Pokemon Legends: Arceus

 Switch
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 3825 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,951 out of 3825
  2. Mixed: 388 out of 3825
  3. Negative: 486 out of 3825
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  1. mack178
    Jan 29, 2022
    3
    A game that only Pokemon fans would tolerate.

    No other game could be this much of a technical disaster and still garner so much praise. Only Pokemon. Graphics, sound design, level design, NPCs, and more are so undercooked that I would have guessed this game was a year away from release. The gameplay loop is fun enough: go out into the zones and catch Pokemon. Level them up, evolve    A game that only Pokemon fans would tolerate.

    No other game could be this much of a technical disaster and still garner so much praise. Only Pokemon. Graphics, sound design, level design, NPCs, and more are so undercooked that I would have guessed this game was a year away from release.

    The gameplay loop is fun enough: go out into the zones and catch Pokemon. Level them up, evolve them. Fill out your Pokedex. The same fun loop that Pokemon is built on, but opened up to larger zones (not open world). I'm happy that many fans are enjoying this. But wow, that is where my praise ends.

    The graphics are well documented as being the worst of any AAA game in recent years. It's hard to overstate how bad they are. This is the ugliest major release of any IP I can remember. There is also no voice overs, or even the typical JRPG grunting. Just silence during conversations.

    The open zone level design is a nice change, but it is marred by the game's ugliness. Not to mention basic, fun features like a following Pokemon or the ability to look at your newly caught Pokemon's stats in the field are absent. NPCs are also copy/pasted across the game, which is sad considering there are maybe 100 of them, if that.

    I just don't understand how this game can be celebrated. Pokemon fans deserve better. There are early access indie games that are better optimized with better technical design than this.

    My last critique is that the first 1-2 hours is incredibly boring, but apparently this is normal for Pokemon games.

    I do not recommend this game.    … Expand
  2. davidsrjr
    Jan 29, 2022
    4
    Here is a game that on paper gets me excited for a Pokemon game. After years and years of the same repeated game with different skins comes a new game that tries to be different. The problem is that each new idea feels cut short and never truly fleshed out. The visuals are boring and flat. People seem to confuse "graphics" with things like ultra realism or RTX but that is not what I amHere is a game that on paper gets me excited for a Pokemon game. After years and years of the same repeated game with different skins comes a new game that tries to be different. The problem is that each new idea feels cut short and never truly fleshed out. The visuals are boring and flat. People seem to confuse "graphics" with things like ultra realism or RTX but that is not what I am speaking about. A game can have simple graphics but still manage to set itself apart and look visually interesting. This game needs voice acting of some kind. The lack of voice acting just feels low budget and boring. Even a grunt would bring it up a point in my book at this point. The game play is fun and I would have enjoyed the open movement to play a bigger part in the battles. I think we are at a point where we can start to move away from the turn base battles. Final fantasy had a great solution in its remake where it could be toggled on for those who enjoy it but was not forced onto the player. Combat could be so much more by doing it real time. Heck even just getting rid of the one Pokemon limit when battling would be an improvement! It feels like they picked this time period so that they could finally do something different with the Pokemon formula but then chose not lean into it fully and we are left with half baked new features that just leave us wanting more. Hopefully this game will lead a future where Pokemon games can be something more than just an advertisement to sell merchandise!… Expand
  3. Squalexy
    Jan 29, 2022
    3
    Imagine you're working at GameFreak and they tell you "We're gonna completely change the formula and give the fans what they've wanted" and then you hear applauses and screams of joy. But then, your boss tells you "I know this is a huge moment for us and the fans, but you have less than a year to develop this game, because we're greedy and love money" and you start thinking about your lifeImagine you're working at GameFreak and they tell you "We're gonna completely change the formula and give the fans what they've wanted" and then you hear applauses and screams of joy. But then, your boss tells you "I know this is a huge moment for us and the fans, but you have less than a year to develop this game, because we're greedy and love money" and you start thinking about your life choices.

    Well, this game has proven to me that working at GameFreak is like wanting to be a prestige restaurant chef and then I end up flipping burgers at McDonald's.

    How can you release such a boring, repetitive, unoriginal and ugly game in 2022? Unskippable cutscenes, awful story, awful characters, clunky movements, clunky aiming system (made my fingers hurt for the first time since playing on this console for 3 years), repetitive gameplay loop (collect resources -> craft pokéballs -> catch pokémon; repeat) and, worst of all, huge empty maps with nothing to do in them.

