Wally here, and I just beat Pokémon Legends: Arceus!
So I wanted to share what I enjoyed and didn’t enjoy about this monster catching, battling game.
Overall, Pokémon Legends: Arceus is a fun game I suggest new and longtime fans of the series play. While visuals are decent, with gameplay that may seem repetitive hours in, the game has a fun open world to traverse, makes catching monsters feel fresh and interactive, and contains a compelling setting.
But what exactly is Pokémon Legends: Arceus?
Pokémon Legends: Arceus is a Nintendo Switch exclusive monster catching/battling game released on January 28, 2022, published by Nintendo, and developed by Game Freak Inc. in conjunction with Nintendo and Creatures Inc.
Rated Everyone for mild fantasy violence, it’s a single player game with multiplayer aspects that is available in both physical and digital formats.
You can view Nintendo’s official Pokémon Legends: Arceus game page here for more information about the game.
Now let’s talk more about Pokémon Legends: Arceus pros and cons and what I thought of the game as a lifelong Pokémon player!
NOTE: This blog post contains very minimal spoilers of Pokémon Legends: Arceus for Nintendo Switch. Most screenshots and information comes from the first few hours of the game, have been mentioned in official trailers and media, or is essential to this post.
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What I Enjoyed About Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Here are a few things I enjoyed during my Pokémon Legends: Arceus playthrough.
1) It’s Fun Traveling The Open World
Pokémon Legends: Arceus includes large open wilderness areas to explore.
It’s very similar to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo; 2017) in this way, and I really enjoyed exploring the entire world in this new Pokémon game.
The game includes a variety of open environments including forest, cavern, ice, and fire themed locations.
And I always found exploring each new area interesting due to the environmental differences of each.
The open environments made exploring the game a joy to do
Exploration of areas opens up as new Pokémon are obtained that can help scale formerly inaccessible cliffs, swim through oceans, and fly through the sky.
These Pokémon made traversing areas more efficient and fun.
Obtaining these monsters also encouraged me to explore new areas of previously visited areas only accessible via use of traversal Pokémon.
Overall, Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ open environments made exploring the game a joy to do.
2) Catching Pokémon Is How I Always Imagined
Catching monsters in Pokémon Legends: Arceus is done in real-time, is action oriented, and requires stealth.
Players must line up a cursor and hold a button to wield, aim, and throw a Poké Ball without being in a menu and time stopping or pausing.
Then, the player must get as close as one can to a particular monster without the creature being alerted.
Catching monsters is always how I imagined it should be
Due to this, there is a sense of tension and drama to every Pokémon capture which makes capturing Pokémon more thrilling and interactive than any other previous Pokémon game.
I love how each monster behaves differently when being stalked for capture.
Docile Pokémon can be caught easily, skittish Pokémon will flee, and aggressive Pokémon will attack the player.
Capturing monsters in Pokémon Legends: Arceus felt like living in the anime.
This difference helped make the primary component of the series more interactive than ever before. And it’s always what I wanted from a Pokémon game.
The first time I captured a Pokémon in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, I actually thought to myself how I wished this game released when I was a kid.
Because the impressiveness of capturing monsters would have blown my mind.
Overall, catching monsters in Pokémon Legends: Arceus is always how I imagined catching creatures should be–an interactive system dependent on monster behavior that requires a tad bit of finesse to accomplish.
And it feels great!
3) The Overall Plot Is Compelling
Pokémon Legends: Arceus main plot centers around a trainer from the future being warped to the (presumably) earliest interaction between human and Pokémon.
This plot is awesome because it focuses and expands upon the Pokémon world in a historical point of view like never before, and the implications of the setting did not disappoint.
The game’s setting and plot are compelling, interesting, and novel
I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing how humans perceived monsters as threats instead of friends, how the manner of capturing monsters (Poké Balls) was still in its infancy, and how the general population lived alongside their fellow monsters.
Experiencing a Pokémon game that focused on history instead of simply battling felt refreshing.
Overall, I found Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ setting and plot to be quite compelling, interesting, and novel when compared to other Pokémon games.
