Pokémon Legends: Arceus Reviews
Pokémon Legends: Arceus takes the Pokémon franchise into the future. Every fan should experience this game at least once.
I wouldn’t have put 50 hours into this game if I didn’t love it. While not perfect, this is the most fun I’ve had with a Pokémon game in many generations and really reignited my love for the series. I’m hoping Nintendo and Game Freak make another game in this style with another compelling story that embraces the more serious elements of Pokémon. But for now, I’ll just have to make due with the post-game content.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus comes as a much-needed refresher for the franchise, with new gameplay mechanics that make capturing pocket monsters more fun than ever.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus is close to being the Pokémon game I've always wanted, but falls short of perfection in ways that other games in the franchise have gotten right in the past. The sequel could very well be the best Pokémon game released so far.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus has not been afraid to introduce changes to the series as we know it, and it definitely felt fresh.
Review in Czech | Read full review
After 20 years, Pokemon finally changes up the formula with great results... if you can forget about the graphics.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus is a great direction for the series to take, being somewhat held back by the technical elements of the world you’re visiting.
Overall, I would say that Pokémon Legends Arceus is a really enjoyable game; one with a lot of flaws, but they’re flaws that can be ignored or are mitigated by the fact that you spend the vast majority of your time not interacting with those parts of the game. If you stick to exploring, catching and battling you are going to have a fantastic time, unless you have a fetish for reading long drawn-out walls of text about some random person’s ramblings. Bearing in mind that you read this review, you must have some liking for it, so maybe it won’t be so bad after all.
The changes to the setting and structure make for an RPG that's refreshing, even if aspects like the duels with frenzied nobles are more of a novelty than a meaningful step forward for the series. While there are definitely areas like the visuals and the variety of Pokémon and moves that could be improved, it all feels like far more than just a proof of concept.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus is the game Pokemon fans have been waiting for - for a long time now. It introduces so many quality of life improvements, streamlines gameplay and exploration and has great storytelling with an addictive gameplay loop involving capturing and discovering more Pokemon.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus dares to make things different, and that is its main quality. The Pokémon formula has undergone changes for the best, and even though there is work to be done on matters like the visual environment in Arceus' wide and open world, this is a game that operates very welcome changes to the fighting system and to the way the player fulfills the main goals. Pokémon Legends: Arceus is without a doubt a shining example of how the Pokémon series can face the future.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The latest instalment in the world of Pokémon is finally upon us, set prior to the events of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl in what would come to be known as Sinnoh. Embracing a new open-world setting, Pokémon Legends: Arceus has a beautiful world in which to explore – and what a world it is.
With this, remakes like Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, gateways ala the Let’s Go! titles, and the core experience of Sword and Shield; the Switch has become the finest home Pokémon ever had. And dare I say, Legends is the new crown jewel of that collective. It has room to grow and doesn’t always impress in terms of performance, but in tightening the focus on research and catching Pokémon rather than battle after battle it’s honed in on the appeal spirit that Professor Oak taught us two and a half decades ago.
Criticized positively by other means as the most ambitious iteration of the franchise, Pokémon Legends: Arceus conveys the feeling of being a cake in the oven for quite some time. It is the adventure that all fans have dreamed of, a departure from all the "gum" already more than chewed by then, and the least tautological. Game Freak has risked every chip in hand, creating one of the most exciting video games on its menu, full of several points for and few against. Granted, the overall performance isn't the best, as well as moving the focus away from battles causes some general inconsistencies but Hisui, with everything associated with it, is so much fun and full of life. It may not be more than perfect, but it is definitely better than imagination.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Pokémon Legends: Arceus is not a perfect game, but it certainly comes close. It’s a fantastical innovative RPG that’s suitable for both longtime Pokémon fans and those that are brand new to the series. While it doesn’t come without its faults, containing graphical issues, a predictable plot, and too low of a difficulty level for my taste, the positives abundantly outweigh the negatives. .
Despite its many flaws, Legends Pokémon: Arceus is not a bad game and we can salute the risk-taking as well as the change of course of the genre that blows a new wind on the license.
Review in French | Read full review
Pokémon Legends Arceus is a successful attempt at making something new and fresh with the same concepts and ideas that have driven the franchise for thepast nigh on three decades. It is addictive, has charming characters and scenes, and has plenty of content to savour for fans of collectathons. It is a cohesive package on every front. This game is, however, embarrassingly clumsily put together from a graphical standpoint. This does not make it less enjoyable on a pure gameplay level, but during quiet times when little action is happening and players will want to take in what is presented on screen at face value, it is especially jarring. We loved the gameplay loop of Pokémon Legends Arceus, it has been one of the most engaging experiences to come out of Nintendo or Game Freak of the past few years, but it is well past time for either of those actors to finally take the right steps to solve this recurring lack of technical finesse from the series.
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.
It’s new! It’s different! Does that mean it’s good?
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.