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. Ruffian
    Jan 29, 2022
    7
    My God the world envrionment is ugly af! Gameplay is really good though, i would say that if you are able to look pass the story, lack of multiplayer battle system, gym battles and the horrendously bland and lifeless world of Hisui this is an alright game to pick up but with a company as big as Game Freak it feels kinda lazy and they should be doing more
  2. AsboXFlemzo
    Feb 2, 2022
    7
    Completed in 20hours, was extremely boring story, no gyms or leagues. Easily exploited gameplay that allowed me to catch everything with a single ball and no aggro. Graphic so old it looks like ps2 era. No idea why people rate this higher than sword and sheild when it's half baked game. Add ability to throw a ball which is in pokemon go so it's nothing new.
  3. MovieGuy999
    Jan 29, 2022
    7
    Legends Arceus, as just a game without its franchise, would definitely be mediocre. It is a collect-a-thon with some QoL elements, a serviceable plot, subpar graphics, and a musical score which, while charming , is a bit too subtle in the overworld. The fact that it has a full game price tag would definitely turn some people away.

    With that said, as a Pokémon game, it is pretty damn    Legends Arceus, as just a game without its franchise, would definitely be mediocre. It is a collect-a-thon with some QoL elements, a serviceable plot, subpar graphics, and a musical score which, while charming , is a bit too subtle in the overworld. The fact that it has a full game price tag would definitely turn some people away.

    With that said, as a Pokémon game, it is pretty damn good! Not GREAT but GOOD. The game's new focus on it's old "catch em' all" motto has turned out to be for the better. Why? The best way to describe why is to address how this game deals with the complaints previous entries have received:

    Same Old Gyms and Championship? No and no. Your exploration of the world and your capturing of Pokémon now serve as the goal posts for your progress.

    Trade Evolutions? Gone with an in-game item.

    Animations? While the models and art style of the world are worse, they are more expressive than I remember them being in both BDSP and SWSH.

    Too Many Cutscenes/Dialogue Boxes? Plot is to the point: catch em' all and do quests to advance! You will not be kept from the game for too long at any point.

    Level Capture Block? Gone! Not to worry though, catching a strong Pokémon is not going to suddenly break the game for you. The one thing that is still restricted are the level limits of your Pokémon obeying you. Catch one out of your league and it will not listen to you.

    Too Much Experience? While you do still have EXP Share, it's distributed better and more sparingly. If I can catch a Level 40 Rapidash in the starting area due to a fluke and only get a few levels, I'd say it's pretty balanced.

    Grinding sucks? The focus is on catching and that is where most of your EXP is going to come from. Just sneak and throw, no long battles necessary (except in certain cases). You can battle but...

    Battles suck? This game gave one hell of a boost to your opponents. They can abuse the special mechanics you can use and the strength in level differences is not as pronounced now. You have to play smart since the combat isn't just single turn switches anymore.

    Listen, if you wanted a Pokémon game that would erase all of the past controversial entries, this is not that game. It is very fun but, as many people rightfully think, this could have been done sooner and better. Still, I can't help but really enjoy this game. Maybe it's just a one-time thing but I sincerely hope that the fun I am having now is a sign that Gamefreak is going in the right direction with its game development.    … Expand
  4. Schueli
    Sep 21, 2022
    7
    Pokémon Legenden: Arceus kommt mir vor, wie eine Mod für Breath of the Wild. Irgendwie klingen die Sounds teilweise sogar gleich. Die Grafik ist dabei noch eine ganze Ecke schlechter. Hinzu kommt das absolut hässliche Charakter-Design. Was denkt man sich da teilweise bei dem Aussehen - zum Beispiel beim Professor? Wer denkt sich, machen wir den mal so hässlich mit der Mütze. Naja.

    Dann    Pokémon Legenden: Arceus kommt mir vor, wie eine Mod für Breath of the Wild. Irgendwie klingen die Sounds teilweise sogar gleich. Die Grafik ist dabei noch eine ganze Ecke schlechter. Hinzu kommt das absolut hässliche Charakter-Design. Was denkt man sich da teilweise bei dem Aussehen - zum Beispiel beim Professor? Wer denkt sich, machen wir den mal so hässlich mit der Mütze. Naja.

