Pokopia Finally Lets You Dive Underwater In A Free Update

Pokémon Pokopia is getting the DLC it deserves in the form of a free update this August that will finally let us go swimming underwater. And, AND, there’s a paid expansion pass on the way that will bring three major updates, the first of which is also arriving in August.

In today’s Nintendo Direct, Ditto trotted up to the edge of the water and dove right in! This August, the new ability Dive will give every Ditto free access to swimming underwater, allowing them to build in the ocean and hang out with water Pokémon friends under the waves. This update has long been expected, given how much building space and how many resources have been clearly visible underwater this entire time, and will certainly help those of us who haven’t been creative enough to suck up the entire ocean for our building projects.

But beyond that, Pokopia is also getting a paid expansion pass. The expansion pass will include three major updates, the first of which is coming in August and adds an entirely new underwater area: Bubbly Basin, along with new a number of new Pokémon specifically from that environment, including Mudkip, Popplio, and Corphish. The other two updates remain mysteries for now, but one is coming later this year and will add brand new features of some sort, and the third will be out next year and add yet another new town.

Given how huge Pokopia already is, this is easily going to sink my hours in Pokopia deeper into the hundreds, and I’m really curious to know which Kanto towns we’re going to see fallen into ruin in these updates.

The expansion pass will be available to purchase today for an as-yet-unknown amount of money (we’re watching that), but none of the updates take effect until sometime in August. You also don’t have to purchase the update to access the Dive ability—that bit’s free at least.