Pokemon, one of the most profitable properties on Earth. Everyone’s heard of it, seen it, or played it. Pikachu, Charizard, Eevee, etc. What do all of those have in common? They are all different types of pokemon. Pokemon has been around for 25+ years now, and it’s still going as strong as ever. They constantly create new content in the form of anime, games, cards, toys, and clothing. Last year they announced the release of Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Pokemon Shiny Pearl along with a new, experimental game Pokemon Legends Arceus. I personally pre-ordered both games and I can say I’ve had fun with both. But this is going to focus on the second game mentioned, Pokemon Legends Arceus. The game will be rated on a scale of thirty, gameplay, pokemon designs, and worldbuilding. 

When you think of pokemon, it’s often shown running around in a select area, closed off by hills or walls as you travel through the region catching your favorite pokemon and becoming the champion. In this game you take on a child in the Hisui region also known as Sinnoh. You travel around and discover pokemon, meet trainers, and fill the pokemon index, or pokedex, to help humans better understand pokemon and all of their wonders. The world is so much more different than any other though. The surroundings are gorgeous, really bringing the world to life and helping the overworld pokemon pop out amongst their surroundings. It also gives a breath of fresh air as you wander through the ancient Sinnoh and meet new pokemon, or even old ones. Overall I adore the environment, it looks beautiful and really pops. 10/10

Recently, games have been giving you more freedom to run and see everything that the region has to offer. This game really embraces that and gives you full range to adventure and see absolutely everything Sinnoh has in store. New pokemon are there too, and some old pokemon look different, as expected when traveling back hundreds of years. The pokemon designs are wonderful, however three were really questionable in my opinion. Hisuian growlithe took my heart as it was cute, it’s evolution arcanine looking ferocious but still awesome. Growlithe takes on a more ancient look from its original look, looking like the ancient lion dog statues in Japan. It;s predecessor Arcanine looks similar, but instead of the fur covering its eyes it’s full face is revealed. The color scheme is really nice too, being red and black while it’s alternate shiny form is yellow and black, similar to the original. Typhlosion looks different, taking on a more ghoulish and tired look. When looking at it it still has similar colors, being dark blue and a tan yellow with a different looking tail. But when it’s flames flare up it’s flames are more purple or magenta. Hisuian zorua looks more adorable and reminiscent of a traditional kitsune, zoruark benign larger and spookier. Like I mentioned before, Zorua and Zoruark take on the look of a traditional kitsune, being white and red while looking mischievous like a kitsune should. They also have the look of a ghost type too, looking scarier than most pokemon. Enamoras is my least favorite design though , looking weird and like an old Zelda boss design in both forms. It’s design is choppy and edged a lot, looking like it was from an older console. It’s lips and eyes are far too large while looking bland while still managing to have too much happening at once. Overall I’d give designs an 8/10, apart from the few bad apples the rest are wonderfully done.

Gameplay has always been the same in pokemon games, a few gimmicks here and there. But this game is the most unique, making it even more free roam and adventurous than usual. There’s no routes and nothing to hold you back, you can travel anywhere and see everything with no limits. Battles are also more strategic now, the addition of new fighting styles making the game more unique. There’s also the open world factors, letting you catch pokemon outside of battle, have to dodge new dangerous pokemon, and sneaking around. The game also takes a different approach in the fact there’s no gyms, your goal is to just complete quests to help fill up your pokedex. Overall I’d give it a 10/10, it’s unique and gives a fresh new breath to the pokemon series while letting us enjoy the good of the old games and the good of this new one. 

Overall I’d say it was a great game! It had a lot of features that kept me busy every second while playing it, never leaving me bored. While some designs were questionable it wasn’t able to ruin the whole game and it still stayed really fun gaining a 28/30. So go check it out, it’s $60 just about everywhere you can think of. Have fun catching them all.