Drew Donofrio

Features Editor

dcd5412@psu.edu 

Hello, I am Drew D’onofrio and welcome to my game review! Today I am going to give you my common-man thoughts on the newest installment of the Pokémon series; Pokémon Legends: Arceus. I have been a die-hard Pokémon fan-boy ever since the fourth generation and installment to the series, and I have to say, I quite enjoyed this installment. Pokémon Legends: Arceus brings a breath of fresh air into the, what some fans believe, overdone formula of a Pokémon. Just as a forewaring, I will be spoiling the first 15 minutes of the game, so proceed with caution if you have been avoiding spoilers. 

The game was fully released on January 28th, the same day I got my copy. Funnily enough, this was the day after my birthday! I had pre-ordered it months in advance in hopes of getting it on the same day it was released. I got my new game and ran up to my Nintendo Switch like a gleeful child of Christmas. In that day/night alone, I sank approximately six hours into the game. I was completely enthralled with the game. As a long-time fan, I felt like this new type of game had a long time coming. 

So how is it different? Instead of following the normal Pokémon formula of being a 13 year-old child running around the region to fight various gyms and beat the Elite Four, you actually start the game out as a sixteen year old boy or girl being picked up by the deity of Pokémon, Arceus, and dropped in the past. The past is a very different place from the more technically advanced future. Pokémon are actually feared by most humans, not treated as friends like in the future. This is reflected in the game! Some wild Pokémon actually attack the player character instead of just trying to battle them! While not hanging out in the central hub, Jubilive Village, most of your time is spent on going out into the world to catch Pokémon to fill out the Pokédex. The game is a semi-open world, split into various regions that you unlock during the main quest. This opens up an incredibly unique experience to go through, as this level of openness has never been experienced in all of the mainline Pokémon games, except for the Wild Area in Pokémon Sword in Shield, which I do not consider to be even classified in the same category. 

I think it is time to discuss one of the most prominent complaints about the game: the visuals. It seems the Pokémon company decided to try and depict the game as a traditional Japanese watercolor painting, but playing through it, I never seemed to realize this. I had to read this online to figure it out. The colors in the game feel rather muted and generally do not feel like you are in a big open beautiful world, more trapped in a large empty muted color world. Now, mind you, I did not particularly care about the graphics in the game, I was having too much fun actually playing it. If you care about the graphics for a truly beautiful game- see Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild- this may not be the game for you. 

Talking about Breath of The Wild, many comparisons were being made between that game and Legends Arceus. Both of these games feature a crafting system and heavy exploration, but both vastly different stories and objectives. I can also boldly state that the story in Pokémon Legends Arceus was quite fun and engaging! It actually made me feel for the characters, which is quite the rarity in Pokémon games. If you are a fan of the Pokémon series, I would highly recommend picking it up and giving the new game a shot. The negative side of that is that the game price comes to a whopping $60 USD, which for the average Nintendo Switch owner seems average, but can be quite pricey for newcomers. Even at the $60 price tag, after playing over 30 hours of the game I would still highly recommend it to those who are even remotely interested. I have to give this game an overall 8/10. The game has got quite a lot of things correct, the only thing holding it back is lacking in the visuals department.