Introduction
Basic information
Developer Name: Game Freak
Full Name: Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Release Date: January 28, 2022
Released on: Nintendo Switch
Cross Play: Not applicable (single platform)
Initial thoughts
I was overly interested in trying another Pokémon game, and this one caught my eye. Little did I know it was going to take almost 70 hours to catch all the Pokémon! Those hours slipped by like overcast afternoons: productive, rewarding, and tinged with a sense that every victory nudged the wild one step closer to a museum display.
Story and setting
Plot overview
You’re cast back to Hisui, an earlier Sinnoh where people huddle in settlements and Pokémon roam like storms. The premise is simple: survey, research, survive, but its implications weigh heavily: we are documenting the world we will later domesticate.
World building and immersion
Jubilife’s leaders, wardens, and researchers read as earnest, brittle people performing courage. Their optimism is a mask for anxiety: today they catalog a dangerous Starly; tomorrow they’ll build a world where Starly is forgotten, no longer a dangerous force of nature. The player character is the quiet center, less a hero, more a historical force.
Character development
The game is generous with wonder and stingy with comfort. Noble Pokémon are not villains; they’re agents of a world that doesn’t need us. Every success is a compromise. It’s moving because you know what the future holds for them.
Emotional impact
Hisuian biomes feel lived-in and indifferent. Camps are fragile lanterns of safety. Field notes, research tasks, and regional variants sell the idea of cultures forming around fear and respect rather than mastery. You’re not the champion here; you’re the archivist before the empire.
Rating for story and setting
I have visited multiple aspects of the story, and after some thought and objective thinking, I rated the story and setting with a 9.
Gameplay and mechanics
Core gameplay mechanics
The loop is superb: sneak, observe, craft, and decide ball, bait, or battle. Catching in the overworld is immediate and tactile; a missed throw echoes like a mistake you earned. Chances are you will get hit with a thunderbolt.
Difficulty and balance
Early hours are quietly dangerous. Alpha Pokémon patrol like natural disasters; the map teaches humility before it grants power. Once your team stabilizes, risk turns into calculated boldness rather than disappearing entirely. Surprises are around each corner: a new Alpha Pokémon, an ambush, or even an outbreak!
Pacing of the game
Exploration, requests, research tasks, and boss interludes form a rhythm that invites long sessions or short expeditions. Even the grind feels like fieldwork, not checklisting.
Innovation and uniqueness
Seamless catching, research-driven Pokédex tasks, Agile/Strong style turn manipulation, and multi-mount traversal meaningfully reimagine the series without discarding its soul. You can check who is next in battle; each move impacts the battle. A wrong move means the Pokémon you face will hit you twice in a row!
Controls and user interface
Switch controls are crisp for sneaking, throwing, and quick-item swaps. Lock-on can be finicky on slopes, but the friction feeds the sense of being outmatched rather than pampered.
Microtransactions
None. Just you, your satchel, and the long walk home before dark.
Rating
After combing through many of the mechanics, the pacing, and other factors of this game, I rated the gameplay and mechanics with a 9.
Graphics and art style
Quality of graphics and art direction
Painterly skies, subdued palettes, and silhouettes you recognize at a glance. The Hisuian forms look both familiar and wrong in the best way, evolution’s local dialect.
Technical performances
A steady experience on Switch with occasional pop-in and softness at a distance. Imperfections linger, like smudges in an old field journal.
Environment and design uniqueness
Each region carves its tone: reeds whisper, snow bites, volcanoes brood. Landmarks feel earned because you reached them on foot, wary and curious. New danger lurks in every corner.
Rating
It took me some time to give the graphics and art style an objective rating. There are many things to consider, but ultimately, I rated this section with an 8.5.
Sound and music
Music score and how it contributed to the game
Melodies drift between nostalgia and unease, Sinnoh themes remembered through fog. The calm is honest, not comforting.
Sound effects quality
Rustling grass, startled cries, and the thud of a perfect catch build a believable soundscape of work and risk.
Voice Acting
None, and the silence suits the frontier mood. However, some scenes would have a better impact with voice acting.
Rating
After a lot of consideration, I rated the sound and music section with an 8.5.
Replayability
Game Length and content volume
A substantial campaign, then the long night shift of postgame research. Filling the Pokédex is a project, not a pastime.
Extra Content
Postgame twists and request chains refract the story through colder light. Shiny hunting and perfected entries can consume months if you let them.
Replay value
High. Even after credits, roaming with a new team or hunting specific research tasks feels meaningful, like returning to a site with better tools and heavier questions.
Rating
After thoughtful consideration, I decided to rate the replayability and game length of Pokemon Legends: Arceus with a 9.
Suggestions and comparisons
Suggestions and feedback
-More distinct flute motifs for different mounts to deepen identity and ritual.
-Additional Hisuian forms from later generations to expand cultural “what-ifs.”
