Rating
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
The Pokémon Legends: Arceus game honors past Pokémon games’ core gameplay while infusing new action and RPG elements. You’ll need to catch, survey, and research wild Pokémon in a long-gone era of the Sinnoh region to create and complete the region’s first Pokédex.
Details
- Released
- January 27, 2022
- Developer
- Game Freak
- Genres
- Action · Role-playing (RPG) · Turn-based strategy (TBS) · Adventure · Open world
- Publisher
- The Pokémon Company, Nintendo
- Platforms
- Switch
How it plays
Time to beat · 3 player times (IGDB)
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Pokémon Legends: Arceus Reviews
Professional reviews from gaming critics
To take a franchise like Pokémon and make it feel new again likely felt impossible. Efforts like Colosseum gave it a try before having those concepts drop
There's room for improvement in a potential Pokemon Legends: Arceus sequel, but what's here will still keep Pokemon fans busy for hours on end. Pokemon Legends: Arceus's gameplay is simple but incredibly rewarding, stripping away much of the tediousness that has plagued recent entries in the series to focus on what's fun. Those who grew up with Pokemon should like it especially, as while it makes dramatic changes to the core formula, it somehow feels truer to the spirit of Pokemon than the older releases.
Pokémon has been on a warpath the past year or so. Between the insane continued success of the trading card game, and the continued success of Pokémon Sword and Shield, the full release of Pokémon Unite, and the remakes for Diamond and Pearl. You wouldn’t be wrong if you thought it was time for a small break from the Pokémon series, but oh no because this time it’s going balls to the wall with Pokémon Legends: Arceus. For anyone living under a rock since the announcement, Pokémon L...
This review is another collaboration with my son who knows far more about Pokemon than I do.
An Old Land, A New Way Of Looking At Pokemon, and A Revolutionary Game
After 20 years, Pokemon finally changes up the formula with great results... if you can forget about the graphics. I sat at a lunch table excited for the Lunchables pizza my mother had picked up for me [...]
For the first time since I was a child, I finally feel excited for the future of Pokemon. While it's true that Pokemon Legends: Arceus has some problems that do feel inexcusable in this day and age, there's no doubt that the game is a milestone for the franchise. I can only hope that Game Freak decides to build on the ideas that work well here and grow the concept into something even better.
It’s nice to play a Pokémon game that feels like it was made with love. Pokémon Legends: Arceus sure is not perfect, but it’s a loving attempt to take the series in a different direction, and it mostly nails it.
“Pokémon Legends: Arceus is a step in the right direction for the aging series, even if its technical limits can't always support its ambitions.”
Pokémon games haven't changed their formula much in the last twenty five years, relying on side games for experimentation. Arceus breathes a new life into the franchise and shows how reinventing key gameplay aspects can revolutionize the Pokémon experience.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus is the breath of fresh air the series has needed in years, offering a wide-open wilderness set in the past as you put together the very first Pokedex. While its visuals are easily controversial among its fanbase, its gameplay and pacing make this adventure one worth taking.