The Pokémon series has seen its largest evolutions in recent years with games like Pokemon GO and Unite, but the release of Pokémon Legends: Arceus looks to represent the biggest leap yet for Game Freak’s creature-catching franchise. Set in a varied Feudal Japan-inspired world, players set out to explore and complete the very first Pokédex of the Hisui region. Action takes a front seat compared to previous entries, allowing players to engage in real-time battles, craft useful items, and encounter dangerous Pokémon roaming in the wild.

As Pokémon Legends: Arceus combines the series’ winning formula with Breath of the Wild-esque contemporaries, considerable excitement surrounds the game’s release for Nintendo Switch. However, how has the game landed with critics? Well, according to emerging reviews, Pokémon Legends: Arceus offers an exciting, large scope perspective shift from the series’ long-established conventions. However, a few outlets note some of the game’s ambitions, specifically graphics, don’t always stick the landing. A round-up of reviews can be viewed below.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus Review Round-Up

• GameSpot – 80/100

“Some of the new ideas in Arceus have rough edges, and it’s slow to start before you get access to many environments and mounts. This is an awkward first step, and it was a big adjustment for me, a longtime fan of the series, to make. Once Pokemon Legends: Arceus finds its stride, though, it’s the most daring and inventive the series has been in years, breaking apart the staid core and creating something new and exciting from its pieces.”

• Game Informer – 88/100

“Pokémon Legends: Arceus charts an exciting new direction for the series, while still maintaining many of the core tenants that made Game Freak’s franchise so beloved in the first place.”

• Nintendo Life – 90/100

“Pokémon Legends: Arceus feels like the result of Game Freak learning lessons for 25 years, refining the formula, and finally taking the franchise in a new, incredible, exciting direction. With its emphasis on extremely rewarding exploration, addictive catching mechanics, a fine roster of Pokémon and a genuine sense of scale that’s unlike anything in the series, Pokémon Legends: Arceus is quite simply one of the greatest Pokémon games ever made.”

• Polygon – “Confident Enough”

“It’s filled with excellent ideas aimed at changing a series that has largely grown stale. But some of the execution breeds frustration. Exploring the open world is freeing, but also awkward, until I unlock more travel options later in the game. Legends: Arceus is graphically dreadful, with flat textures and pop-in rampant in every area, but the Pokémon animate wonderfully. Still, I’ll gladly take an imperfect Pokémon game that takes a chance on something different, even if it’s not always successful. I could go on with Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ list of pros and cons for another 1,000 words only to further reinforce that the game is inconsistent. But Legends: Arceus is confident enough in its new direction that its missteps feel more like small annoyances than major issues – like a pebble in my shoe on an otherwise lovely walk.”

• The Verge – “A Place I Want To Be In”

“The most important thing I can say about Arceus is that it’s a place I want to be in. As much as I loved previous Pokémon games, the worlds were very static and linear. I never really felt like I was exploring a vibrant world while walking back and forth in tall grass trying to level up my squad. Here, though — while it’s not exactly a realistic simulation of nature — it at least gives off the feeling of a real place full of danger and secrets, and all of the joy and excitement those things can bring. And it does all of that while retaining most of the best qualities of its predecessors. It’s still a Pokémon game. But with a changed perspective, it’s also something new.”

​Pokémon Legends: Arceus releases on January 28th for Nintendo Switch. What do you think? Are you glad to see such an ambitious Poké-project get such good reviews, or are you still wary of the game’s graphical presentation? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter and Facebook to be informed of the latest gaming and entertainment news 24 hours a day!​

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