Pokemon Go is still awesome, actually.

For those who remember Pokémon Go as nothing more than the biggest summer fashion of 2016 – or even just the inspiration behind Hilary Clinton’s pull back – I have some news for you: mobile gaming is still popular, still fun and always worth playing.

As many fashions do, Pokémon Go quickly grew huge, gathering tons of press and gamers soon after its launch in July 2016. People went so far as to create exercise programs around the game, which required you to walk around – and around it. and around – to find them and catch them all. There was the nostalgic aspect of its popularity, of course; The Pokémon card and game franchise just celebrated its 20th anniversary^e earlier that year, and even those long past the franchise found themselves addicted to this free, streamlined version that they could play on their phones. But Pokémon GoThe biggest draw to s was its community, the millions of people around the world who were eager to go Pokemon hunting together at a time when we all wanted to be outside anyway.

After a while, the media stopped paying attention to the game, although diehards could still recognize other players in the wild by their strained necks and Poké Ball-throwing finger movements. While the normies were advancing, Pokémon Go has continued to exist and has continued to evolve. The gaming community is still bustling (there are reportedly over 800,000 daily active players in the US alone), participating in live events like the Pokémon Go Party. The inaugural edition of Go Fest, held in Chicago’s Millennium Park in July 2017, was infamous; since then, game developer Niantic has found a way to make the weekend activity more fun and accessible to everyone. Take last weekend, which celebrated Pokémon GoFifth Anniversary: ​​I spent a ton of time getting sunburned in the name of catching special and rare Pokémon, and had a blast doing it. And I don’t care who judges me for that!

There are a lot more of these rare Pokémon to be found in the game these days, which helps keep it interesting. More regular updates help freshen things up, whether it’s something as simple as a new set of missions to complete by completing certain tasks or introducing a few new monsters to research. Niantic even recently increased the game’s max level, meaning that players who peaked a long time ago, when the obsession was at its peak, now have a reason to come back and play for more points. ‘experience. You can trade Pokémon and items with friends, or fight alongside (and against) them; these are key changes to make the game look much more like a full-fledged Pokémon game, much to the delight of the millions of franchise fans who are among the most engaged in mobile gaming. Also: There are plenty of stylish outfits out there inspired by Uniqlo and Original Stitch collaborations in the real world, so your avatar can now look sexy.

It is true that Pokémon Go is all about the grind which, to some people, can seem tasteless and repetitive. But it really rewards you for walking around and doing the same thing over and over – you really see these places where you find Pokémon differently, less as buildings to walk through or parks to walk through, and more as meaningful habitats for your child. favorite ‘mons. It’s one thing to spend a few months doing the routine of finding and catching Pokémon; do it for five years? It is definitely something special.

I’m a lover of video games and Pokémon, so Pokémon Go was still something I was going to get into and stay in, even half a decade later. But you don’t have to be either to find the game enjoyable these days, and they don’t guarantee that you’ll want to put up with some of its more boring elements, either. Connection errors still exist and some Pokémon are painfully difficult to catch; if you dig into subreddits, players are complaining about how the game is worse than ever (“Why do bug Pokémon appear on the waterfront ?!” is a recent topic of discussion). Yet like me and countless others they still play Pokémon Go on the regular. Even though the lingering pandemic means you can’t have a Hot Vax Summer, you can at least have a Hot Snorlax.