Pokémon is a series that values consistency, structure, and tradition. As we noted in our list of the best Pokémon games, there’s never really been a ‘bad’ entry in Nintendo’s illustrious catch-’em-up – although there have been more than a few safe ones, especially of late.
This, far more so than anything else, is what makes the premise of Pokémon Legends: Arceus so enticing. Aside from spin-offs, the only Pokémon games from the last decade that made a sincere attempt at innovation were Pokémon Let’s Go and Pokémon Sun & Moon, both of which were lambasted at launch for pretty much no reason. Perhaps their mistake was to hide their genius beneath thin veils of familiarity, causing people to confuse valuable experimentation with an affront against tradition. In simpler terms, the “Give me something new!” crowd were quickly and effortlessly able to reframe their argument as “This isn’t what we wanted – this isn’t Pokémon!”
Why does this matter? Judging by the most recent Pokémon Legends: Arceus trailer– which featured almost 15 minutes of new gameplay and commentary for Nintendo’s upcoming blockbuster – Game Freak won’t be shy about its innovation this time around. Legends is set to completely overhaul the entire systemic foundation of Pokémon, eschewing self-contained cities and routes for cohesive semi-open-world areas while trading conventional battles for something more akin to what you might expect from a third-person, action-adventure game boss fight. Basically, Pokémon is a Magikarp approaching the top of the waterfall right now – if it makes a final leap and misses, it will plummet right down to where it started all those years ago. If it passes through the Dragon Gate, though? Well, it’s about to become a great big Gyarados capable of taking the world by storm like never before, which is a bit ironic because Gyarados isn’t actually a Dragon-type.
The thing is, while Pokémon is taking a huge risk with Legends: Arceus – which it usually does with spin-offs, as opposed to an official, numbered generation title – this is something that the series has been building towards for years. When we were kids, all we ever wanted was an open-world Pokémon game, where wild ‘mons could roam free through a region-spanning Safari Zone. It’s weird that want is finally on the verge of materialising.
That’s an important point: Even Red & Blue’s Safari Zone, basic and confined as it might look in retrospect, was a sort of prototype for what it would be like to encounter Pokémon in their natural habitats. In future generations like Diamond & Pearl, the Safari Zone’s individual areas were subbed out for one massive locale in the Great Marsh. Sword & Shield players will obviously recall – and likely still harbour some irritation towards – the Wild Area, which was drastically improved in Crown Tundra. By the time Legends: Arceus launches on Jan. 28, Pokémon will be less than a month away from turning 26 – all of those years have been spent building up to this moment.
That’s not to say that this is the moment in Pokémon history. Again, Legends: Arceus is quite obviously a research experiment for not just Gen 9, but in all likelihood Gen 10 after it. Still, it’s difficult to look at the most recent trailer without being able to identify all of the various ideas that have been incorporated from the last two and a half decades of Pokémon: Feeding wild ‘mons to distract them (Red & Blue), imbuing ordinary items like PokéBalls with a sense of craft (Gold & Silver), and assigning different personalities to wild ‘mons in the overworld (Let’s Go, later implemented in Sword & Shield). We’re still in shock that cutesy little Shinx is more aggressive than a feral wolf, but hey, if you had annoying humans pestering you all the time you’d probably want to smack them with a Spark, too.
Even non-Game Freak spin-offs like New Pokémon Snap and Pokémon Ranger have visible DNA here. There was no way Pokémon was going to ignore our childhood dreams forever, but watching Legends: Arceus manifest through trailers and social media posts over the last few months has been surreal. Now, exactly two weeks out from launch, it’s finally starting to land that this game – the one that previously only existed in our ten-year-old heads – is actually real. It’s coming out soon. We’re going to be able to play it. It’s borderline impossible to believe, but it’s true.
The most exciting thing about Legends: Arceus though is that it’s not just the culmination of lots of different concepts from throughout the series. While we knew we’d get an (at least partially) open-world game at some point, it’s also taking pains to come up with fresh ideas. For example, stealth seems to play a role in how you approach different ‘mons throughout the world, with varying degrees of cover being directly integrated into the environmental design. If you manage to sneak up on a Pokémon and catch them unaware, you can aim your PokéBall at their back to increase your chances of successfully capturing them. Mobility plays a role here too, as well as in action sequences like the Kleavor boss fight we’ve seen approximately 17 million times. The systems, from what we’ve been shown, are fluidly interwoven into the overarching structure of the world – it looks like it could, and should, be fantastic.
Best of all though is what we discussed earlier: This is basically just one enormous Safari Zone without all of the cosmopolitan clutter of a game set closer to the modern era. The habitats of Pokémon drastically outnumber miniscule outcroppings of civilization in Hisui, making it a natural haven for ‘mons of all shapes and sizes. As the trailer says, Mt. Coronet is surrounded by distinct environments that “play host to different Pokémon ecosystems.” This is, for all intents and purposes, a world designed to facilitate Pokémon more so than the capture of Pokémon, which, when you think about it, is a far more fascinating premise than what we’ve grown used to over the years.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus is out in just two weeks. Provided this isn’t a dream itself, it looks like you, me, and all the other grown-up kids who wished for a game like this when we were younger are finally going to have it in our hands. Just make sure you pick Cyndaquil or Oshawott – Rowlet is overrated.
Written by Cian Maher on behalf of GLHF.
