Pikmin Bloom impressions after six months

I love Pikmin Bloom ., even though it is not entirely natural. My routine hasn’t changed in six months, even though it’s almost six months ago that Niantic’s companion app for walking launched. Each day I attempt to walk at least 30 minutes. The truth is, I fail to do so often. I sometimes earn far too many steps by driving with my phone in my pocket. I occasionally go out of town, and have to wait weeks for items I discover there to find their way back to me. But every day, multiple times a day, I check in. I feel like I’m accomplishing something.

I’m not. I’m making numbers go up. It’s a strange feeling. I don’t like the way it makes me feel.

There isn’t a lot to play here on a mechanical level. There are tasks that you have to accomplish, some of which require a bit more strategy. And there are ways to optimize your squad. It’s all about walking. Walking to plant seeds, walking to help them grow and then walking to get the food you need to feed them. In a typical game, this would lead to something. There are many different kinds of gameplay and stories that can be explored by growing more Pikmin. You can plant plants and battle mushrooms here, although it’s not difficult to do either. To build your team, you basically need to continue building it.

Image: Niantic/Nintendo

A big part of this, I think, is that Niantic has to make money. The more you can think about numbers, the more you will spend money to move those numbers faster. This is strange in a game that revolves around walking. However, it’s done with responsibility — you can’t keep key features from the game if you don’t pay. I haven’t spent (or felt like spending) one dollar.

Sans the usual challenges that I seek in games, I think that Pikmin ‘s appeal boils down to something pretty dull on paper: It’s satisfying when new technology works well.

Games on real-world maps may not be new, but it’s always fascinating to see yourself in both worlds simultaneously. Niantic’s technology has improved so that everything works seamlessly. In this case, you essentially play the role of a post office supervisor, and it remains fun sending Pikmin out and seeing them return, over and over. The app’s vibration feature is a great example of how the game can improve.

I also enjoy the passive collaboration. Unlike Pokemon Go and Ingress, Pikmin Bloom doesn’t feature competitive elements. I recall the developers of Journey talking at one point about removing features that would allow players to negatively impact each other online, and it feels like Niantic took a similar approach here. You can plant flowers alongside other players, and team up with other players to fight mushrooms faster, but the design limits you from doing anything that would ruin someone else’s experience.

It reminds me of Noby Noby Boy or Curiosity: What’s Inside the Cube? , in that you’re all working together towards a shared goal, though I suppose in the latter case that all kind of fell apart (and arguably wasn’t “shared” to begin with).

I wish that all the time I spend on this site was directing to something concrete. There are more than just things to buy. An end game. Yet, as I keep reminding myself, doing so would clash with the idea that this is a companion app for exercise as much, if not more, than it is a game. And perhaps more importantly, it would also, sadly, mean I’d have to stop playing.