    Dann zum Spielspaß, das mit wichtigste. Und ja, das haut irgendwie rein und man verfällt direkt wieder in die Suchtspirale. Es bockt und man möchte alle Pokémon fangen, die es zu fangen gibt. Da es im Endgame dann aber in Fleißarbeit ausartet, in dem man irgendwelche sonderbaren Sachen machen muss, waren es am Ende dann bei mir doch nicht alle Pokémon.

    Das absolute Ende hab ich im übrigen auch nicht gesehen, da man Arceus nur zur Gesicht bekommt, wenn man zuvor alle Pokémon zumindest gesehen hat, was Entwicklungen mit einschließt. 

    Die Geschichte ansonsten bis zum normalen Ende ist langweilig und bietet nichts neues. Ich hab mich da einfach wild durchgeklickt.

    Fazit: Spielspaß top, der Rest eher ein Flop.    … Expand
  5. tmcov
    Oct 13, 2022
    7
    If GameFreak wasn't so lazy it could be one of the greatest games of this generation and the best Pokemon title ever launched
  6. TwistedBengal90
    Jan 31, 2022
    7
    This game is a step in the right direction. Open world, change of style and gameplay was sorely needed after 25 years. The graphics are not top notch but man the gameplay is fun! They took a risk although not far enough, but it is the best Pokémon game in years. Now they need to push further. Make it truly open world. Create better AI for roaming Pokémon, interactions with environment,This game is a step in the right direction. Open world, change of style and gameplay was sorely needed after 25 years. The graphics are not top notch but man the gameplay is fun! They took a risk although not far enough, but it is the best Pokémon game in years. Now they need to push further. Make it truly open world. Create better AI for roaming Pokémon, interactions with environment, better animations. Add gyms back in the next one, allow us to ride your own Pokémon on ground, air, and sea. Add more towns and cities to explore. More caves and dungeons, add more raids. And add a multiplayer aspect. Maybe something akin to Destiny. Where 30-50 players share the open world with you at any given time. Again, step in the right direction. Can’t wait for the dlc and future releases with this formula. Excited for the future.… Expand
  7. Irarius
    Feb 5, 2022
    7
    this is a solid 7/10 game
    heres my reasons, bulletpoints and then a short explanation
    first positive - a step forward for the franchise - overworld maps are bigger then expected - 2 /3 pokeball choises are amazing - a bunch of the bossfights are great, - only a few trainer battles, and most of them are decent, you never feel burned out by them. - you barely get annoyed by the rival    this is a solid 7/10 game
    heres my reasons, bulletpoints and then a short explanation
    first positive
    - a step forward for the franchise
    - overworld maps are bigger then expected
    - 2 /3 pokeball choises are amazing
    - a bunch of the bossfights are great,
    - only a few trainer battles, and most of them are decent, you never feel burned out by them.
    - you barely get annoyed by the rival
    - alot of good character designs
    - customization is decent
    - riding feels great and is fluid
    - going through maps is good
    - oppertunities to catch rare mons are there, and they are good
    - you can catch EVERY mon of the game, including special evolutions,
    - trade evolutions have an item now, and thats amazing
    - a few rly good siequests, some of which can permanently alter things and thats amazing
    - sometimes the game looks good
    - new fighting system is interesting
    - SOME sideobjectives that are kinda neat
    - legendary battles are nice

