I don’t think any number of words could quantify my hype for this game. This is the Pokémon game that I, as well as many others, have been dreaming of for a VERY long time. We finally have an open world Pokémon game! Although not quite a new generation, set within a whole new region of the Pokémon world. Pokémon Legends: Arceus takes us to the Sinnoh region, or more accurately, a Sinnoh region that is hardly touched by humans. The game is set in an almost feudal age called Hisui. So how does the change to the twenty-six year old formula play out? If it’s not broken don’t fix it right? Or is this a much needed and wanted change that can take the franchise to new heights?
While definitely the most open Pokémon game to exist, it isn’t fully open world. Hisui has been divided up into six different segments. While I’m sure there are plenty who would disagree with me, I can only praise this approach to the open world mechanic. It helps provide the player with a tiny bit of guidance. My biggest criticism of open world games as a whole is that they can be very daunting, when you’re literally thrown into a massive world and told to get going with no real sense of direction until you happen to stumble across something or someone who can help you out. Each map segment is a lot larger than I expected, yet keeps itself from being overwhelming.
Each segment seems to be designed in such a way that you’re meant to take your time to explore it. You have very little if no indication in which direction to head, there is zero hand holding, if anything quite the opposite. While the open world is divided into segments, each area remains its own open world. The only negative thing I can say about this approach to the open world mechanic is that there is no interlocking between areas that border each other. If you try scaling a mountain or a hill and try to go in the direction which another area would be, you are met with an invisible wall and fog until you retreat. In order to travel from one area to the next you have to finish your expedition, return to Jubilife Village and then set off again to another area. For me this breaks the open world immersion and somewhat diminishes the scale and vastness that has been built up of Hisui. Even a small pathway between each area could have been a nice touch, just to connect each area to form the whole region as one.
The game can be challenging from the off, while some Pokémon such as Bidoof and Wurmple are pretty harmless you quickly come across some Pokémon that are a lot more aggressive. They will not hesitate in attacking you even after steam rolling your entire team until they either make you faint or you to escape. Each time you faint you drop items; the higher level you are the more items you drop.
If you choose to do most of your exploring on foot, as I like to as much as possible, the game does throw you some quite frankly silly limitations that don’t make sense. The character can’t take any step higher than their knee, which when walking up certain hills forces you to come to a halt, where ultimately the small step wouldn’t be limiting in real life. It’s not jumpable or walkable. While it boils down to being a mild inconvenience, it does seem to occur a bit too often and can be frustrating when you’re aimlessly exploring or trying to get to a particular point, or even chasing a rare Pokémon that is running away from you after a failed capture.
Once you get through the tutorial, the game leaves you to it. Go off, explore and catch some Pokémon. It took me a long time to capture every Pokémon in the first area, many of which I didn’t know where there until I had unlocked the third area. As you progress the sheer vastness of the Hisui region becomes more apparent with each area unlocked. While it is fun to explore on foot and battle and capture Pokémon along the way, sometimes you just need to get around a bit faster. This is where the game’s new Ride Pokémon come in. With each one being unlocked at different story points, you can’t immediately hop on your Wyrdeer from the get go and go galloping into the silhouette of Mt.Coronet during a crisp sunset. (I do recommend doing that though as it’s an absolute delight) The Pokémon that you use to ride, swim or fly around on are Pokémon that choose to help you out and then you can summon them at will to use as you wish. Gone are the days of a HM slave taking up a vital party slot. Using your ride Pokémon is a fantastic way to get around, not just for the speed aspect, but also for general exploration, as there are some areas of Hisui that you can only get to with the help of your ride Pokémon.
The whole theme of the game is to explore the vast wilderness that surrounds Ye Olde Jubilife Village and beyond. The Pokémon League does not exist in Hisui, meaning the main objective of challenging Gym Leaders, collecting badges and eventually becoming Champion isn’t a featured objective. The main objective to the game is Pokédex completion. You can complete your Pokédex to varying degrees as well. This can be at a basic level such as just seeing the Pokémon or having one capture or you can do more in depth research and tasks capturing multiple of the same species to learn more about it. The game has leaned back into the “Gotta Catch ‘em All” marketing phrase from the late nighties, but it doesn’t actually use the phrase. As well as the main story missions there are many side quests as well, while the vast majority of them are fetch quests, they are good fun and have yet to get boring for me some fifty requests in.
