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