    negatives
    - the game is kinda flat in content
    - maps feel empty with nothing to do in them
    - overworld is filled with overly agressiv pokemon who will get aggrod from insanely far away for
    way too long,
    - maps can feel like hotrooms where everybody wants to kill you, and that rly fast
    - some sidequests are downright ****
    - the wisp thing is interesting, but kinda dumb too, a radar would have been good for this
    - no minimap, and that would have been needed alot
    - riding camera is unacceptable, its horribly bad
    - wild pokemon are insanely unbalanced, my lvl 80 maxed out mon can get murdered in 2 turns
    by a lvl 30 mon... that just cant be a thing
    - wild mons can alot of times attack you twice before you can even do a single thing,
    - pokeballs can bounce off the air, sometimes its simply not possible to gaige if a ball can hit
    - sometimes you cant catch a mon because the catch range is not enough, and thats rly
    inconsistent somehow
    - the story is kinda... wack and i dont rl know wth is going on. in the grand scheme of things what
    is even happening
    - the game is OFTEN ugly, flat and just bad / boring design wise
    this encompasses
    style: its a poor mans breath of the wild
    presentation: its a poor mans breath of the wild
    visuals: washy, colours look flat
    stability : this game is not rly lagging, but anything further away then you can throw a
    pokeball will look like it is lagging out, or loading in half
    - pokemon just stand around, only a hand full of them are actually doing something, ponyta for
    example will try to play with you, but rly most of them want you dead, and there isnt rly
    anything between most of the time, we desperatly needed some defensiv mons that would
    balance it out by helping you or fear away mons - progression is kinda meh, there was definietly a better option here for example pokemon half of the lvl of the mons that will obey you, should not attack you anymore so if you command mons up to lvl 50, mons of 25 or under arent agressiv towards you or give clothes properties like better stealth, or something like that its rly lazy yeah in total ALOT of missed chances, BUT still it was a totaly playable game, and while alot of times being good, the game managed to piss me off BAD when my cam while riding NON STOP got stuck when pokemon would permanently break my stealth out of nowhere when my pokeballs didnt work because i was 1 cm to far away which sucks ALOT of times when a wild mon 30 lvls under m,y own mon ONESHOTS my mon... and THEN i get options for battle... even if i engage them, like wtf bro 5/10 is mediocre = sword and shield 4/10 is less the mediocre = BDSM remakes 6/10 would be an improvement over the last game without anything big 7/10 is when a game improves, but its not fully realized also washy and inprecise controls to earn anything aobe this 8/10 the ideas are realized and also a bit deeper, **** works fine 9/10 the game is outright amazing, and for the time it has been released is up to date which this game 100% IS NOT it looks like crap, runs almost as bad, and features seem rushed 10/10 the game actually pushes forward what it means to be a game of that genre + it works fine and is at its time beyond what others deliver this is not the case, here, the game 100% underdelivers and prol needed another 1-2 years of pure development to be this good so whats could have been done in 1-2 years of more development? cleaning up the game, adding more things to do in the overworlds coop for the maps like they did in bdsm underground or S&S wild area increase stability polish visuals adding a few more behaviors for the very limited pokedex all of this could be possible EASY and would make the game a 10/10 other games manage to accomplish this and pokemon is a billion dollar franchise no excuse in the world can excuse this not being the case this thing sells millions of copies    … Expand
  8. Pouwilli
    Jan 29, 2022
    7
    It's good but it's lacking some heavy graphicals features that game from past 2010 have. For the price it's not an excuse the switch isn't powerfull enough anymore we are in 2022 not 2008
  9. AsrielDreemur
    Feb 1, 2022
    7
    I'm nearly 20 hours in when I'm writing this review, my first impression for this game is that it's probably the most unique pokemon game by far. The fact that GameFreak decided to try something new in a Pokemon game without reusing the previous pokemon formula really impressed me. Overall the game wasn't really mind blowing but it did laid the groundwork for future pokemon games.

    There    I'm nearly 20 hours in when I'm writing this review, my first impression for this game is that it's probably the most unique pokemon game by far. The fact that GameFreak decided to try something new in a Pokemon game without reusing the previous pokemon formula really impressed me. Overall the game wasn't really mind blowing but it did laid the groundwork for future pokemon games.

    There are some other stuff to be work on such as the visual and graphic. Voice acting in Pokemon is always somthing I wanted in the game and it's kinda disappointing that they continue to overlook that aspect. Although I love the new game mechanics of catching pokemon that was implemented, I felt that the map in this game is really empty and lifeless at times. The missions in the game could be tedious at time when they force you to catch "X" pokemon in a "X" amount to progress.

