Pokémon Sleep has now been available globally for a couple of weeks, bringing with it the new Pokémon GO Plus+, a timed research in Pokémon GO, and a whole new way to play Pokémon. As a general Pokémon fan, I couldn’t resist trying this game out, and as I’ve had a few weeks of tracking my sleep and playing the game, it seemed a fair time to finally review it. Pokémon Sleep was made by SELECT BUTTON inc, who previously created Pokémon: Magikarp Jump.
I won’t be reviewing the actual Pokémon GO Plus+ itself as ThePokeGOHunter already review it here, but I will say that I have had zero problems with it for both GO, and Sleep, and am a big fan!
How it Works
At the start of each week Professor Neroli gives you a new Snorlax to study the sleep patterns of. Professor Neroli is your Professor for Pokémon Sleep, and will assist you as the game progresses. You begin your journey in Greengrass Isle, and as your research advances new islands, and Snorlax, can be discovered. In Cyan Beach, you may be surprised to discover you have a green Snorlax! It isn’t a new colour shiny, the Snorlax you study on Cyan Beach is simply green.
The third island is yet to be uncovered, and needs more investigation, but seems to be a rock based island, potentially giving different Pokémon to study compared to the habitats on Greengrass Isle and Cyan Beach.
Each night different Pokémon will visit you as you sleep, and you can track your sleep using either your phone itself, or your Pokémon GO Plus+. The major difference between the two is that your phone can also record the sounds you make in your sleep, whereas the Plus+ cannot. Until my Plus+ arrived I used my phone, and then switched to the Plus+, because I really didn’t need to know how horrible my snoring was. Thanks Pokémon Sleep! To set your Pokémon GO Plus+ to record you simply long press the main button on the front of the device, and Pikachu will sing you what I think is quite a calming, lovely lullaby, and what my husband thinks is a horrifying and creepy song that haunts his dreams.
To stop the Plus+ from tracking your sleep, a quick tap will end the sleep tracking process. If you are using your phone, you will need to enter the game to choose to start your sleep, and end it, leaving your phone unlocked and face down so it can track. The game recommends keeping your phone or Plus+ in your bed itself so it can properly track your movement, and there is quite a dramatic difference it how it will track you when placed on a bedside table vs your actual bed. Do this at your own risk, phones prone to overheating could be a problem in your bed, and we don’t want to have to call Blastoise for a fire.
Sleep will then analyse how you have slept, giving you a Drowsy Power rating, and a sleep type. Your sleep type can be either Snoozing, Dozing, Slumbering, or Balanced type. The better your sleep, the higher the Drowsy Power, and the more Pokémon will visit you! The Pokéball icons around your Snorlax indicate how many visitors you may have, with the green being a 2* sleep style, orange for 3*, and red for 4*. And yes, your Pokémon visitors can be shiny!
You’ll need to tap on each Pokémon visitor in order to study them, and at the end of your research you’ll be able to feed them biscuits. You may earn a ‘bonus biscuit’ for a good sleep that rewards more friendship points than a Pokéball biscuit. Some Pokémon are hungry and therefore easier to befriend, and Pokémon can become full before you finish feeding them their maximum points. Don’t worry, if you can’t feed a Pokémon enough to befriend them, they will return in a visit at some point, keeping the same friendship level from your previous feeding. Maxing out your friendship points adds them to your collection, and you can have up to 5 Pokémon aiding you in your research at a time.
As you add Pokémon to your Sleep Pokédex and befriend them, you’ll learn that each is equipped with different skills, preferences for berries, and preferences for ingredients that they will collect. You need berries to feed your Snorlax, and ingredients to cook with to… also feed your Snorlax. They need a lot of food!
You can feed your Snorlax three times a day, between 6am and 12pm, 12pm and 6pm, and then between 6pm and 6am, local times. Collecting different ingredients will give you more options as you advance for more types of meals, and their power. Try to remember to do this three times a day as it really helps level up your Snorlax.
