Honestly, the fact that I'm even here writing a review for this game feels wild. While I grew up on the mainline "Pokémon" games, I was never able to beat any of them as a kid. Over time, I started to realize that turn-based RPGs just weren't my style, and while I enjoyed messing around with the games, I was never really able to stay interested. I always loved the series, but I spent more of my time getting excited about the spinoffs. It didn't really help that, for the last few years, it feels like the main series "Pokémon" games have been stuck in a creative rut; many of them looked too similar for my liking, and I always found myself wanting the series to (no pun intended) evolve. Personal story, though: back in 2017, when I worked in retail, I had a coworker who pitched the idea of a "Pokémon" game in the style of "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild." I thought that was the most incredible idea ever, and every time a new "Pokémon" game was announced and didn't look like that, I would get disappointed. You can only imagine my excitement, then, when "Pokémon Legends: Arceus" was announced last year. It immediately caught my eye and looked like something that I'd actually want to play. Thus, I did, and it became the first "Pokémon" game that I properly played and beat. You don't know how happy I am to say that.
"Pokémon Legends: Arceus" is pretty much the growth that I was hoping for out of "Pokémon" after all these years. I greatly appreciated the overall changes to the flow of gameplay, being able to traverse the world and progress your character and Pokémon in the way that you please. You don't constantly need to battle, you can go through the world catching as many Pokémon as possible, which really works for the game because...you gotta catch 'em all! The battle system itself retains the turn-based style, with some touches of third-person action thrown in here and there. I was particularly mind-blown by the fact that I was able to take on certain Pokémon as the human trainer, and I'm still kinda blown away by that. As far as the Pokémon battles, I ended up being fine with the turn-based system: lately, I think I've grown to appreciate turn-based games just a little bit more, and in the case of this game, there are some unique changes to movesets and the flow of battles to keep you on your toes. I also appreciated how much easier and more accessible it was for me to get used to battling: this is a purely personal thing, but one reason I always struggled with "Pokémon" in the past is that I was extremely bad with remembering type advantages. So while it may be minor to some, I was extremely happy that moves had visual markers to indicate the effectiveness of moves in a given situation. While I'll have more to say about this later, the "Breath of the Wild" art style fits the game well, and I think the Hisui region has an excellent sense of scale and wonder. The characters are very charming, and the prequel story that adds plenty of lore to Sinnoh is pretty amazing. I don't know about anyone else, but I'd certainly be interested to see games like this that tackle the origins of other "Pokémon" regions. "Pokémon Legends: Mewtwo," anyone?
While I loved my time with the game, there were a couple of flaws. The big one that you've probably heard a bunch of already is about the graphics. I wasn't as bothered by them as a lot of others were (mostly because I don't pay attention to them very much), and I think the type of art style they went with was great, but I will agree that there are moments that feel a bit slapdash in terms of visuals. There are copious amounts of pop-in, for example, and it can be very distracting. It feels like that level of quality could've been higher. Also, while I'm not upset about the removal of gyms, I do agree that they could've added more trainer battles to the mix. I appreciate that they tried to keep them plot-important, but they could've done some more.
Overall, though, "Pokémon Legends: Arceus" is exactly what I've wanted out of the "Pokémon" series for years now. It's a wonderful evolution of the style that takes a lot of new gameplay ideas and makes them work fantastically. While playing, I really felt a consistent childlike joy; the game brought me back to those memories of being a kid and having fun with the classic "Pokémon" games. And I can definitely say that it made me excited for "Pokémon" all over again. I was convinced that the main-series "Pokémon" games would just never grab me like they did when I was a kid, but suddenly, I'm looking forward to seeing the next mainline entries in the franchise. If Game Freak continues in the direction they've gone in with this one, we're gonna be in for some great times. This is the shot in the arm the franchise has needed, and I highly recommend giving it a go.
Final rating: 9 out of 10 "Awesome"