    All things consider, it's a good Pokemon game that could have been better and I hope that GameFreak will continue to improve their future Pokemon games as they are going down the right path with Pokemon Legends Arceus.    … Expand
  10. Timeflies164
    Feb 1, 2022
    7
    This game had the potential to be a masterpiece. Unfortunately the lack of voice acting and polished/improved graphics prevent it. That being said this is still a good game and worth the adventure for pokemon fans. It has me so excited for the future of what pikemon games have in store. I truly hope they will give one pokemon game the time and love it deserves to make a game as good asThis game had the potential to be a masterpiece. Unfortunately the lack of voice acting and polished/improved graphics prevent it. That being said this is still a good game and worth the adventure for pokemon fans. It has me so excited for the future of what pikemon games have in store. I truly hope they will give one pokemon game the time and love it deserves to make a game as good as super mario odyssey and breath of the wild. This is the closest we have gotten to it. But there is still a long way to go.… Expand
  11. Kearne
    Feb 2, 2022
    7
    It's good, feels fresh. New catching system is great. It just feels kinda rushed thou and like it wants you to mainly be re-catching the same Pokémon all the time to fill out that Pokédex. And there is even less emphasis placed on story and battles. I don't like how there is almost no trainers battles, as having high level good Pokémon being pointless.
  12. Braxto
    Feb 4, 2022
    7
    The new style of gameplay is fresh and exciting, however I feel disappointed by the lack of PVP, pokemon abilities, and held items. The open world aspect is fun and questing feels more like a modern RPG than pokemon. While the graphics of NPCs and the game in general are laughable, the gameplay is smooth when throwing pokeballs and using a mount to transverse the open world.
  13. ZXSth
    Dec 16, 2022
    7
    In his YouTube video on the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Arin Hanson comedically rants at a metaphorical representation of one of the franchise's successive instalments, Skyward Sword, is lauded with praise entirely because it rides the coattails of its predecessors. Similarly, I believe that much of Pokemon Legends: Arceus' praise has been heaped upon it simply due to the fact thatIn his YouTube video on the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Arin Hanson comedically rants at a metaphorical representation of one of the franchise's successive instalments, Skyward Sword, is lauded with praise entirely because it rides the coattails of its predecessors. Similarly, I believe that much of Pokemon Legends: Arceus' praise has been heaped upon it simply due to the fact that it is not the same abhorrently mundane, head-bashing, mind-numbingly repetitive slog that most Pokemon games have become. While Pokemon Legends: Arceus is a solid open-world adventure RPG, this game has come about 10 years too late, in my opinion, and lacks the nuance needed to stand on its own two feet in a world populated with games that not only outshine it, but also came out almost ten years ago.

    Arceus has some strengths: Its open world is fun to explore, and speeding up Pokemon battles streamlines the combat in a really positive way. Additionally, the core experience of the Pokemon games is here, which will likely please series veterans craving more of the same. And of course, needless to say, shaking up the Pokemon formula after so long is an incredibly desirable and long overdue change of pace.

    Despite the game being a rather pleasant experience, this game seems, at its core, to be a moderately successful hodgepodge of Pokemon Go and Breath of the Wild. At its best, the game is a streamlined Pokemon experience; at its worst, it is a slog through a somewhat lifeless and archaic-looking semi-open world, where the same tired, outdated turn-based battle system is used. Somehow, after 25 years, Pokemon games are still managing to survive using what is almost exactly the same simplistic, turn-based combat that arguably does little to differentiate itself from the first Dragon Quest game on the NES - a game made in 1986.

    While many may see this game as a step in the right direction for Pokemon games to go, I cannot help but think that the game is not a big enough step. As nice as it is to see that Nintendo is willing to bend a bit regarding one of their flagship franchises, not enough risks were taken - risks that would likely elevate this good-enough experience to heights only hit by the original Red and Blue games.    … Expand
  14. Speedie
    Feb 1, 2022
    7
    You may want to stick this review out. It's a rollercoaster ride.

    There are two driving forces in this game. One force that takes the game in either direction. In the direction of being a good game, there is the amount of fan service in the game. New forms of Pokémon, an regional origin story, new strategies to collect Pokémon, Breath of the Wild menus, sounds, and gameplay. The    You may want to stick this review out. It's a rollercoaster ride.

    There are two driving forces in this game. One force that takes the game in either direction. In the direction of being a good game, there is the amount of fan service in the game. New forms of Pokémon, an regional origin story, new strategies to collect Pokémon, Breath of the Wild menus, sounds, and gameplay. The negative driving force however is how long it takes for the player to be able to enjoy these things.

    It isn't as if the player is always learning new things that they must use in the gameplay. The opposite actually. Almost everything needed to complete the game is handed to you right off the bat. This is not an inherently bad feature. This kind of freedom allows each player to create individual experiences and choose their own way to complete each task. Sadly, in this game, there are no choices to be made. It's simply a game where you build your collection, with new environments only serving as a change of scenery. Even then, the same forest area is used for a majority of three out of five areas. Finally, the graphics are unacceptable. This is something that can be looked over when we talk about quality, since gameplay is most important, but it's a sad thought when you realize every once in a while how poor the graphics are.

    With all of the complaints somehow, someway, this game made me return to my desk and continue where I left off the night before. Why was I coming back? What kind of game do I turn on and start complaining about? Freedom. For once, you aren't just a Pokémon Trainer. You're a collector. A researcher. The one that others look up to. You are the obstacle in their way from the very start. For Pokémon fans this story is one they've wanted to know for so long, and want even more of in the future. It's Pokémon history being played out and created by you. The most important thing in the entire game is collecting and studying things about Pokémon that have never been such a large focus.

