Pokémon Legends: Arceus takes trainers back to Sinnoh to help create the region’s first Pokédex. A new, open-world Pokémon adventure is on its way in 2022.
Every generation of main-series Pokémon games brings something new to the table — a slew of regional Pokémon to add to your team, fresh faces in the gyms and Elite Four, and sometimes innovative elements and style changes like Pokémon Sword and Shield ‘s Wild Areas and Dynamaxing. But from what we’ve seen so far, Pokémon Legends: Arceus is set to deviate from the standard Pokémon game mold and give players an entirely unique Pokémon training experience. Set for an early 2022 release, Pokémon Legends: Arceus is being pitched as a “new approach for the Pokémon video game series.” Players will be returning to the Sinnoh region from the Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl games, but long before the events of those titles. Borrowing elements from Nintendo’s ultra-popular Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the game appears to be an open-world adventure with more opportunities for exploration than past Pokémon titles. While official details for the game are limited to an announcement trailer and a few additional notes from Nintendo, there’s a lot to unpack and plenty of interesting fan speculation on what this new Pokémon adventure will look like. Here’s everything we know about Pokémon Legends: Arceus so far. Pokémon Legends: Arceus will be released on January 28. This will be just a couple of months after Nintendo released Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl on November 19, making for a very exciting combination of releases for Pokémon trainers. Pokémon Legends: Arceus will be released exclusively for Nintendo Switch. The first trailer kicks off with a narrator explaining that the events of Pokémon Legends: Arceus take place “a long, long time ago when the Sinnoh region was still only a vast wilderness.” Cut to a Breath of the Wild- style scenic view and wild Pokémon roaming the landscape uninhibited, much like they do in New Pokémon Snap. It appears that catching wild Pokémon is going to look very different — players will be able to hunt packs of Pokémon down from a third-person perspective and throw Pokéballs at potential catches in real time as opposed to the turn-based battling sequences in other installments. It looks like battles with wild Pokémon will take place without jetting to a separate battle screen as well. Instead of a new trio of starter Pokémon like the average game kickoff, it appears the starters in Pokémon Legends: Arceus will be a mix of starters from previous generations — Rowlet, Cyndaquil, or Oshawott will be this game’s starters. At the end of the trailer, the book the narrator is reading from is closed. Our view is filled with smoke for a moment before revealing the mythical Pokémon Arceus. End scene. The trailer shown off at Nintendo’s August event started with a similarly cryptic message, this time stating, “This is a tale of a time long ago when the lives of humans and Pokémon were still separate.” Finally, we know the name of the region we will explore, which is called the Hisui region and will eventually become the Sinnoh region in the future. We are then shown a variety of locations and Pokémon, including fields, snowy vistas, and moonlit forests before seeing our first real look at civilization. This town, Jubilee Village, which is very much inspired by historical Japanese architecture, appears to be full of characters we will be able to interact with from the Galaxy Expedition team, composed of a Medical corp, Security corp, and Survey corp led by Cullen. Our resident professor this time around is Professor Laventon, who studies Pokémon ecology and will provide you with your very first Pokémon.
