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Niantic has started to roll out Pikmin Bloom in certain parts of the world today, an AR game that functions ♍in 🌌a very similar way to Pokemon Go.
The Pokemon Company has done a lot this year to celebrate Pokemon turning 25. Plenty of innovative stuff including the return of Pokemon Snap and the introduction of Pokemon Unite. However, it hasn't changed how people play Pokemon in the same way that it and Niantic did in 2016 via the launch of Pokemon Go.
A free-to-play AR game that continues to bring Pokemon into the real world. Niantic has enjoyed so much success through Pokemon Go that it has been hard at work creating a follow-u✃p game based on ꦕanother Nintendo IP, Pikmin. After months of hearing about Pikmin's AR game, today, on the 20th anniversary of the arrival of the very first Pikmin game, it finally arrives.
It's called Pikmin Bloom, and you can check out its launch trailer and other details about Niantic's latest offering in the video below. The similarities between Bloom and Pokemon Go are plain to see. Understandably so as it uses the same map technology and quite a few of the same base elements. However, had the opportunity to play Bloom early and highlighted just how different a game it is from Pokemon Go.
In fact, it might not even be entirely accurate to call Pikmin Bloom a game. As Nintendo Life points out, it's closer to a lifestyle app than a game. Players collect seeds by walking around and then plant those seeds in their incubator backpacks. You will then need to walk to make those seeds grow into Pikmin and pluck them once they're ready. Your Pikmin will then follow you around, as they do in the main series of games, and can even leave flowers wherever you walk as you go about your day.
Unlike Pokemon Go, there's no incessant need to catch 'em all in Pikmin Bloom. Just fire it up whenever you go for a walk, collecting seeds and planting flowers as you go. There's more to it than that, of course, with medals to earn and activities to complete with other players, but only if you want to. Bloom's soft launch starts today, coming to Australia and Singapore first. It will hit app stores elsewhere in the coming days, so keep your eyes peeled.