    Effort. That's what this game has. It's not the norm for the developers. It's unexplored territory. They made their mistakes, the game has it's flaws, but it has the soul that a good Pokémon game should have. They didn't leave out crucial features to make the game more marketable to wider audiences. They didn't make the story simple so everybody could follow it. It's a huge chapter in the Pokémon world and one that's worth experiencing, even through the flaws in it's core. As fans we all have our opinions about this game, but this game will absolutely be built on in the future, and is a foundation for the future of fun in the Pokémon franchise.    … Expand
  15. Blentz499
    Jan 30, 2022
    7
    A good improvement on the Pokemon formula. The gameplay loop is awesome if you're a completionist like me. The things that are being the score down is this game is either unoptimized on the switch or the switch is not powerful enough for the game. I think a mixture of both are true. There is a lot of pop in and I have seen other games that shouldn't be able to run on the switch be able toA good improvement on the Pokemon formula. The gameplay loop is awesome if you're a completionist like me. The things that are being the score down is this game is either unoptimized on the switch or the switch is not powerful enough for the game. I think a mixture of both are true. There is a lot of pop in and I have seen other games that shouldn't be able to run on the switch be able to run quite well so this is disappointing. The other thing is the small Dex size. 240 Pokemon for a franchise that is right around 100 is too small to reasonably charge 60 bucks.… Expand
  16. Ben3033
    Feb 6, 2022
    7
    At first sight, Pokemon Legends: Arceus seems to be the game fans have been pleading about for all these years: an open world game where you can freely explore the lands and fight Pokemon. In a way, that is true, but the execution was very flawed. The game is restricted to zones, otherwise known as an "open-zone" game. This was a disappointment, especially when the earlier trailers made itAt first sight, Pokemon Legends: Arceus seems to be the game fans have been pleading about for all these years: an open world game where you can freely explore the lands and fight Pokemon. In a way, that is true, but the execution was very flawed. The game is restricted to zones, otherwise known as an "open-zone" game. This was a disappointment, especially when the earlier trailers made it out to be a game similar to BOTW. Not only that, but the game restricts you from entering certain areas of zones if you haven't filled out enough of the Pokedex. However, this shouldn't be too much of an issue, as long as you are doing more than just following the missions.

    The main gameplay loop is very fun. Being able to explore freely(in the zones of course) and catch, fight, or run away from Pokemon doesn't get old... well at least for most of the game. It starts to tedious after a while, especially because it's REQUIRED to access certain areas.

    The Pokemon don't do anything interesting; they are completely lifeless. They either walk around, sleep, or occasionally teleport depending on the Pokemon. Why not have some Pokemon fight with each other occasionally, or have two Pikachu's touching their tails as a greeting(which is quite literally in their Pokedex entry), stuff like that which would make the world feel more active. The zones themselves are bare-boned, with only the most basic terrain. Not to mention, the graphics are awful for a 2022 Nintendo Switch game. The terrain looks worse than games on the GameCube.

    When you aren't following the main story or exploring the world for fun, you're probably doing Requests, otherwise known as sidequests. These sidequests are the most basic, boring, and tedious tasks you can think of. They're all the same; catch a specific Pokemon, fill out a specific Pokemon's Pokedex entry, or collect a certain amount of an item to bring back to the requester. It felt like doing homework going through these. However, there are a couple of fun ones. One of them, you get to catch a shiny Ponyta. But like I said, there are only a COUPLE of these. It feels like the developers were asked to make a sidequest system last minute, so they had to rush like 100 of them and made them all practically the same thing.

    There IS a story, but it's pretty awful. Every cutscene is just two or more characters staring at eachother with 0 sound effects or voice acting, and these cutscenes happen ALL. THE. F****ING. TIME. The tutorial of the game is like an hour long and you are CONSTANTLY being interrupted whenever you get a chance to actually do something. These interruptions are not as frequent as the tutorial throughout the rest of the game, but that isn't saying much.

