Pokémon Legends: Arceus is great, despite all of our initial concerns. Open world Pokémon might not be visually breathtaking, but it sure is engaging. Legends: Arceus takes the natural ecological approach to Pokémon that you see in games like New Pokémon Snap and actually lets you jump in and get involved. You can stalk your prey like a predator before throwing a Poké Ball while they sleep — it feels great when it all goes right.
This is exactly the way many people have always wanted a 3D Pokémon game to shape up, and credit for the new direction is being given to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. You don’t have to play Pokémon Legends: Arceus for long to see the inspirations seep through — both games even begin with a disembodied mystical voice beckoning you. But once you’re let loose in the open world, the pace of the game is distinctly different. This isn’t the same kind of adventure as Breath of the Wild — it’s actually much closer to Xenoblade Chronicles.
You’d be forgiven for not noticing the differences past the aesthetic, but it’s an important distinction to make. Zelda‘s approach to an open world differs from Xenoblade‘s in a number of ways, and Pokémon follows after the latter far more than the former. For one, just look at traversal. Pokémon‘s unlockable mounts are a great way to cross the world swiftly, but that’s all they really are. Zelda‘s world is the game — climbing mountains and making your way across the landscape constitutes the bulk of what you do, and it all comes with the appropriate amount of challenge. A river or a canyon isn’t a blockade, it’s a puzzle you can figure out and solve.
In Legends: Arceus, a river is a wall. You won’t be able to swim far while on foot, and treading deep water is a sure way to sink. It’s the same in Xenoblade: the game world is fixed, there for you to navigate, not necessarily to play and experiment with. Neither Legends: Arceus nor Xenoblade will have you climbing mountains and managing stamina for your next big leap because the journey is not the game: what you find is.
Breath of the Wild was critically acclaimed at launch, but a big issue was that climbing mountains and uncovering secret depths rarely rewarded you with something unique — it was either one of 120 shrines, or one or 900 Korok Seeds. The journey really has to be its own reward when the actual rewards can feel so underwhelming — games like Death Stranding (if there are any games like Death Stranding) understand that well. But by skipping over the journey, Xenoblade and Legends: Arceus focus on what you find instead.
When exploring Xenoblade‘s huge areas, you’ll often find tunnels behind powerful enemies, leading on to secret areas and hidden monster encounters — most of which are entirely optional and can be easily missed. It makes those discoveries feel memorable, especially when you go to look out over a secret cliff edge and a giant spider suddenly climbs up to confront you. This is what Pokémon goes for, too. Venturing across the world isn’t difficult at all, but taking your time and watching and waiting in the right locations will reward you generously.
Different Pokémon emerge at different times of day, and by moving through the world slowly, taking mental notes as you explore, you’ll learn where certain Pokémon make their habitat, what replaces them as night draws near, and the best ways to catch and confront them. All of this makes hunting multiple Pokémon of the same species easier, which is necessary to complete all of your Pokédex tasks. This is similar to Xenoblade‘s time of day system that swaps creatures around, and even factors in the weather. Creatures there will have a chance to drop rare materials on defeat which can be used to complete side-quests and an in-game item encyclopedia, each tier of which rewards the player with new gear. The comparisons are clear to make — it’s not just the worlds that are designed similarly, but what you do in them too.
This all comes together with the introduction of Alpha Pokémon. Alpha Pokémon are wild Pokémon who are far stronger than the others in the nearby area. They’re bigger, tougher, and will be much more difficult to catch. The first few times you encounter an Alpha Pokémon, you’ll be better off running away and coming back when you have more experience, as taking them on with an underpowered team is a bad idea. Anyone who has played Xenoblade already knows where this is going: Unique Monsters are unusually powerful creatures you can find in the overworld. They could be just a little bit stronger than nearby enemies — like a miniboss — or they can be as fearsome as the final boss in the game, becoming a target for only the most die-hard players. These enemies, and the fear they spark when a monstrous beast starts chasing you, are exactly how Alpha Pokémon work in Legends: Arceus.
Ultimately, Pokémon Legends: Arceus takes inspiration from multiple games, including Breath of the Wild and Monster Hunter — but the way you navigate the world and take your time to learn about the creatures who live in it, instead of the landscape itself, is reminiscent of Xenoblade Chronicles in many ways. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a fantastic game, but if you’re loving Pokémon Legends: Arceus, maybe consider trying Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition next.
Written by Dave Aubrey on behalf of GLHF.