Pokémon Legends: Arceus is an incredibly refreshing take on the Pokémon world. Rather than the usual overworld sprites and battle system, this game is open-world. Pokémon Legends: Arceus tasks the player with compiling the very first Pokédex in the history of the region. The player character, Akari or Rei, is part of an expedition group from back when the lives of humans and Pokémon were still separate. The game takes place in the Hisui region, a region that eventually became the Sinnoh region. Your goal is to meet every species of Pokémon within the region.
Akari and Rei are part of the Galaxy Expedition Team. This team includes various corps such as the Medical, Security, and Survey Corps, to which your character belongs.
The new trailer shows us quite a lot of wonderful content. The open-world landscape looks great, with dynamic NPC sprites and plenty of Pokémon in and around the wild areas. Additionally, the player character seems to have a variety of movement options, from walking, running, sneaking, and even quick roles. The previous games’ options of riding Pokémon over land, air, and sea also make a return. Best of all, the video showed off some much-needed clarity on how battles look.
At the start of a battle, players have “style” options to engage in “strong” or “agile” fashions. Pokémon still attack in a turn-based system, but stats might allow some to attack multiple times. In this sense, Pokémon Legends: Arceus might have a battle system much more similar to traditional Japanese RPGs.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus was announced during a Pokémon Presents stream in February. It will arrive on Nintendo Switch on January 28th, 2022. Additionally, remakes of the franchise’s fourth generation, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl release on November 21, 2022, with pre-orders available now.
More info on Pokémon Legends: Arceus is available via the game’s website.