Pikmin Bloom: Niantic’s new AR game coming to iOS (launch trailer)

After Pokémon Go and Harry potter, Niantic is about to deliver us its AR version of Pikmin, these strange and green little beings who have become very popular on Nintendo platforms. Pikmin Bloom takes up some of the “codes” of Niantic’s AR games, namely the need to go tramping in town or in the countryside, but the objective is no longer here to find other critters or items displayed in AR but to… count the steps. The distances traveled will allow you to unlock Pikmin seeds, and when you return home, it will always be possible to grow and hatch your Pikmin and then take care of it with mini-activities such as Tamagotchi. Another game session will finally allow this small world to be displayed in AR, on the living room table for example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn_BLysDrF8

It looks rather cute certainly, but in view of what is shown to us, more oriented also towards young children than towards adults (and yet I love Pikmin). Moreover, this game design frankly childish is confirmed to us in the first videos of gameplay (the game is already available on the App Store in Singapore and Australia). Pikmin Bloom is expected to land on the App Store shortly.