Yesterday I re-downloaded and logged on one last time to transfer some favorite Pokémon to my Home account one last time before fully retiring this game. I played for the first year this game was out and then on-and-off throughout the years up until some time in the end of last year. Same with Fire Emblem Heroes, I just have slowly lost my taste for these daily time-sinks on mobile. It’s fun to catch Pokémon while you’re going out for a walk, but much like every modern Pokémon game it has become only truly enjoyable by a devoted minority. Sometimes on TikTok I’ll scroll past a livestream of this game and see the interface that the really hardcore players use on this app and it just depresses me! This game that barely has a battle mechanic has become so much about battling and it really baffles me. The fact that this game has a spot at Pokémon’s championships alongside the core games and the card game is insane to me. It’s fun to catch Pokémon while you’re on a walk, but this game became so much bigger than “just going out for a walk,” and I think for the worse.