Pokémon is a franchise that has been growing ever since its Pokémon Green and Pokemon Red first video game debut in Japan in February 1996. It later became popular in the United States and soon all around the world. On Jan. 28, 2022, the Pokémon franchise released its newest game, Pokémon: Legends of Arceus. Featuring open-world gameplay that focuses less on battling trainers and more on catching and learning about Pokémon compared to past games, Legends Arceus is very new and refreshing. The overall gameplay is set to take about 20-25 hours to complete which gives you plenty of play time before finishing the game, and many different places to explore.

Legends Arceus consists of exploration and a main story that you have to complete to be able to unlock different parts of the map in what’s called the ¨Sinnoh Region¨ and a few side quests. As the protagonist, you join the Galaxy Team as a member of the Survey Corps, and your goal is to meet and catch every species of Pokémon from every corner of the region as you work to achieve the land’s first-ever Pokédex. The time is set hundreds of years before Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, released Sep. 8, 2006, back when the Sinnoh region was known as ¨Hisui¨. 

Due to the story, there was an absurd amount of dialogue to read through. Unfortunately, Legends Arceus hasn’t improved every aspect of the core Pokémon formula and still has some of the many issues older Pokémon games had such as the amount of cut scenes and text there is at the start of the game. There was especially a lot of dialogue during the beginning of the game which was aggravating because I wanted to explore the region, and not talk to all the villagers. Eventually, as I kept playing the game, I had more freedom to explore and go from the village to different parts of the map.

At first glance, the cover art really caught my eye. The art in the game is beautiful and mainly watercolor, which really suited the style of the game. Although, an issue I had with Legends Arceus was the poor graphics. For a massive open-world game like this, there needs to be an amazing looking domain to go along with it and sadly Legends Arceus doesn’t provide that. The environment is very lackluster but the fun addictive gameplay really makes up for it. This is the first time in years I’ve been excited to see and catch new Pokémon. Since the world is  full of little nooks and crannies where harder to find Pokémon reside, the game really rewards you for exploring and not just sticking to the main story. It actively encourages you to do the side quests, catch more Pokémon, and do the main story all at your own pace.

Overall, this game is really fun, addictive, and I recommend it to anyone who likes open-world games where you can explore the area as you please. It will also suit people that like wholesome games with mild fantasy violence, where you can take your own pace and finish the game the way you want. I give Pokémon: Legends of Arceus 4 out of 5 stars.