Area Gates will block your path early on in Pokémon Pokopia, keeping Ditto contained in the Withered Wastelands until you’ve raised your Trainer Rank.
While Area Gates appear in multiple Pokémon games, they feature heavily in the Gen 1 games so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the big green gates are back in Pokopia’s version of Kanto. Though you’re probably more interested in how to unlock Area Gates rather than gate lore aren’t you?
I’ll stop beating about the Tangela and will get onto how to open Area Gates and raise your Trainer Rank in Pokémon Pokopia.
Looking for more help in Ditto’s adventure? Then check out our Pokopia walkthrough.
How to open Area Gates and raise Trainer Rank in Pokopia
To open two of the Area Gates in Withered Wasteland, you first need to complete the ‘Yawn up a Storm!’ Important Request, which will raise your Trainer Rank to Great. This will allow you to access Bleak Beach via the eastern Area Gate and Rocky Ridges via the north-western gate.
The next set of locked Area Gates are spread out across two locations. You’ll find one in the northern side of Bleak Beach which requires either swimming or you building a bridge to reach. The other is in the northern part of Rocky Ridges and is thankfully a lot easier to access as you can simply walk to it!
Both of these gates are unlocked by reaching Trainer Rank Ultra by completing two Important Requests. Namely ‘Brighten things up!’ in Bleak Beach and ‘Time to party!’ in Rocky Ridges. It doesn’t matter which order you complete them in, you just need to do both and the next set of Area Gates will open.
It’s important to note that both of these gates lead to the Sparkling Skylands, so don’t worry about missing a location.
You might have noticed, however, that I skipped an Area Gate in Withered Wastelands. Specifically, the one set high up on a cliffside in the northern part of the region which requires either fixing the ladder or using blocks to reach. This is because you can’t unlock this Area Gate until you’ve reached the Sparkling Skylands.
To open this Area, I first recommend completing the main campaign of Pokopia to ensure you’re at the highest Trainer Rank – Master. Though you may be able to open it after completing the ‘Rebuild the huge building!’ Important Request in Sparkling Skylands.
When you’re ready, head over to the Area Gate itself. It can be found on the eastern island in the Sparkling Skylands – where you first met Tinkamaster. You will need to climb up to the highest level of this island, where there’s a series of ruined buildings, to reach the Area Gate.
Once there, the Area Gate will refuse to open because there’s something obstructing it. Thankfully, this is an easy fix. All you have to do is break the blocks of rubbish in front of the gate. Afterwards, interact with the Area Gate twice to open it and you’ll have connected the Withered Wastelands to the Sparkling Skylands!
Best of luck opening all of the Area Gates! If you’re looking for more Pokopia help, then check out our guides on how to increase Comfort Levels, the Pokédex, Habitat Dex and how to get Mysterious Feathers.