    TL;DR: Pokemon Legends: Arceus has a great concept, but it's incredibly obvious Game Freak half-assed many things. It's not truly open-world, and the restrictions placed upon you really take away a lot of the fun you could have. However, despite all of this, the gameplay loop is still incredibly addicting and fun to the point where this game deserves a 7. I hope we get more games like this in the future in which all the issues are ironed out, because this game really had potential.    … Expand
  17. Freesteff
    Apr 10, 2022
    7
    Pokemon Legenden Arceus ist von der Umgebung eine absolut Hässlich es das beste am spiel ist das man die wahl hat ob man das Pokemon einfach fangen will oder gegen Kämpfen will das sollte Game Freak auf jedenfall bei behalten und weg von random encounter die Sotry ist auch super gelungen spielerisch hat es mir deutlich mehr spass gemacht als die Hauptspiele
  18. ProfesorAbeto
    Jan 31, 2023
    7
    Tiene mecanicas que aunque mejorables sinceramente espero ver en futuros juegos, la historia interesante sin más, creo que aun falta por explorar mucho del mundo del pasado que espero que se haga en futuros leyendas, se va evolucionando este es el camino sin duda
  19. Mynnigon
    Mar 9, 2022
    7
    The gameplay is fun and refreshing, however the graphics are terrible and the level design is absolutely uninspired. Even though the game is flawed in so many ways, the gameplay loop is very addictive and makes for the experience I always hoped for in a Pokémon game. For a first real departure from its standard all of its flaws are acceptable. Gameplaywise I hope the new mechanics will getThe gameplay is fun and refreshing, however the graphics are terrible and the level design is absolutely uninspired. Even though the game is flawed in so many ways, the gameplay loop is very addictive and makes for the experience I always hoped for in a Pokémon game. For a first real departure from its standard all of its flaws are acceptable. Gameplaywise I hope the new mechanics will get improved on and will be implemented in future iterations of the mainline series. However, Game Freak and Nintendo should also improve on their lazy graphics and level design for their future games, because those are a huge disappointment and are unacceptable for any AAA game in 2022 and onward. It simply breaks the immersion.… Expand
  20. manufail
    Feb 22, 2022
    7
    Pkmn Legends Arceus (PLA) is a step in the right direction but still shows how Gamefreak (GF) makes minuscule progress in game design. Let me start out with the good. I haven't had FUN playing a Pkmn game in so many years, and finally, a game delivers on the fun. I haven't felt a pkmn game had hope to be considered a good game until now. That being said, I am baffled at why GF made thisPkmn Legends Arceus (PLA) is a step in the right direction but still shows how Gamefreak (GF) makes minuscule progress in game design. Let me start out with the good. I haven't had FUN playing a Pkmn game in so many years, and finally, a game delivers on the fun. I haven't felt a pkmn game had hope to be considered a good game until now. That being said, I am baffled at why GF made this game worse than it needed to be. Fans have been complaining at how long tutorials are and this game's tutorial is a PAIN to play. And yet, for all the new features in the game, the tutorial teaches you none of them really (its essentially just capture a pkmn tutorial). To me that's sort of the story of this game. Fun to play but the game refuses to let you enjoy it. There are SO MANY cutscenes in this game that take you out of the experience. Why you still can't skip them is beyond me. Why I still have to wait for each text scroll before I can continue to the next one makes no sense to me. Honestly, if this game had a skippable tutorial and skippable cutscenes or just none at all - it would be a much more pleasant experience. The sad part about that complaint is that GF has no excuse. Yes the graphics are awful but there's a million excuses I can give for that (no engine, Switch can't handle it, time constraints vs risk of project success, etc.). But the tutorials and cutscene pacing was a conscious choice by GF that could've been avoided. I'm glad this game exists and I'm hoping GF can merge all these changes into a new mainline series of games. As of right now, PLA is a step in the right direction for GF, but unfortunately a super safe dive at change and a continued display of antiquated game design. I would love for GF to continue along this path and not give up but this game is not quite there. Giant leap for a pkmn game but I am tired of giving Pkmn a pass just bc I love the franchise so much.… Expand
  21. thompsonmelo
    Dec 28, 2022
    7
    best pokemon game implements all of the previous ones with map quality and good story with the best pokemons in the playable franchise and an evolution of the small fight system but that improves playing considered graphics compared to others in the series and stable fps
  22. K3tamine
    Apr 19, 2022
    7
    Creo que los cambios de fórmula deben valorarse como lo que son, cambios. No por romper con una fórmula clásica considero que estemos ante el mejor juego de la historia de Pokémon, ya que creo que lo presentado en Pokémon Leyendas, aun aportando una serie de ideas interesantes para construir un futuro refrescante y distinto para Pokémon, y aun siendo radicalmente distinto a Espada yCreo que los cambios de fórmula deben valorarse como lo que son, cambios. No por romper con una fórmula clásica considero que estemos ante el mejor juego de la historia de Pokémon, ya que creo que lo presentado en Pokémon Leyendas, aun aportando una serie de ideas interesantes para construir un futuro refrescante y distinto para Pokémon, y aun siendo radicalmente distinto a Espada y Escudo, acaba pecando de lo mismo que los juegos de 2019: te diviertes jugando, te pasas el final del juego ya bastante cansado, y a la vitrina con los demás.