-Slightly richer lock-on behavior around terrain edges.
Comparisons
Compared to mainline entries, this is leaner, braver, and sadder. It plays like a field notebook to the others’ textbooks; where most Pokémon games celebrate mastery, this one documents surrender and hopefully balance. But we all know how it turns out in the future: there is no balance, even though everyone mentions that there is balance.
Personal experiences and anecdotes
A big fat 10 for personal rating! I loved the boss fights, human versus Pokémon. The balms feel desperate, almost apologetic, an admission that we have to soothe what we can’t yet defeat. My favorite memories are not victories, but escapes: sprinting at dusk, pockets full of loot, a red-eyed Alpha breathing down my neck trying to take me down, which would let me lose my items. Joy, with the aftertaste of guilt as I escape. It was just angry I was in its territory.
Rating
Taking in all the personal experiences with Pokemon Legends: Arceus, I give it a personal rating of 10.
Last words
Pros
- Seamless overworld catching that redefines the series loop
- Research-driven Pokédex that changes how you engage with habitats
- Mount variety that meaningfully alters traversal and routing
- Alpha Pokémon that restore danger and awe
- Noble encounters (human vs. Pokémon) that feel tense and ritualistic
- Hisuian regional variants that enrich lore and ecology
- Exploration pacing with satisfying micro-goals
- Crafting that supports planning and improvisation
- Strong/Agile styles adding tactical texture to battles
- Evocative, frontier atmosphere, hopeful and haunted
- Postgame with real surprises and long-tail goals
- Shiny hunting that’s engaging without feeling exploitative
- Minimal UI friction for quick throws and swaps
- No microtransactions; the world is the reward
Cons
- Visual softness and occasional pop-in remind you of hardware limits
- Single mount-summon tune becomes repetitive across dozens of hours
- No voice acting; some scenes might have landed harder with it
Pokémon Legends: Arceus is a love letter written in pencil, erasable, smudged, and truer for it. It celebrates discovery while quietly mourning what discovery will cost. I adored nearly every hour, even as the world kept reminding me it will not be theirs forever.
FINAL RATING
9.3
Please let me know what you think of Pokemon Legends: Arceus in the comments! I hope you enjoyed reading this review. I hope to see you in the next review! If you liked reading this review, maybe you would like to share this review with your friends.
Pokemon legends arceus was everything that pokemon sword and shield tried to be, in my personal opinion. I absolutely love how it brought something new to the table for the pokemon franchise.
After reading the review I’m still not convinced this is my type of game, but a 9.3 makes you want to give it a chance … maybe 🙂
The way you describe this one makes it sound like it’s way more interesting than the average Pokemon game. It certainly has me curious about it!
Thanks for another informative review! 😄
I didnt played any pokemon or watched pokemon anime so i video will be a key to see what this game is about 😉 PS – Cant login.
Very nice written review. I like the Idea to focus on research in a time before the classic Pokemon (fight and catch them all) Games.
Looks like a game worth giving a try to… i’ll check it out once my backlog is a bit smaller… Nice review!
It’s highly rated!
I’d heard it was interesting, but I wasn’t really that interested—until now!
Even before I read the review, I was confused how you could have ‘productive’ outcast afternoons; you must be living on the other side of the globe… Oh, wait!
Nice to see another review where the positives outweigh the negatives.
They have been doing many good changes to Pokemon games
Thanks for the review. Seems like they’re improving the series in a good way ^^
There too many new pokemon characters u_u
I prefer the atmosphere you describe for this game more than the mainstream Pokémon titles. As this will let us experience how powerful/dangerous Pokémon are before they are tamed.
While it does look great… Still a Pokémon game, meaning turn-based combat. Not for me… Does look prettier than previous entries though! Also Arceus is pretty cool, my first legendary catch with Pokétwo. 😆
Great review, I agree that it’s more about exploring and surviving than just being a hero.
A very strong Pokémon game entry! Just reading through this makes me excited to try it out (one day).
Did you get all of them shinies? :3
Never got into the whole pokemon stuff as most of it always looks like rehash to me but with no voice acting are you expecting me to read? How dare you.
Good to see that they actually made another good Pokémon game. I had a feeling that the last ones kinda lost their oompf. Especially that you can give the story such a good rating makes me hopeful for the future – even if I do hate Nintendo right now…
This title looks to be a strong entry in the series and I enjoyed the evocative comparison of this being a “field notebook” to the “textbooks” of the mainline entries 🙂
The huge open-world in this game and the more interactive gameplay was a really cool way to experience Pokemon! Spotting them feels like Pokemon Snap almost! I will say the graphics in this one were not as impressive as I thought, especially coming from Nintendo… it was strange
I like this atmosphere and enjoyable characters and especially pokemons. I like review.
I can buy switch console lol. Thnaks for review!