Pokémon Sleep

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Pokémon Sleep
So TPC, instead of getting Game Freak to fix Scarlet & Violet, you instead release a terrible sleep-tracking app as a game?
Genre(s): Sleep tracker disguised as a game. Platform(s): Android iOS Release Date: July 17, 2023 Engine: Unity Developer(s): SELECT BUTTON Publisher(s): The Pokémon Company Country: Japan Series: Pokemon

Pokémon Sleep is a mobile game developed by SELECT BUTTON and published by The Pokémon Company. It was released in select countries on July 17, 2023, and then worldwide 2 days later.

Snoozing Qualities

1. In its official game trailer, it says to keep your screen on and put your phone plugged in on top of your bed which can be a fire hazard since the phone can overheat and cause a fire!
   • The game also requires you to keep your device on which drains battery power, unlike most sleep tracker apps that will run in the background in which you can put your device to sleep mode by simply turning it off. This causes the phone's battery to deteriorate faster over time and it results in the device malfunctioning as the battery's lifespan is shortened because of it being overcharged.
     • This was likely because this app uses a game engine instead of making the app web-based.
     • This was thankfully fixed with an early update that makes the app go into sleep mode too to reduce strain on the phone and the battery.
2. Terrible frame rate in which the game will even struggle to run properly. It even drops frames when you are trying to download the remaining 590MB of data that the game needs, which will fail due to the terrible frame rate. This was thankfully fixed in an update.
   • To easily fix this on the download screen, you will need to press the left arrow button on an Android device until a pop-up shows up and the framerate will go back to normal.
3. The game will record audio from the microphone, which is pretty creepy and it could be used to collect your data. In fact, the game requires microphone access to be played (although you can bypass it with the Pokémon GO Plus+ accessory since it has no microphone).
4. Speaking of the Pokémon GO Plus+ accessory, it is overpriced at US$55 and can only be used in Pokémon GO and Sleep.
5. Terrible sleep tracking: If the phone is slightly bumped, the app will believe you woke up early and you'll get a terrible score. Thankfully, this has since been patched.
6. False Advertising: The game's advertisements are shown to make the game look exciting, yet the game is just a boring sleep tracker.
7. Related to SQ#2, the game is very unoptimized. In fact, during the game's early days, it runs poorly on low-end devices despite the 2D graphics.
   • If you explore the .apk file, the game is revealed to use the Unity engine, which explains the optimization issues.
8. For some of the Pokémon, you need to have terrible sleeping habits to obtain them, which pretty much encourages bad sleeping habits. This has been fixed with newer updates adding more variety to the Pokémon featured and it can be bypassed with incense.
9. Overall, this game was too overhyped and when it came out, it was a terrible disaster initially.

Energizing Qualities

1. Decent graphics.
2. The music for Pokémon Sleep is great.
3. The game receives lots of support from SELECT BUTTON as it receives regular patches and new events that allow you to level up and evolve your Pokémon faster.
4. The game is very generous with its rewards, especially with its daily gifts (added in Version 1.0.15) and event rewards.
   • Speaking of event rewards, their requirements alongside the weekly rewards' requirements are very easy to understand and obtain, making the app suitable for everyone to use without needing to pay additional money
5. Legendary Pokémon were finally introduced starting with the Raikou research event from March 25 to April 8, 2024. Since then, Entei and Suicune were introduced with their titular events.
6. Speaking of events, the game has monthly Good Night Sleep events where during the full moon, everyone can gain lots of sleep points to redeem rewards with and level up their Pokémon and Snorlax faster.
7. Despite its price and limited features, the Pokémon GO Plus+ accessory is a useful item as it grants you an exclusive nightcap Snorlax while automatically catching wild Pokémon and spinning Pokémon stops for you without needing to check your phone. Additionally, from Update 1.10.0 onwards, it grants you an exclusive nightcap Pikachu to help boost the Snorlax of the week's level while allowing you to track your sleep without needing your phone.
   • Speaking of sleep tracking, it charges up very fast, has no microphone to track your voice and does not give inaccurate data or shut off if you bump it by accident.
8. Despite all of its problems, the game can help motivate children and insomniacs to get better sleep due to the Pokémons' cute sleep styles and the game's generous rewards.

Reception

Before the game was even announced in 2020, many players were creating YouTube shorts in which they said the app would never come out at all. However, 3 years later in 2023, it would be announced with tons of hype from players believing that the app would be good. When it was launched worldwide, it would later gain negative reception for its terrible framerate and various issues that the game had such as the app overheating the device and killing battery life.

Overtime, the game's reception became slightly more positive as more patches were added between updates, which fixed the poor framerate and the sleep tracking.

The game currently has a rating of 3.7 stars on Google Play as of August 23, 2024.

Videos

Official trailer

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Reviews and other videos

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Comments

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