    Considero que el juego es en general divertido (aunque no me acabe de ilusionar el estilo "Collectathlon", "hazte con todos", que acaba aborreciendo), el nuevo sistema de combates engancha bastante, el apartado sonoro como siempre es sobresaliente, y hay muchas píldoras de "fan service" muy estratégicamente colocadas que hacen que pongas más interés y que conectes con el juego. Sin embargo, no puedo decir lo mismo de los apartados artístico y gráfico, ya que hay decisiones de diseño bastante extrañas, sumado con unos recursos técnicos pobres para Switch y para lo que podíamos esperar del juego. Los nuevos Pokémon, en mi opinión, son pasables, pero no están al nivel de los de Espada y Escudo. La historia no es muy memorable, además de que hay varias cosas demasiado metidas con calzador, aunque el diseño de personajes sí que mejora respecto a Espada y Escudo, ya que se les otorga mayor profundidad.

    En definitiva, veo interesante explorar nuevas fórmulas para no sobrecargar el JRPG clásico que siempre ha sido Pokémon (aunque me quedaré con las ganas de ver otro título sobresaliente de este estilo como fuesen Platino, Blanco y Negro o Sol y Luna), aunque no por ello debemos bajar unos estándares de calidad que, tratándose de Pokémon, han de ser bastante altos.    … Expand
  23. Simpson_761
    Jun 9, 2022
    7
    Sub par graphically. Game was too "easy" a lot of the time. Lovedddd a lot of the new features though.
  24. Zumbie101
    May 7, 2022
    7
    Story is actually pretty good and its nice to see pokemon make a change to the standard formula. Gameplay wise its a nice combination of the GO mechanics and standard pokemon while also being its own thing.

    Though I will say it gets repetative quite quickly
  25. hector_bcn98
    Nov 28, 2022
    7
    +
    Ofrece una experiencia Pokémon diferente al resto.
    Por primera vez completar la Pokédex es divertido, aunque requiere muchas horas de cumplir tareas innecesarias estúpidas con cada uno de los Pokémons. Poder completar el juego sin necesidad de depender de intercambios con otra persona: puramente singleplayer. A veces supone un reto a nivel de dificultad que pocas veces se suele ver    +
    Ofrece una experiencia Pokémon diferente al resto.
    Por primera vez completar la Pokédex es divertido, aunque requiere muchas horas de cumplir tareas innecesarias estúpidas con cada uno de los Pokémons.
    Poder completar el juego sin necesidad de depender de intercambios con otra persona: puramente singleplayer.
    A veces supone un reto a nivel de dificultad que pocas veces se suele ver en la franquicia.

    -
    La historia es absolutamente banal y aburrida.
    Las batallas con los jefes no son satisfactorias y suponen baches en la experiencia.
    Secundarias de recadero sin ningún tipo de interés.
    Conversaciones y personajes clásicos de la saga: te tratan como si tuvieras 5 años y fueras imbécil.
    Técnicamente es un despropósito, una vergüenza para las capacadidades de Switch. Debe ser el AAA más feo de la historia. Gráficos que dan asco, con un popping a apenas unos metros del personaje, expresiones faciales inamovibles, sin doblaje... Es un juego de hace 15 años. Que Game Freak siga teniendo la licencia de Pokémon y realizando entregas indignas de la saga y de Nintendo es surrealista, un insulto al consumidor.    … Expand
  26. klarkc
    Jan 30, 2022
    7
    I like the exploration Mechanic's, but sometimes the game feels too repetitive. The missions would be more epic, I keep farming and exploring all the time. The alpha battles breaks this a little, but I miss the epic battles at gyms.
  27. xXCDRageQuitXx
    Jan 31, 2022
    7
    Definitely a weird Pokemon game.
    The bad:
    The graphics are bad and they only get worse The story is not very good and the lack of voice acting, considering the graphics, doesn't do the game any favours The game wants you to complete the Pokedex but a couple of really BS long term collectathon puzzles that artificially pad out time Most of the best parts of the game are locked to after    Definitely a weird Pokemon game.
    The bad:
    The graphics are bad and they only get worse
    The story is not very good and the lack of voice acting, considering the graphics, doesn't do the game any favours
    The game wants you to complete the Pokedex but a couple of really BS long term collectathon puzzles that artificially pad out time
    Most of the best parts of the game are locked to after the credits or even 50 hours in.
    The story is gated by Pokedex progression

