As far as first party Nintendo titles go, Pikmin has always been something of a funny one. Not quite having the gravitas of a Mario and Zelda, but popular enough that news of Pikmin 4 was warmly welcomed by the gaming community at large.
You have a set time limit each day, at which point you’ll gather up your Pikmin and return to base camp between missions. Here you’ll get to spend what you’ve earned on new abilities for yourself and your loyal pup Orachi, who’s a very versatile canine companion who can be ridden around, and can help transport Pikmin who can’t swim on his back. You can also talk to those you’ve rescued so far and they’ll offer you side missions, or you can also replay challenges you might have uncovered.
And yes, several hours into Pikmin 4, it does get a little repetitive as you repeat the same cycle of seeing an object, finding the best way to get to it with the Pikmin at your disposal, and then executing on that plan to bring the object back to the goal. But you’re carried through that loop – no pun intended – by the aforementioned charm and that little extra hit of endorphins when you get to speak to a quirky new character or uncover another codex entry that elicits a chuckle.