    How can you build a fake open world game, with no activities to do besides catching Pokémon and craft items (the most basic craft I've ever seen in my entire life), make it so empty and run at barely 30 fps, in 2022, on a console that has released Xenoblades 2 and BOTW?

    The only reason I don't give this game a 0 is because I appreciate immensely the effort to give the franchise a new direction and a breath of fresh (although smelly) air. THIS is actually a step into the right direction. I also loved the fact that the Pokémon feel alive and the move animations are actually pretty slick - but for me that's it, the game isn't fun at all.

    Pokémon fans need to stop lowering the bar and be amazed at the low effort development this company brings, stop letting them treat you as if you didn't deserve more. You give them millions every year and this is what they do to reward you. Screw that, man.    … Expand
  4. Bluery
    Jan 29, 2022
    0
    I understand that Game Freak does not own all the money that the Pokémon trademark makes. I also understand that Nintendo does not have a say in how Game Freak make their games, but I still understand that Breath of the Wild was released four years ago and looks better than Arceus. So the Hardware isnt the Problem. The very game that Arceus is trying to copy for its mechanics andI understand that Game Freak does not own all the money that the Pokémon trademark makes. I also understand that Nintendo does not have a say in how Game Freak make their games, but I still understand that Breath of the Wild was released four years ago and looks better than Arceus. So the Hardware isnt the Problem. The very game that Arceus is trying to copy for its mechanics and open-world is four years older and yet, somehow, looks better plays better more Story more heart more everything and 60 Bucks for this Desaster from Game Freak year after year we have to stop this.… Expand
  5. greninjaX
    Jan 29, 2022
    0
    many people are acting like this is the next big step for pokemon, but it's not. this is not the next generation of pokemon, this is just some weird experimental game that adds 7 new pokemon. all of it's new mechanics will be forgotten by the time the next pokemon game comes out. but perhaps that's for the best, as the new battle and capture mechanics are not fun. on top of that, the gamemany people are acting like this is the next big step for pokemon, but it's not. this is not the next generation of pokemon, this is just some weird experimental game that adds 7 new pokemon. all of it's new mechanics will be forgotten by the time the next pokemon game comes out. but perhaps that's for the best, as the new battle and capture mechanics are not fun. on top of that, the game has an embarrassingly low amount of pokemon, even less than sword and shield. the game also somehow looks worse than sword and shield. it's like the game was made by amateurs. this game is also the reason the gen 4 remakes are so bad, as gamefreak/the pokemon company put all their resources into this while outsourcing BDSP to some no name support studio. legends arceus is a waste of everyone's time and money. skip this one.… Expand
  6. miguelaceval
    Jan 29, 2022
    0
    Extremely disappointing, technically the worst I have seen in many years. Still, it will sell more than anyone else.
  7. ladycalista
    Jan 29, 2022
    2
    Just retched. The battle system is the worst since the early generations and nothing is explained at all. Wild Pokemon that are 15 levels lower than my party will randomly take turn after turn after turn and kill me before I get to act during a battle. The crafting mechanics are bad, the areas are too big without convenient traversal, the Pokedex filling is really boring and assumes you'llJust retched. The battle system is the worst since the early generations and nothing is explained at all. Wild Pokemon that are 15 levels lower than my party will randomly take turn after turn after turn and kill me before I get to act during a battle. The crafting mechanics are bad, the areas are too big without convenient traversal, the Pokedex filling is really boring and assumes you'll catch the same Pokemon again and again and again. I don't want to catch the same Pokemon again, I want to catch new ones, but I'm stuck seeing the same 4-5 Pokemon over and over as I throw Pokeballs at bidoofs trying to fill up a meter.
    Just play the mainline generation 8 games instead if you want a Pokemon experience on the Switch, those are much better.    … Expand
  8. EdwardBending
    Jan 29, 2022
    0
    As a game and creation of a saga as big as Pokémon that moves millions, it is a great shame. Half done graphics. Half done animations. 3 hours of tutorial. Technical and artistic non-existent. open-world? Gamefreak has done it again and a mediocre game will once again sell a lot to a fandom without criteria.
  9. Matthii
    Aug 11, 2022
    0
    Pokémon Arceus is a boring fetch quest game with grind mechanics that you can find in almost every mmo up to date. The uninteresting story and lifeless NPC's adds even more dullness to the game. The graphics also suck.
  10. cube2kids
    May 3, 2022
    0
    This game is alright for 2012 wii game. This shouldn't be acceptable in any ways. Public pressure is the only way to get nintendo to understand.
  11. amandra
    Aug 11, 2022
    4
    Exceedingly mediocre linear "fake open world" game. They copied so many great games and failed to deliver even a passable copy of any of them. There's some fun to be had here, but it's a completely skippable game.