    The good:
    Exploring areas and finding new Pokemon is fun
    The game has made filling the Pokedex a significantly more active task
    The new battle system is better and creates closer and more strategic battles
    The final act of the story is enjoyable
    The soundtrack has some genuine bangers

    Pokemon Legends Arceus asks you to complete the Pokedex fully to unlock the whole game to be able to then turn around and appreciate the value of what you played, but a big if here is "How many people are really going to do that?" at least 80% of players are not going to reach the very end and are as a result going to leave this game having experienced a mediocre story with an enjoyable final act. Some players will reach the end of the post-game story quest which genuinely has an awesome conclusion and is honestly challenging, but very few are going to reach the very end.
    This game is rich with little optimisations to the Pokemon formula. The rocks and trees that you throw your Pokemon at to gather resources for crafting are a great system. The ride pokemon that allow you to travel faster, over water, and through the air or up mountains, is a great system. The addition of Strong and Agile Style and the Move Order really make long battles way, way better. Once you get a grasp of how to work the system it is excellent. The cheeky moves you can do and your opponents will also do make battles significantly more even fights than ever before. It is unfortunate that very few trainers in the game have large parties of Pokemon that allow the system to shine. Crafting is great, for the most part wild Pokemon behaviour is great. The Pokedex challenges that change from Pokemon to Pokemon keep the game fresh. The boss fights are a good idea that has a lot of potential, but some of them didn't land this time around.

    This game is brought down so much by its graphics and GameFreak's pulled punches. The game is simply ugly. The ugliness of this game never relents and is at all times making the experience worse than it could be. Textures are constantly being reused, Pokemon load distance can be fine but it can also be abysmal, with Pokemon loading only if you're a few metres away if you're flying over. It feels like GameFreak hasn't tried, and that this game is more so a pitch to the playerbase, asking "How does this new gameplay loop feel?"

    To me, this game has landed well because I've always enjoyed the catching pursuit of the game. I want to see where this game takes us. Gamefreak has done some excellent things with this game and from here it's a matter of trimming the fat like the artificial time-sinks or the story progression gates, and refining what else has potential here. Battles go largely unsung and that is a shame, Pokemon feel more alive than ever in their environments, boss fights are pretty cool, the story was one of the best Pokemon stories and it really wasn't good for the most part. Improve and add more of these parts of the game that have potential and eventually we'll have a great game.    … Expand
  28. SgtSocks
    May 11, 2023
    7
    Pokemon is back and better then ever! The Gameplay is refreshing, but the story needs some work. that's really my only problem with this game. This is solid evidence that Graphics does not measure how good a game is.
  29. CharlestonBit
    May 29, 2022
    7
    Not going to lie, this game at first didn't really catch my eye in the opening hours, however as I progressed the game is now in a way nostalgic by all means. I love this game.
  30. cfc1998
    Jun 17, 2022
    7
    I don´t know where to start with this review, when game was first announced everyone was so excited because this is definitely the right direction for the Pokémon saga. Unfortunately the game had big issued with the graphics, visuals and performance, and it was obvious that wasn't going to change before the final release. Its clear that Nintendo doesn't have the same care or love with theI don´t know where to start with this review, when game was first announced everyone was so excited because this is definitely the right direction for the Pokémon saga. Unfortunately the game had big issued with the graphics, visuals and performance, and it was obvious that wasn't going to change before the final release. Its clear that Nintendo doesn't have the same care or love with the Pokémon franchise, because the would never let a Zelda or a Mario sold in this state of unpolished and unfinished product. Overall the gameplay was fun, that´s the main thing, but the story was bland and uninteresting and didn´t make up for the technical problems of the game. And then just months after that they release a trailer for Pokémon Scarlett and Violet which makes feel this game as if just a tech demo of whats comming next. Disappointed with the final result, and this just proves that we have to wait several years more to get the real Pokémon game that we been dreaming as kids.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
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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