past. call me evil or a youngster or whatever but I'd still recommend any post-Gen 5 official Pokemon game before Uranium