What I Thought Was Just Okay About Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Here are a few things I thought were just okay during my Pokémon Legends: Arceus playthrough.
1) The Visuals Are Decent Enough
Pokémon Legends: Arceus has some great graphics. But it also has passable and even bad visuals in other places.
To the point: the game is visually serviceable from beginning to end.
The creatures themselves look great as do the human Pokémon trainers, buildings are non-offensive visually and fit the game’s theme, and user interfaces are all clean and readable.
The environments, however, are not as visually strong.
With that said, I immediately understood the visual approach and identity implemented in this game.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus is basically Pokémon: Breath of the Wild.
This meant that crafting a large open world with expansive environments meant cutting back on visual flourish and production values (for the most part).
And I’m okay with that. I get it.
Though, it was a bit jarring at first seeing the more subdued hues and comparably simpler background when compared to colorful Pokémon games of past.
But I quickly adjusted to what Pokémon Legends: Arceus wanted to offer.
The visual aspects I found lacking, though, consisted of environmental flourishes and features.
Trees and weeds are lacking in appeal while some backgrounds–such as the skyline and mountains in the ice area–present even worse.
Overall, Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ visuals are serviceable but include quality dips in some details and environmental features that stood out to me.
What I Thought Could Have Been Better About Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Here are a few things I thought could be improved upon during my Pokémon Legends: Arceus playthrough.
1) The Game Gets A Bit Repetitive
Pokémon Legends: Arceus gameplay is fun, compelling, and unique from past Pokémon games at the beginning but can feel repetitive hours in.
The game requires players to catch or battle many of the same monster in order to advance to new areas.
This became a bit tiring to me towards the latter parts of the game.
Acquiring enough exploration points to unlock new areas is fairly easy at the start when gameplay is fresh.
It’s fun at first; it really is.
Repetition is built into catching and battling monsters, for good or for bad
But later on, I often actively forced myself to battle monsters and capture creatures I didn’t want just to make sure I could access the next area or have control over stronger leveled creatures.
I didn’t enjoy this and I ended up rethinking how I interacted with the game to enjoy the process more.
Overall, Pokémon Legends: Arceus has fun gameplay that is quite unique and one that I want implemented in future titles in the series.
I also hope in future titles, however, the gameplay can be tweaked in a way that makes it feel less repetitive and more satisfactory in latter portions of the game.
2) The Story Didn’t Keep My Interest
Pokémon Legends: Arceus may have a compelling setting and plot but the actually story did not keep me compelled.
Specifically, the story felt serviceable to allow for the happenings of the adventure but lacked excitement and “oomph”.
That’s not to say the story characters weren’t interesting, because they were.
I enjoyed the game’s wacky Pokémon professor as well as the many trainers I came across throughout the journey.
Beginning and end are exciting while character’s personalities occasionally shine
Characters simply seemed to ramble on at times, talking more than needed.
I found myself wanting the conversation to end not to see what the person had to say, but just so I could continue playing.
There were some fun points, however, including the start and end of the game.
But I felt the bulk of the story in the middle needing something more to truly shine.
Overall, Pokémon Legends: Arceus story allows for the events of the game to occur but may not be the best story ever told.
The beginning and end are exciting while character’s personalities occasionally shine.
My Pokémon Legends: Arceus Verdict
I enjoyed playing Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and I had a blast exploring the wide open areas while finding intrigue in the setting.
Although, some bits felt rough and gameplay became a bit repetitive to my liking, I still recommend Pokémon Legends: Arceus as it’s a solid game and one of the most refreshing Pokémon game in years.
PROS: Pokémon Legends: Arceus
- It’s Fun Traveling The Open World
- Catching Pokémon Is How I Always Imagined
- The Overall Plot Is Compelling
Just Okays: Pokémon Legends: Arceus
- The Visuals Are Decent Enough
CONS: Pokémon Legends: Arceus
- The Game Gets A Bit Repetitive
- The Story Didn’t Keep My Interest
If you’re interested in Pokémon Legends: Arceus for Nintendo Switch, check out Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ current price and availability on Amazon by using my affiliate link.
