Pre-register: Niantic hopes to catch Pokémon Go’s lightning in a bottle again with Peridot

Just back in May of this past year, Niantic, the game developer behind the phenomenon that actually got everyone walking around the real world revealed the upcoming release of their new game, Peridot. This time, instead of catching and training Pokemon, players are set to adopt and raise cute fictional pets. The game now has a global release date – May 9th, 2023!

Based on the promised gameplay features and designs of the pets, the company is clearly hoping to capture the same magic that Pokemon Go did, but this time with its own original game built on the same, popular AR technology it used in Game Freak and Nintendo’s game, and even Ingress. Peridot promises to be an immersive experience, where players will be able to interact with their pets via feeding, playing with, breeding and even going on walks with them.

After thousands of years of slumber, Peridots (or Dots for short) are waking to a world vastly different from the one in which they used to roam, and they’ll need our help to protect them from extinction.

You’ll foster your own Peridots as you embark on this experience. These are creatures who feel so real, you’ll love every moment raising them from birth to adulthood. While you explore the world together, you’ll get to learn more about your cute new friends, develop a bond as you nurture and play with them, and work with other players to diversify their species.

Peridot claims it improves on the augmented reality technology found in previous titles developed by Niantic. The game uses the phone’s camera and GPS to create a virtual world that overlays your real-life surroundings. This weird, but cute, new game may even play a lot like the recently discovered potential Nintendogs AR game for Android, though I’m almost certain it will be better due to its fantastical nature.

Pre-registration for Peridot just officially opened, and while the beta is only available at this time in Denmark, those interested will only have to wait for two more months to adopt and raise their own colorful Fakemon. In my initial coverage, I discussed how this new venture for Niantic needs to be vastly different than Pokemon Go while retaining some of the innovations and IP craze it brought with it. Instead of attempting to mimic it with crazy-looking alien creatures, it would need to stand apart and carve its own path. I suppose we’ll know soon enough if it’s aiming to do that!