While the battle system is still turn based like it always has been, it adds some new features making it pretty safe to say it has been drastically improved upon. As a battle starts you are no longer transported into a pocket dimension, the battle happens at the exact spot the wild Pokémon initiates its attack. During a Pokémon battle, your character can move around, get too close and you yourself can take damage as well as your partner Pokémon. In addition to this you can freely move the camera, giving a full near limitless view of the battle at hand. Which is a first for the series, it helps create a far more immersive experience and the feeling that it’s not just your Pokémon battling, but you are as well. While the move catalogue has been cut quite drastically the attack animations have been significantly updated. A personal favourite is Flamethrower, not only does it come from my Quilava’s mouth but it actually looks like a flamethrower, dispersing out in a cone shape. Furthermore, if your Pokémon is at a lower angle and you’re battling a Pokémon that floats or flies higher it actually aims upwards, making direct contact instead of it being shot in a straight line in the general direction of the target.
There are two new battle styles in Agile Style and Strong Style. Agile Style moves have less power, however your Pokémon can attack quicker, which can give you an early advantage to get a quick Status inducing move off early battle, or if you are using a momentum required attack like Rollout. Meanwhile Strong Style is all about power battling. Strong Style can leave you open to multiple attacks. Using either of these two styles also doubles the PP used for the move. Meaning while you could use the battle styles for every attack made, it wouldn’t be the wisest of choices. Battling actually requires some thought now; you need to think a few moves ahead.
Throughout the game you’ll randomly come across Alpha Pokémon. Alpha Pokémon are somewhat similar in concept to the Totem Pokémon in Sun and Moon. Alpha Pokémon are larger than their regular counterparts with glowing red eyes and are designed to give you a hard time, they can one shot most Pokémon even with a type disadvantage. You need to use a wide variety of moves in both battle styles in order to defeat or capture an Alpha Pokémon, as well as using one of the special Pokéballs that you can craft. Upon succeeding you have an incredibly strong addition to any team.
There is a good selection of new Pokémon, and a respectable handful of Regional Variants. While I must concede I can’t imagine any of these Pokémon will be hitting the all-time favourite list. They look considerably better than the static models that were leaked one week prior to release. Please don’t let the leaked static models damage your opinions, look to see them in game and animated. There are plenty of amazing new features as well, my personal favourite being the craft feature. You have to craft your Pokéballs, potions and plenty of other essential items needed to do anything in the game. You do this by collecting different types of rocks and Apricorns throughout Hisui, in doing this you’re assisted by your Pokémon to shake the trees or break the rocks. Resources are bountiful throughout as well, while some items are rarer than others, you can find most things fairly easily. The Hisui region alongside your partner Pokémon makes the resource collection task not only an enjoyable experience but an immersive one. Gathering resources also accumulates experience points as well as builds the friendship level meaning you can get friendship evolutions pretty quickly. Yay for Umbreon!
One thing which has always been a discussion point of the Pokémon series is the difficulty of the games. Pokémon Legends: Arceus can at times be surprisingly difficult. Difficulty can be thrown at you in a variety of ways, whether this is with the Alpha Pokémon, the various research quests you have to do to complete a Pokédex page. Even something as simple as losing a handful of potentially vital items at random can cause you problems. While the game can’t be called unforgiving, it is certainly the most challenging Pokémon game to date.
The graphics are always an area of discourse in Pokémon games and it has to be addressed. There are most definitely some graphical bumps in terms of frame rate and draw distance, certain things do seem to pop into existence out of nowhere at times, sometimes a Pokémon in the distance can look like it is stuck in a glitch in the matrix, forcing its way out into a higher frame rate as you approach it. it must be worth noting that this only happens on occasion, it thankfully isn’t a lingering problem with every new step taken. Certain textures throughout the map stick out like a sore thumb. The worst and most noticeable being the water. If you throw a Pokéball to capture a water Pokémon the ball lands on the water, it doesn’t splash, float or bob about. It’s static half in, half out. Similarly if you capture a flying Pokémon, the ball stops in the air. While these shortcomings are things that ultimately shouldn’t be an issue in a franchise as lucrative as Pokémon, they do not detract from the overall playability, and more importantly, enjoyment of the game. If anything, it has some unintentional comical moments such as an Alpha Snorlax yeeting itself across the valley it resides in.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus isn’t a perfect game, however, the concept is perfect. With the new freedoms given, in addition to the many quality of life implementations to the game, Pokémon Legends: Arceus is a storming triumph of the Pokémon series. It’s a celebration of the deep lore that has been forged over the past twenty-six years, whilst continuing to build and expand upon the lore for an in-depth and unexpected story. Seeing wild Pokémon in the open world environment has recaptured the magical majesty that I and I’m sure that every Pokémon trainer in the world felt when they played their first Pokémon game.
I truly hope this level of quality is the new base ground from which Pokémon games will be based. Pokémon Legends: Arceus is a game that has taken more than a couple of risks and I feel they have certainly paid off by breaking the old, and let’s face it, stagnate formula that the Pokémon games have used for the past twenty-six years. The series has been given a much-needed revitalisation, as well as recapturing the magic that we all know and love which keeps fans of all ages coming back. The future of Pokémon looks bright, and it can only get better from here. I score it