Pokémon Legends: Arceus Reviews
[Pokémon Legends: Arceus] is mired in an unimpressive world, both unattractive and devoid of meaningful secrets. Its battle systems are uncooked, its characters and bosses boring, its map and fast travel UX cumbersome, and the collect-a-thon that comprises the game's final act is not only absurdly grindy but also practically inaccessible, forcing you to rely on either guides or sheer dumb luck.
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 turns out to be a huge missed opportunity, arguably the biggest disappointment within the franchise.
Review in Italian | Read full review
This title is certainly a promising stepping-stone for the future of Pokémon, and I feel a lot of excitement for what comes next for the franchise. If Game Freak can work on its mistakes, create more interesting environments, and keep the changes to battling and catching Pokémon, I think the next Pokémon game we see could be one of the best yet. Finally, regardless of what Pokémon Legends: Arceus didn’t quite master, it was still a fun experience to play Pokémon in this new and evolved way, and experience a game that truly felt different for the first time in years.
With a quick jump into the action, an engaging gameplay loop, and oodles of freedom to progress forward any way the player wishes, Arceus creates an experience found nowhere else in the Pokémon series. For those willing to tolerate the mediocre presentation, an entertaining experience is here for the taking.
"That's one small step for gaming industry, one giant leap for Pokémon."
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Legends Arceus is a good game, but it has too many shortcomings to be a great game. For every good part of Legends Arceus, there is also a bad one. I walked away from this game wanting them to truly build upon the new ideas they presented because there is a good base. Pokémon Legends Arceus is the best example of a good game that is held back from being amazing by falling victim to not innovating enough with the new mechanics presented. However, despite its shortcomings, it’s the first Pokémon game in years that I’ll be excited to go back to and I’m walking away from feeling hopeful for the future of the series.
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.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus isn't the open-world Pokemon game fans have been waiting for, but it's still the most ambitious Pokemon experience yet, and a fun collect-a-thon in its own right.
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.
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
Although most Pokémon games are of good class, there's no denying that they've lost some magic since the show's heyday. But with Pokémon Legends: Arceus, developer Game Freak shows they can still create fresh and entertaining gameplay that lifts Pokémon chasing to a new level. It's a shame that action, environments, and graphics aren't anywhere near the same class.
Review in Swedish | Read full review
But Pokemon Legends: Arceus is proof that Pokemon can evolve. It's taken 25 years but this feels like the first true evolution of the series; a far bigger change than moving from 2D to 3D. It feels like the awkward middle evolution though, as graphics, voice acting, and boss fights all need serious work. If this is the path that the series is headed down, then I can’t wait for it to evolve again because let’s face it, nobody remembers Quilava.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus struggles with graphics and certain aspects of gameplay, but its expansive world, endless Pokémon to find, and strong storyline make it worth playing.
For its flaws, Pokemon Legends: Arceus does have a decent gameplay loop, even if it is a bit too tight. I hope that with Nintendo’s next console, we can maybe see a game that doesn’t have to make such significant compromises when it comes to graphics vs. performance. For now, let’s just clap our hands and try to forget that any other studio would be roasted alive for releasing a game like this in 2022.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus is an ambitious revamp that successfully revolutionizes the defining Pokemon experiences of catching and battling, but is unfortunately set in a drab, empty, and at times tedious world.
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.
It is a different Pokémon, one that bets on a reinterpretative and not cloned formula, which is a step for the saga. It should be taken care of and improved for the future, we should expect a lot more from a title that comes from an advantageous and established position.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Legends respects everything that came before it while looking ahead at what the series can do with its story when it sheds the tried and true formula its wore like a badge of honor for years.