    Bought for the kids who are obsessed with pokemon and they both moved on to other games after a few hours of game time. There simply isn't all that much value here. I played to    Exceedingly mediocre linear "fake open world" game. They copied so many great games and failed to deliver even a passable copy of any of them. There's some fun to be had here, but it's a completely skippable game.

    Bought for the kids who are obsessed with pokemon and they both moved on to other games after a few hours of game time. There simply isn't all that much value here. I played to help explain the mechanics and rushed through the second half of an abyssmal story. There's nothing to draw you back in if you aren't a sadistic completionist.    … Expand
  12. Poochingus
    Mar 3, 2022
    4
    This game is almost average. Gamefreak still has a long way to go to justify their literally biggest media franchise in the world budget.

    What this game did right is being a fun spin off with great out of the box thinking. It was fun to actually find new pokemon and keep coming back to interact with them. The concept was solid as could be. The feeling of pokemon being a genuine danger    This game is almost average. Gamefreak still has a long way to go to justify their literally biggest media franchise in the world budget.

    What this game did right is being a fun spin off with great out of the box thinking. It was fun to actually find new pokemon and keep coming back to interact with them. The concept was solid as could be. The feeling of pokemon being a genuine danger came across quite well, and it was fun to actually focus on how it would be in real life. I also enjoyed the different pokeball types too. I appreciate that for the most part, you are finally just allowed to explore and enjoy the game instead of being stopped every 10 minutes for some exposition. You get to take the story at your own pace. The actions in the game being tied to speed and having two additional combat styles was also a very neat concept that I think was done pretty well.

    That, sadly is about where it all ends. The bad outweighs the good. This is still a game that had the world of money behind it, and it felt more like an indie game than a real AAA game. Overall, the general UX and UI were half baked. I look forward to the day gamefreak realize you can speed up combat by adding a 2x, 4x, 8x speed shift too. Combat may start and end faster, but its slow as ever in the actual fights. Speaking of that, the battles were sparse and boring. They also often pit you against 2 or 3 enemies with your just 1. Why can't I use multiple pokemon per battle? They fell back on being to conservative in that aspect. Combat was sadly easier than any game to date, and I realized I hardly ever needed to fight. The boss fights were all literally the same, and it was boring every time after the first one. Graphics improved, animations improved, but are still sub-par, in time it seems that will be iteratively improving, but I don't excuse it either way in the here and now. The end of the story felt very rushed and messy. Overall the story had me rather bored, and side quests were also a literal waste of my time so I stopped doing them. There are no unique quest rewards, just common items I can craft in low quantities. Crafting, while interesting, was admittedly, rather limited. I'd have liked more than just 3 pokeball types. Also full heals were pointless because after battle you got cured of status conditions. Another weird thing was a glitch that for me at least, %100 accuracy moves would often miss, for both me and the enemy. The only items I ever seemed to use were pokeballs and potions, and then occasionally food to feed to wild pokemon for pokedex goals. The "HM" pokemon were nice here. They were a great idea in sun/moon but the goofy baby safety gear ruined the vibe, so here they looked good. However I did find the way they worked didn't quite make sense. The flying one was especially bad, it was really just slowly falling, not flying. The lack of ability to do anything multiplayer of note outside of trades was also wildly baffling. This could have been a chance to explore and fill out the pokedex together with a friend in the survey corps. and each task you both did together filled out both pokedexes at once. Of course the biggest thing missing is battles. Honestly why not let me battle someone else? Makes no sense except to keep people buying the terrible gen 4 demakes. This would make up for the fact that this game has no satisfying battles in it at all. Also they removed held items and abilites. So there is that.

