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Pokémon Pokopia Expansion and Free Update Unlock Underwater Gameplay Next Week
July 30, 2026·4 min read
Pokémon Pokopia is opening the ocean floor to builders next week. A free version 2.0 update arrives on August 5 for Nintendo Switch 2, teaching Ditto the Dive move and allowing players to swim, plant, and build underwater instead of treating the sea as the edge of every island.
The same day also brings Bubbly Basin, the first paid part of the $34.99 Expansion Pass. That new town adds its own Pokémon, furniture, outfits, materials, and mystery, while the free update gives every owner the movement tools needed to explore beneath the surface. The two releases are closely linked, but they are not the same purchase.
Once Ditto learns Dive, underwater areas become proper building spaces rather than scenery. Players can move across the seabed, place structures, grow plants, and create habitats for Water-type Pokémon in places that were previously out of reach. The change gives existing islands more room without asking players to start over on a separate map.
Access is not automatic, so returning players may need to prepare before the update goes live. Ditto must already know Jump and Surf, while Bleak Beach needs to reach environment level 5. Players must also complete the request called "Raise the environment level!" before the new move becomes available.
Those requirements give the update a best place in the normal progression instead of handing a later tool to new saves immediately. Anyone who has ignored Bleak Beach should spend time improving habitats, completing requests, and raising comfort levels now. Finishing that work early will make the move into underwater building much smoother on launch day.
Bubbly Basin turns the new movement system into a full area built around life beneath the sea. Players will restore an underwater settlement, meet new Pokémon, grow watermelons, collect more furniture, and investigate a strange hole below the sea floor. The setting keeps the relaxed building loop while giving it a more unusual backdrop.
New buoyant blocks should make the area feel different from normal land construction. These materials allow parts of a building to float at different heights, opening the door to raised rooms, hanging paths, and layered homes that sit above or below the waterline. A Sharpedo-shaped submarine also points to more playful designs than the base game usually offers.
The DLC adds another Dream Island as well, giving dedicated builders more space to save and share larger projects. Its value will depend on the size of the town, the number of requests, and how much the new Pokémon change daily life. Even so, the underwater theme gives Bubbly Basin a stronger identity than a simple furniture pack.
The Expansion Pass includes three parts that cannot be bought separately, which makes the $34.99 price a bigger commitment than the first release alone. Bubbly Basin is the main attraction at launch, while Part 2 arrives later in 2026 with accessories that Pokémon can wear. That second drop sounds smaller based on what Nintendo has shared so far.
Part 3 is planned for 2027 and will add another town, but its setting, Pokémon, building tools, and story have not been revealed. Buyers are therefore paying now for one detailed expansion and two future releases with much less information. That does not make the pass a bad deal, but it leaves its full value difficult to judge.
Players mainly interested in underwater building do not need to make that decision immediately because Dive is included in the free update. Preparing Bleak Beach first lets everyone test the new movement and construction systems before spending money. The Expansion Pass makes more sense for players who want a full new town now and are comfortable waiting for the rest.
Pokémon and people once lived happily together, but the world has withered and the humans are gone. The only remaining resident appears to be a lone Tangrowth. After waking from a long slumber, a peculiar Ditto decides to restore the desolate land using its transformation skills
Released
March 5, 2026
Developer
Omega Force
Publisher
Nintendo
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