With all Pokémon having different skill sets and berry/ingredients that they will collect, you need to make choices about who to have in your team. Of course, you can pick by just having your favourites in your team! But if you want to level up your Snorlax as quickly as possible, you can ask your Rotom to help you pick a team based on different themes. There are options for berry finding, ingredient gathering, or skillful helping.
Your Pokémon will collect berries and ingredients throughout the day, and skills can be triggered when you tap on Pokémon in order to collect whatever they have gathered for you. They will have an icon above their head when they have items to collect, tapping that causes them to drop their items, and can trigger their skill, as seen in the screenshots below. Sometimes Pokémon will also find candies, which can be used to evolve them, or level them up.
Premium VS F2P
Of course, like any mobile game these days, there is both a premium, and a free to play option. There is a free trial for the Premium Pass which last for two weeks. Monthly it will cost $10, or there is a six monthly option for $50, giving a months saving. (prices will vary depending on your location and taxes etc).
The major thing that stands out is what while you can easier access to premium items, you also get the ability to add sleep manually. This means if you accidentally forget to record your Sleep, you don’t miss out, because you can add it yourself instead.
| Feature | Regular Pass | Premium Pass |
|---|---|---|
| How long past sleep data records and statistics can be viewed for | Up to 30 days | Forever |
| Friendship points awarded by Daily Bonus Biscuit | 3 points | 4 points |
| Sleep points awarded after a sleep session | Equal to the sleep score | Equal to the sleep score + 100 |
| Sleep Point Exchanges Access | Regular Exchange only | Regular Exchange and Premium Exchange |
| Monthly gifts | None | Good Camp Ticket ×1 Sleep points ×1,000 |
| Quarterly gifts | None | Handy Candy L ×1 Sub Skill Seed ×1 Dream Cluster M ×1 |
| Sleep diary | None | One entry per session |
| Ability to manually add sleep data | No | Yes |
Below are some screenshots to show the variations between the two exchanges, and more information on the Premium Pass.
Review
OK so phew, that was a lot of info, and I’m missing out a fair bit, but I promise it is nowhere near as complicated as it looks. Pokémon Sleep is a really adorable game that doesn’t require a huge amount of time dedicating to it, just a couple of check ins a day, which I appreciate. Being able to add a fairly passive Pokémon game into my daily life that also works in collaboration with GO is a big plus for me. The sleep tracking can be sent to GO via your Plus+ for free stardust and stickers, and free stardust is always a win.
The art style of this game is a particular stand out for me. I thought Magikarp Jump was cute and underappreciated, but the adorable factor is turned up to 100 with Sleep, and the Pokémon look amazing! Every Pokémon is so sweet looking, their animations really add so much character to them, and it’s given me a new found affection for some Pokémon, who knew Primeape could be so charming?!
The Pokémon are full of personality, and I’m genuinely excited to wake up each day and see how I’ve slept. I’m already finding it is encouraging me to go to bed earlier, and try to practice good sleep habits. As someone who is chronically ill, anything that encourages me to take more sleepy time care of myself is a good thing! I’ve been on my phone less at bed time and am finding I fall asleep quicker because of it, and as someone who has struggled to fall asleep at night historically, this makes me SO happy. While I’ve been tempted to go on my phone before when sleep has eluded me, now I stop myself because I want my sleep to track properly, and to see how many visitors I can get.
I enjoy that this isn’t a competitive game, while I am eager to get a shiny after seeing them online, making friends in the game helps you with candies for your Pokémon because of your friends research. It isn’t competitive, and instead making friends helps you out! You can achieve everything in your own time, and while the Premium Pass may help you advance a little quicker, it doesn’t feel like a freemium game.
There have been a few bugs in game, on causing text to vanish, and another that causes crashes, but when your game crashes it refreshes itself surprisingly quickly, and the text error has an easy fix too. Nothing to really grumble about so far!
In all, it is a pleasant, cute game, that I am really enjoying, and intend to keep on playing for the foreseeable! The first in-game event was announced at the Pokémon Presents, with a special full moon that gives extra drowsy power for your Snorlax, so it will be intriguing to see how this works, and what other events may occur in the future.