    Overall I feel this was a promising step forward, but gamefreak still need to learn how to step up to the plate, and they need to stop pumping out games too fast. This will probably be my last pokemon game that I buy for myself. In future I may borrow a game or sail the high seas, but this feels like the last I'll be playing. The franchise is giving out at this point in the videogames department.    … Expand
  13. catdad89
    Mar 20, 2022
    2
    Bad story, boring chore gameplay, bad graphics. I stopped playing after 2-3 hours.
  14. hecatombeZ
    Feb 18, 2022
    2
    Juego desfasado gráficamente en todos los sentidos el único punto bueno la nueva mecánica de atrapar y combate,en todo lo demás muy por debajo de todo lo de hay actualmente.
  15. Ingleberg
    Mar 29, 2022
    4
    subpar graphics, subpar battling, repetitious, very little to say in the way of sound, too much pokemon aggro, makes it hard to do anything in an area sometimes without killing literally every mon in a 100 mile radius who sometimes even see you in the grass, weird system of ganging up on you, unintelligible and uninteresting story, questionable crafting, obnoxious side quests (most of themsubpar graphics, subpar battling, repetitious, very little to say in the way of sound, too much pokemon aggro, makes it hard to do anything in an area sometimes without killing literally every mon in a 100 mile radius who sometimes even see you in the grass, weird system of ganging up on you, unintelligible and uninteresting story, questionable crafting, obnoxious side quests (most of them at least), and a massive map that still some how makes it a pain to traverse. Also the new designs are butt ugly. That isn't to say there's nothing to enjoy about it, but i find it more tedious than fun, more sleep-inducing than exciting, and more discouraging than motivating. And some of the boss battle mechanics are really questionable.… Expand
  16. crispu
    Mar 3, 2022
    3
    Creo que todos estamos contentos con un Pokemon de mundo (semi)abierto con nuevas mecánicas como el sigilo. Sin embargo yo no estoy contenta con el resultado final de este juego, y no me refiero solamente al apartado gráfico.
    El problema aquí es que Pokemon Company es la empresa de videojuegos que más factura del mundo y tiene a GameFreak con 150 empleados sacando un juego de Pokemon al    Creo que todos estamos contentos con un Pokemon de mundo (semi)abierto con nuevas mecánicas como el sigilo. Sin embargo yo no estoy contenta con el resultado final de este juego, y no me refiero solamente al apartado gráfico.
    El problema aquí es que Pokemon Company es la empresa de videojuegos que más factura del mundo y tiene a GameFreak con 150 empleados sacando un juego de Pokemon al año. Juegos tan ambiciosos como este necesitan más tiempo de desarrollo y más cariño. Este juego no esta a la altura de los tiempos que corren, sobre todo viniendo de una empresa multimillonaria. Esto no es un juego indie.
    No voy a hacer incapié en el apartado gráfico porque salta a la vista los defectos que tiene, píxeles y dientes de sierra everywhere, incluso en primeros planos, un popping que asusta y mejor no hablar de los pinos esos.
    Hablando del gameplay, el juego en sí es entretenido, aunque el tutorial es bastante tedioso y al cabo de unas horas el juego se vuelve repetitivo. La exploración y los encantos del mundo abierto están bastante limitados por el mal diseño del mapa, hay veces que puedes escalar colinas a saltos y otras que no puedes sortear la piedra más pequeña, por ejemplo.
    A pesar de todas estas críticas, creo, sin embargo, que este juego marca la dirección correcta que debería seguir la franquicia por que tiene mucho potencial, simplemente me gustaría que Pokemon dejase de vendernos betas.    … Expand
  17. megarock327
    Jul 28, 2022
    4
    To be honest, I really wanted to like this game, but Legends Arceus is lacking in most fundamental elements that makes a good playable in the year 2022. The Pokemon in the game are lifeless NPC that are not cleverly made, and they just do the most basic of movements with no interaction to the surrounding Pokemon. The quests that are given are a chore to do. The open environments are dryTo be honest, I really wanted to like this game, but Legends Arceus is lacking in most fundamental elements that makes a good playable in the year 2022. The Pokemon in the game are lifeless NPC that are not cleverly made, and they just do the most basic of movements with no interaction to the surrounding Pokemon. The quests that are given are a chore to do. The open environments are dry with very little to offer, and the frame rate is atrocious.… Expand
  18. HeraticParadox
    Mar 13, 2022
    4
