Pokémon Pokopia has a hidden reward for completing the game's Pokedex, and you can even stumble upon part of the secret early on

• Pokémon Pokopia has a hidden reward that can be found in the Sparkling Skylands
• Players need to find all 300 Pokémon before accessing it
• The completed Pokédex will be required to unlock the area

Pokémon Pokopia has a secret reward, but players can only earn it if they complete their Pokédex first.

Pokopia launched earlier this month on Nintendo Switch 2, so many players are likely still slowly trucking along and have not even finished the game's story yet.

It's a huge game with plenty to do, and for those who are invested for the long haul, there's a pretty neat reward waiting for you at the end of the road.

According to IGN, players can unlock a hidden reward for finishing their entire Pokédex, and you can actually encounter the beginnings of it quite early on.

If you investigate the Sparkling Skylands, you can stumble upon a cave deep in one of the islands where they meet Gyrados for the first time. The area can be found by locating a room with a broken ladder and by following a black/yellow stripe WARNING panel on the floor.

After breaking through the panel beneath where the ladder descends, you should eventually drop into a small cavern. It's in there that players will find an Area Gate that lets players scan their Pokédex.

Here's the catch. You'll only be able to open it if you have completed the entire Pokédex, which means finding all 300 Pokémon first, minus event-only creatures.

If you haven't already discovered the Area Gate, you'll receive the recipe for the Neo Dowsing Machine by collecting the 300th Pokémon, which Professor Tangrowth will tell you to take to Sparkling Skylands.

Alternatively, you can use a Pokémon with the Search ability to help you track down the Area Gate without having to go through the trouble yourself.

When you unlock the Area Gate with your completed Pokédex, you'll find a recipe for a card reader inside, a shutter for the door that opened up, and a printer.

If you go up to the printer, you'll be rewarded with a cute certificate you can hang up, congratulating you on your completed Pokédex.

"We hereby certify your achievement of completing the Pokédex. May this great feat be celebrated by all!" the certificate reads.

In TechRadar Gaming's five-star Pokémon Pokopia review, lifestyle managing editor Josephine Watson said she "underestimated how well Nintendo would tackle its latest town-building / cozy life sim."

"It’s story-driven, offering a great gameplay loop, inventive mechanics, and very few friction points; Nintendo clearly learned from some of Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ quality-of-life hiccups," Watson writes. "My only wish would be for a little more individuality in Poké-personalities, but it’s still plenty charming as it is."

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