As many of you probably know, a few years ago Pokémon Go was released and instantly exploded in popularity across the world. The phenomenon took hold of children and adults alike and for a time it seemed as if the Pokémon craze would never come to an end. However, despite media coverage and mass hysteria the game sank into obscurity almost as fast as it rose to the limelight.
Around the time of its release in 2016, I was also one of the many that became enthralled by the craze of the mobile game and found myself amongst the throngs of individuals in metropolitan areas seeking to catch their first Raichu or defeat a long-held gym. I was as involved as I could be in the game and the community that surrounded it. However, just as the public's interest in the game began to wane so did mine. Over time, I deleted the game from my phone and all but forgot about the adventures myself and many others had experienced while playing the game.
Two years later now in college and in an overwhelmingly larger and new city, I have rediscovered the fan favorite. Due mostly in part to circumstance, I decided to re-download the app and after only a week it has proven to be a great decision.
When the game first started waning in popularity it was due to a few factors. Because of its initial popularity, many of the people who played the game did so on a daily basis and soon found themselves with a full Pokédex and not necessarily much else to do. This, alongside a lack of updates which would introduce new generations of Pokémon and new facets to the game, little communication between players and developers, and game-breaking glitches did little to help the app maintain its popularity.
However, these were all issues of 2016. Now in 2018, most if not all of these issues have been resolved. After two years Niantic, the game's developers, have introduced two new sets of Pokémon to the game, respectively the Hoenn and Johto regions, closely following the release order of the original Pokémon cards. Overall this has introduced 225 new pokemon to the original 151 available in the game.
Of these new pokemon new legendaries have been introduced alongside quests and side activities that drive the game and give it new purpose.
Perhaps the biggest update to the game has been the introduction of raids. Essentially raids are massive multiplayer gym battles that feature one pokemon with an incredibly high CP. These CPs can range anywhere from in the 1000s to the 50000s. The raids are very difficult and very few can be completed alone, encouraging people to cooperate together in defeating these raid bosses. If you do defeat them you are given a chance to at catching a reduced CP version of the raid boss.
These new aspects of the game, which solve many of its past issues, have largely been overlooked by many. Because of its initial downfall people have all but forgotten about the game. However, thanks to new updates and features I can say that Pokémon Go is better now than it ever has been and because of that it deserves another chance.