    To start off with something good, I enjoyed the alpha Pokémon mechanic. I like that any Pokémon has a rare chance to spawn as an alpha, and I enjoyed hunting alpha variants of the Pokémon I wanted to add to my party. It made my party members actually feel special and unique from all the other Pokémon running around in the over-world. That’s pretty much where my praise for the game ends.To start off with something good, I enjoyed the alpha Pokémon mechanic. I like that any Pokémon has a rare chance to spawn as an alpha, and I enjoyed hunting alpha variants of the Pokémon I wanted to add to my party. It made my party members actually feel special and unique from all the other Pokémon running around in the over-world. That’s pretty much where my praise for the game ends. The core game-play loop of catching Pokémon and filling out the Pokédex was acceptable, although the boss fights felt really bland and out of place. I felt just entertained enough to keep playing, but it never really felt great. I often felt that it was just barely enough to let me ignore the game's glaring flaws for long enough to complete the game. Clearly the graphics and performance of the game are some of it’s low points. This game might be the worst AAA title graphically in video game history when compared with other AAA titles releasing within a year. There’s a ton of pop in, especially when flying and there are significant frame rate drops for objects that aren't even that far away from the player. That being said, the poor graphics and performance were hardly what I disliked most about the game. The writing in this game was just painful, which is a shame because the story had so much potential. There were some seriously good story beats there, but the writing just made everything feel flat. None of the characters are relatable, the choices you make feel meaningless, and everything from the main quests to the side quests just feel completely lacking in substance. On top of that, the Arc Phone might be the laziest game mechanic in the history of lazy game mechanics. Why on earth, would a character who is literally a part of the survey corps responsible for SURVEYING the land and Pokémon who live there not just make a map. Instead the Arc Phone just magically gives you maps of new areas, and the other points in the game when the Arc Phone activates is just sheer disrespectful hand-holding on the parts of the developers. They must seriously think their player base is the most unintelligent group of people on the planet earth. This game feels like a bare bones tech demo for a game set to release in a year or two. It’s a shame that more effort was not put into it, because I can see the potential and that, to me, is what makes the failure to give us a solid finished product so much more painful.… Expand
  19. RaizSaiyan
    Feb 28, 2022
    1
    Gamefreak gibt sich null Mühe, denn sie wissen das sich jeder Pokémon Fan dieses Game kaufen wird egal wie Sch*isse es aussieht. Und sowas unterstütze ich nicht.
    Arceus sieht aus als hätte es ein 3 Jähriger entwickelt!
  20. piradingdong
    Mar 3, 2022
    4
    Repetitivo, mal diseño, un paso atrás en la saga en muchos sentidos, implementación de mecánicas nuevas completamente absurdas y mal llevadas a cabo, bugs y un sin sentido en cuanto a los combates, da la sensación de que una vez lo hicieron , no lo probaron después
  21. EddTaz
    Apr 5, 2022
    0
    Parecera un juego de pokémon culaquiera, pero al iniciar partida te das cuenta que no es lo mismo que años anteriores, nueva jugabilidad, historia acertada, diseños decentes y todo es conlleva un maravilloso juego. podrás pasar horas de juego intentando completar la pokédex. es un maravilloso juego
  22. Tsosmi
    Apr 8, 2022
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Even with the whole A-team working on something "new", the game is still on 360p. How can it look worse than BOTW? In true GameFreak fashion, they gave 90% of 50% ofw what they could do. The map is laughably small, the "" story"" is worse than anime-level, there's a whole ton of fan service, the design of the pokemon and moves are getting worse and the ghosting is on another level. You look at a landscape with 3 pokemon maximum at a time. Wait until i drops on price, if you are still interested.… Expand
  23. Lov3Glov3
    Jul 19, 2022
    2
    I honestly don't understand this game. The point of the original games was to go on an adventure, battling other trainers, collect badges and catch all sorts of different pokemon. Now, you're basically confined to one area, battling rarely happens (it's honestly a second thought), and now you are catching multiple types of the same pokemon. It's almost like the developers looked at PokemonI honestly don't understand this game. The point of the original games was to go on an adventure, battling other trainers, collect badges and catch all sorts of different pokemon. Now, you're basically confined to one area, battling rarely happens (it's honestly a second thought), and now you are catching multiple types of the same pokemon. It's almost like the developers looked at Pokemon GO and thought, "we can make a AAA title for this, minus the bonus of going outside and interacting with others." I honestly don't understand how this is making pokemon fans happy.… Expand
  24. Riverseagle
    Sep 19, 2022
    2
    This game is fun at it's core. I greatly enjoy running around the world and catching Pokemon.

