Pokemon Legends Arceus: 5 Things You Need to Know About Pokemon’s Most Dangerous Game

If you are tired of the years Pokemon Hone the traditions of the Gym leader, defeat the wicked evil team, and beat the Elite Four, and you’re in luck— Pokemon Legend: Arceus Not just rewriting the Pokemon rule book…it throwing it out the window all together. For its latest open world epic, game freak It’s taking us back in time — back to the days when Shenao was known as Hisui — and it makes some big changes to the Pokemon formula we’ve all known and loved for the past three years.

The title of the game in Pokemon Legends: Arceus is Discovery; as a young researcher, your job is to sort the Pokemon in the historic region and build the first Pokedex. To gather all the necessary data, you’ll need to travel all over the place – search every corner of the emerald, document the local flora and fauna with the help of a variety of characters that look a lot like diamonds and pearls from Pokemon .

If all this sounds like a departure from the comfortable, predictable Pokemon game you’ve been playing for the past 26 years, that’s because it is. Takato Utsunomiya, COO of The Pokemon Company, made it clear that “Pokemon Legends: Arceus represents a new approach to the Pokemon video game franchise” and that the developer hopes to break “new ground” with the title.

But despite promising “an homage to past Pokemon games,” does Legend: Arceus have what it takes to reinvent the Poke-Wheel and spark more interest in the series ahead of its January 28, 2022 release date? We’ve put together a rundown of the most important things you need to know about Game Freak’s most ambitious game.

No Elite Four, and no Pokemon Trainer

It’s hard to understand, but Game Freak makes it clear that Pokemon Legends: Arceus is “a story from a long, long time ago” that happened “before you even had the idea of ​​being a Pokemon trainer or having ideas like Pokemon League.” A world where Pokemon and human lives are still very separate – which means fewer fights with humans with Pokemon and no elite four-player endgame to work on. This means the entire structure of the game will be very, very different — and probably has more in common with Pokemon Red and Blue than Pokemon Snap. It’s a risky gamble for Pokemon developers…but we hope it pays off.

The game is Pokemon’s first foray into open-world design…kind of like

It’s clear from the clips we’ve seen in the trailer that Pokemon Legends: Arceus takes a lot of inspiration from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but that doesn’t mean the title is entirely open world. Game Freak has confirmed that you will be operating out of Jubilife Village, which will serve as your base as you roam the world and carry out research missions. From here, you can explore “regions” of the wilderness, then return to Jubilife to record your new data. Rinse, repeat. So the game isn’t completely open world, but as you become a more skilled researcher and scientist, you may open up in areas – so you’ll end up with access to oceans, crown hills, etc… but probably not It will be very quick when you start the game.

This is the first mainline Pokemon game to include crafting

We don’t yet know exactly how it works, but this latest Pokemon game is very crafted. In the game’s latest trailer, the voiceover states that “gathering materials and crafting will be the keys to success” in this new experience. In the video, the camera is also meaningfully pulled to the crafting table, suggesting that sniffing out items and using your creations to subdue or coax Pokemon will be a big part of the game. Will we make our own Poké Balls? Shredding Rhydons to make our own armor, like Monster Hunter? That remains to be seen, but we’re glad Pokemon has finally embraced some more serious RPG mechanics.

Combat has been overhauled and revamped

That’s a big one; while the combat may seem a bit similar to the games you’ve played from the Game Boy to the Switch, there are a few key differences that make Legends: Arceus stand out from the Poke-pack. For example, when you get into combat, you’ll be able to choose between a strong or agile style, the former increasing strength and decreasing speed, and the latter the opposite. Depending on your stats, you can also move towards the enemy multiple times per turn. It all tends to suggest more strategy and more engaged combat in the game – something some sectors of the Pokemon community have been calling for for a long time.

You may come face to face with Poke-God

Yes, you’re not mistaken. The titular Pokemon, Arcues, is basically a god in the Pokemon universe: it’s the entity that is supposed to shape and create everything in the Pokemon universe, known as, somewhat dignified, primitive. You’d think God would be more exciting than the average type, right? Still, at least it knows one of the most powerful moves out there, judgment. Will we team up with God in the game? Will it try to kill us? Do we have to appease this mythical beast and help it shape the future of the world — and thus ultimately influence the history of every Pokemon game we’ve ever played? We’ll just have to wait and see.