Pokemon Legends: Z-A Reviews
Pokémon Legends: Z-A isn’t perfect, but it’s bold. It takes chances the series has avoided for far too long. Focusing the entire adventure within one city could’ve been a disaster, but it mostly works thanks to how alive Lumiose feels and how strong the new battle system is. The Z-A Royale gives the game a clear purpose, the rogue Mega Pokémon inject tension, and the combat overhaul breathes new life into battles that had started to feel mechanical.
Pokémon Legends Z-A redefines the franchise formula with dynamic battles, a memorable story, and the return of Mega Evolution.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
If you are a Pokemon fan and have played just about every game in the franchise, you are going to pick this up no matter what. I find it hard to recommend this one to anybody who has barely played any Pokemon games before or if they do not own a Switch 2. Pokemon Legends: Arceus was a good first step and Legends: Z-A was another good step in the right direction. It’s still enjoyable but nothing earthshattering. Hopefully if we get a third Pokemon Legends game it will blow these last two games out of the water.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A, like Legends Arceus before it, manages to weave new concepts into the series' familiar gameplay, finally brings back Mega Evolution and captivated me with its loop between day and night areas. The city wasn't too small for my liking and the story takes a genuinely serious turn towards the end, which I hadn't expected. Sure, I have my criticisms of the game, and Game Freak could certainly address some of them. But I still had a really good time with the game and am eager to spend more time with it, when the DLC comes out.
Review in German | Read full review
Pokémon Legends: Z-A is not a mere spin-off of the series, but a glimpse of its future, seizing the opportunity to deliver a fun and solid game that is, above all, the most refreshing and innovative in recent years.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Pokémon Legends Z-A marks an enjoyable breath of fresh air, but it could still do with some growth to catch up with the times.
Pokémon Legends Z-A is the worthy conclusion that the Kalos region deserved — and seeing a continuation of X/Y is simply thrilling. Lumiose City is full of life, and the new real-time battle system is the most fun the franchise has ever offered, especially when played in multiplayer mode. While the city’s visuals leave a bit to be desired, the interiors and Pokémon themselves are gorgeous and expressive, accompanied by an incredible soundtrack that further elevates the audiovisual experience. Pokémon Legends Z-A is a gift to longtime fans of the series: fun, nostalgic, and packed with fresh ideas — even if it’s not the best entry point for newcomers.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
For the first Pokemon on Switch 2, let alone just an RPG in 2025, you would hope for a more well rounded experience. Sadly, most of the issues are likely due to the fact that it was anchored down by a simultaneous release on the Nintendo Switch, which is hardware from 2017. It’s not perfect and the truth is that Pokemon Legends ZA should be a vastly better experience as there are a myriad of reasons that make it feel like the antithesis of a next generation experience. However, underneath its faults, the experience is accessible, the gameplay loop is addictive, and it emphasizes how satisfying catching and evolving Pokemon can be.
Pokémon Legends: Z‑A has some interesting new ideas that I would like to see, in some way, implemented into the mainline games. The game might not capture players’ hearts. Die-hard Pokémon fans may enjoy this entry into the series, but I think it’s about time the Pokémon series had a mega evolution.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A continues the progression the series has made since arriving on the Switch. It’s a pretty similar formula to what the series has been like since it debuted more than 30 years ago, but with enough quality-of-life changes and a new battle system to freshen it up. It looks gorgeous on the Switch 2, despite some off-looking textures here and there. It’s a promising vision of what’s to come with the long-running series and a great addition to any Pokémon fan’s Switch library.
Despite promising ideas and real-time battles that could have evolved the series, Pokémon Legends: Z-A feels small, unfinished, and creatively hesitant. Lumiose City offers little to explore, the Z-A Royale grinds pacing to a halt, and the few glimmers of ambition are buried under a sense of obligation rather than inspiration.
Hunting for new Pokémon, battling other trainers, and boss fights make Pokémon Legends: Z-A one of the most entertaining Pokémon games of the last (several) years.
Review in Greek | Read full review
Is Legends Z-A the greatest Pokémon game ever? Debatable. But it definitely has its strengths. The changes to gameplay are a welcome breath of fresh air. The characters look great and Lumiose City is really pretty most of the time. There’s a lot to love and I’m definitely enjoying my time here. For now, there’s plenty to be had in the base package and I for one, am happy about that.
'Pokémon Legends: Z-A' is a fascinating and mostly successful experiment with the Pokémon formula, thanks to its fresh combat and quick pacing.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A brings together many of the best features of the Pokémon Legends spin-off, and with luck, this could be the first step toward them being added to the main series.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A Review – With open-world exploration, urban evolution, and new mechanics, does it finally deliver the innovation fans hoped for?
Review in Turkish | Read full review
I do have hopes for the Legends series, but this game was nothing special to me.
This is the Legends idea working as intended: tight scope, strong combat, and a city you'll want to visit over and over again.
Like so many Pokémon games, "Legends: Z-A" is stirring up controversy, and the reasons are the same as always – outdated technology, annoying design choices, wasted potential. And yet, I'm still thrilled to be able to catch countless pocket monsters and battle with them again. Now even in real time!
Review in German | Read full review
Pokémon Legends Z-A takes up the mindset of its predecessor Arceus and interprets the familiar Pokémon gameplay a little differently. Instead of collecting badges, we increase our rank by battling other trainers in order to gradually rise to become the best Pokémon trainer. We also follow various main and side quests and different challenges instead of wandering more or less aimlessly from arena to arena. The open game world, which consists of an atmospherically designed city, invites us to explore and offers us not only different districts but also so-called wild sectors for catching wild Pokémon. The environment is surprisingly lively in the central locations and impresses with its successful atmosphere – in the more remote areas, however, it looks much gloomier. At the heart of the game, however, is the new real-time battle system, which leaves the turn-based battles of the past behind and puts us, as trainers, right in the middle of the action, both when battling other trainers and when catching Pokémon. We really liked the new battle system, because it finally brings more action to the familiar gameplay and thus also a much-needed breath of fresh air – especially in combination with the Mega Evolutions. The Pokémon series could also really use this breath of fresh air in terms of its graphical presentation – but Legends Z-A can't really deliver on that front. Although the game world is really impressive with its great atmosphere and its remarkable day and night cycle, if you take a closer look, flat and blurry textures, flat windows without reflections, and rather sporadic movement of vegetation, hair, and clothing are somewhat disappointing. The power of the new Switch could definitely have been put to better use here. In terms of gameplay, however, Pokémon Legends Z-A was really fun and gives us hope that the main series might also get a facelift in the near future.
Review in German | Read full review