    That being said, the fun core gameplay is presented in a horrendous low effort package of terrible environment work, awful lighting, hideously blurry and often muddy textures. Barebones animations , one dimensional characters that lack all substance and a story so lazily written it borderline    This game is fun at it's core. I greatly enjoy running around the world and catching Pokemon.

    That being said, the fun core gameplay is presented in a horrendous low effort package of terrible environment work, awful lighting, hideously blurry and often muddy textures. Barebones animations , one dimensional characters that lack all substance and a story so lazily written it borderline makes no sense.

    Pokemon Legends Arceus looks worse than PS2 games from 2004. While graphics don't make or break a game, it is hard to enjoy playing a game when it's hard to look at it. At it's core I don't even mind if a game doesn't look great. My favourite game of all time is a Gamecube port of a Dreamcast game. But Pokemon Legends Arceus, a triple A release from a studio like Nintendo being priced upwards of $90 in some regions, has no right looking and running as poorly as it does. It reeks of a low effort game rushed through to release.

    Some people will argue that it only looks bad because it is on the Switch. This is simply untrue. Beautiful games exist on the Switch. Just look at games like New Pokemon Snap, Breath of the Wild (the game this game tries to emulate), Monster Hunter Rise, Splatoon 3 and more.

    The Nintendo Switch's is not to blame for PLA looking and running as bad as it does.

    Game Freak not putting any effort into it is what's to blame and it's just disappointing.    … Expand
  25. Cou
    Jun 30, 2022
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It is a fun game all in all. But i harshly lower the score immensely due to the post challenges. As a casual game it is a 8 out 10, however when you want to finish all missions or quest. The quest they given is outright time consuming and not worth the effort. This might as well be a rant. The reason is. Who is the right mind want to spent their time grinding a wurole to lvl 100 just to fight a staraptor?? Just to get a badge?? Sure it gives it longevity, but this is so irresponsible for game freak to think this was smart and clever. This is probably why I lost faith in pokemon games... and sadly they are proving that fact firther down the line. I will however say it was a breath of fresh air. But it stop after when the grinding starts.… Expand
  26. 21gramos
    Feb 28, 2022
    3
    Es una lastima para los verdaderos fanáticos de pokemon que en 2021 nintendo tenga los huevos de sacar esta basura
  27. Samuelebi
    Sep 10, 2022
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Gioco molto bello, entusiasmante, divertente ma la mia recensione è 0 perché non è compatibile per ps1… Expand
  28. SS_Ann96
    Nov 23, 2022
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Boring, repetitive and generally felt more like a proof of concept than an actual fully realised Pokémon game. Hated the battle mechanics and the boss fights. Only saving grace is the catching mechanic is fun for a while and the characters are mostly charming if a bit of a step down from SwSh.… Expand
  29. Elwoodwrap
    Dec 15, 2022
    2
    I gave this game a solid 15 hours before giving up from boredom. I just found the story to be boring and was not a fan of the controls or lay out. I like that Pokémon tried something new, but this did not do it for me.
  30. martinho_99
    Feb 20, 2022
    3
    I really really really can't understand how people can give 10 points to a substandard game. This game looks, feels, sounds and plays worse than games that came out 15 years ago. It may be kind of a new start for the franchise (I am a huge fan or at least I was). But the grafics are a disaster, the controlls are bad, there is no voice acting, sound affects are lazy made, animations areI really really really can't understand how people can give 10 points to a substandard game. This game looks, feels, sounds and plays worse than games that came out 15 years ago. It may be kind of a new start for the franchise (I am a huge fan or at least I was). But the grafics are a disaster, the controlls are bad, there is no voice acting, sound affects are lazy made, animations are ridiculously bad or non existing. Please be honest and compare it with games like God of War 4, The Last of Us, RDR2 etc., these are todays 10 points standard. Or even compare it with the level of other Nintendo games: Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, Mario Galaxy, Luigis Mansion... Pokemon became Nintendo's worst games by far and this game is sadly not doing any better.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

41
#41 Best Switch Game of 2022
2
#2 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2022

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 118 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 102 out of 118
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 118
  3. Negative: 0 out of 118
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 30, 2024
    80
    Definitely not a bad game. It handles its mechanics perfectly, and as long as it doesn't try to talk at you, you'll enjoy it. It's the first step on the road to new games with Pokémon on the cover, and the good sales could be the main reason to continue similar work and experimentation. [Issue#317]
  2. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Oct 19, 2022
    85
    Acreus came out just a few months after Diamond & Pearl remake. Isn’t that too soon? Actually, no. Pokémon Legends: Arceus is the most innovative, revolutionary, and maybe simply the best Pokémon game of the last decade. [Issue#259, p.48]
  3. Nintendo Force Magazine
    May 13, 2022
    90
    This really does feel like a big step forward for a series that famously plays things safe, and I'm excited to see where the franchise will go next! [Issue #58 – March/April 2022, p. 72]
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