“Pokémon Legends: Arceus” was announced on Feb. 27, 2021. It was pitched as a more open-world Pokémon game that is similar to “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.”
It featured stealth and combat mechanics that were similar to an action RPG, rather than a turn-based RPG like in most Pokémon games.
Now, almost a year later, the game is finally out and I am here to share my first impressions. I have put 20 hours into the game over the past few days, and I am nowhere close to completing it, but I’ll share a few general thoughts on what’s good and bad.
I really like the atmosphere that the game creates. The Hisui Region seems very fresh and new. There’s really only one town and Pokémon are seen less as partners and more as dangerous threats to the safety of humans.
In this game, the Poké Ball was recently invented, so they look rather different then the design that we are used to. The characters dress much differently; it all adds to the immersive quality quite well.
One issue that I have with it is that they give you a smartphone to use in the game. The concept is that you were pulled from a world where smartphones existed and put into this one, but it still irks me and makes it difficult to be immersed.
“The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” did a similar thing with stone tablets that had ancient technology, but in that case, more narrative work was done to work the smart device into the game. Here it is more like “Yeah, you have a phone with GPS, isn’t that neat.”
The gameplay is very fun. It mostly revolves around completing the Pokédex. In previous titles, all you had to do was catch each Pokémon and it would fill the dex. In “Pokémon Legends: Arceus,” you have to complete research tasks for each Pokémon and the dex entry, which gives you research levels.
A Pokédex entry is considered complete when you have a research level of 10 for a certain Pokémon. Tasks can be catching the Pokémon, defeating it in battle, watching the Pokémon eat, watching the Pokémon use certain moves and more.
It makes you feel more like a Pokémon researcher instead of a guy who catches a few Pokémon and moves on.
I also enjoy the changes in gameplay. You can catch Pokémon without ever battling it if you choose to sneak up on it. There were also changes in battle mechanics. Now, you can choose to make a move stronger or faster at the cost of more Power Points.
Overall, I think it’s a really enjoyable experience so far and I look forward to completing the game.
