With Pokemon Legends: Arceus being less than a week away, fans have got pretty much all the information they're going to get about the game pre-launch. While there are no major reveals left in store before Pokemon Legends: Arceus hits shelves, the latest gameplay overview trailers that dropped earlier in the week expanded on a few concepts and clarified some things.
There is no doubt still loads of secrets and surprises in store for players, but for those who want to know as much as possible before they buy, these Pokemon: Legends Arceus overview trailers have shared a bit more information about the game.
2 Pokemon Legends: Arceus Story Reveals
Although the bulk of the story remains shrouded in mystery, the initial setting and call to action for players has been firmly established. As this trailer made clear, this game is set in a time when many people still fear Pokemon, as they have little understanding of them. This is a sharp turn away from the series' message of friendship and teamwork, but the player will be working to establish this. Players will be doing research for the Galaxy Expedition team to try and catch them all for the very first time.
Pokemon fans who have played Diamond & Pearl may have realized that the name "Galaxy Team" is remarkably similar to the antagonists "Team Galactic" from the original Sinnoh games. This similarity is purposeful, as their logos are similar, and the head of the Galaxy Team, Cyllene, looks remarkably similar to Cyrus. However, these trailers have made it clear that they are the good guys, and players will be working for them. Whether Cyllene will turn traitor at some point during the story remains to be seen.
Aside from Galaxy Team, there are two clans who refer to themselves as the Diamond Clan and the Pearl Clan. These two rival clans both believe in a Legendary Pokemon they refer to as "Sinnoh". It is most likely that the Pokemon they believe in is actually two Pokemon, Dialga and Palkia, who may very well be getting new Primal forms in Legends. Exactly how they'll connect to the story is unknown, but which one the player chooses to aid may determine which Legendary Pokemon they can catch.
This leaves the biggest mystery of them all, Arceus. This Mythical Pokemon is the game's namesake, yet it has barely been shown in the trailers and only referred to in passing. This Pokemon is said to be the creator of all in the Pokemon world, so fans are unsure whether it being catchable in the game is a good idea. These new trailers are trying to tease something, though. A brief shot can be seen of text made out of Unown. Unown have been heavily tied to the four Creation Pokemon ever since Generation 4, meaning they likely have something to do with Arceus. The text says, "Touch other lives to create", which may imply players have to do something with other trainers to solve this mystery.
1 Pokemon Legends: Arceus Gameplay Reveals
By this point, trailers have given players a good idea of what they can expect to be doing for the bulk of their time in the game. The core loop of attempting to catch Pokemon stealthily, only to engage them in battle if they fail or are aggressive, has many fans excited. This trailer put a lot of emphasis on the research players will be doing to complete their Pokedex. It seems that in the Hisui region, simply catching the Pokemon is not enough to fill out their Pokedex entry. This makes sense, as it is the very first Pokedex, so none of the information exists and must be discovered.
As shown in the overview trailer, players will fill out each section by completing research tasks with each Pokemon. These likely vary from creature to create, but the ones shown on a Wurmple include catching the Pokemon multiple times, seeing it use a specific move, catching the Pokemon without being spotted, defeating it in battle, and evolving it. Completing each task increases the Research Level on that Pokemon. It's not entirely clear what this will unlock, but this research seems to be one of the driving forces of gameplay this time around.
Like with all previous Pokemon games, some Pokemon will only appear at certain times of day or under certain weather conditions. Players who wanted to catch these Pokemon in a hurry would have to change the clock on their device manually. However, it seems there is now an in-game solution for it. The overview trailer shows the Pokemon taking a rest at camp to heal their Pokemon. When they did so, a menu opened up with several different options, all of which allowed them to rest until a specific time of day. This implies that the day/night cycle is no longer tied to real-world time, and players have more freedom in this area.
Another thing that long-time fans will find interesting is the apparent changes to how players progress through the game. In a classic Pokemon game, players are always moving forward through the world, driven entirely by the story. The overview trailer implied that wouldn't be the case this time around. Rather than fulfilling story requirements to move on to the next zone, players will instead have to do enough research and/or side-quests out in the wild to rank up as a member of the Galaxy Team, which the trailer explained would unlock new areas for the player to explore.
The final major reveal in these trailers was the silhouetted forms of the Starter Pokemon, Rowlet, Cyndaquil, and Oshawott. It had long been suspected that the final evolutions of these Pokemon would get regional variants, and this was confirmed to be true. Players still don't know what they look like entirely, but the silhouettes give a pretty good idea of what's in store. This opens up the door as to what other Pokemon may have new forms that players don't know about yet, and with the game just days away, excitement is sure to be at an all-time high.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus releases on January 28 for Nintendo Switch.