After 25 long years spent scouring Nintendo consoles, the Pokémon saga returns to us with a promise of renewal. When announced, Pokémon Legends: Arceus seemed to emphasize exploration and freedom. Something to offer new perspectives to players who until now had to settle for very old-school J-RPGs. If the intentions were rather laudable on paper, we quite logically had to wait to take the game in hand before delivering our verdict on the title of Game Freak. That day has finally arrived!
From its first trailer, Pokémon Legends: Arceus highlighted open environments that foreshadowed a huge playground at the antipodes of the usual episodes. The presentation videos have been linked in recent months, sometimes struggling to convince (especially in terms of graphics). So it's time to know the end of the story. Welcome to Hisui!
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See PriceRead ConclusionPokémon Legends: Arceus
- Hisui, a pleasant region with varied panoramas
- An RPG side that gains in depth
- Huge lifespan!
- The refined Pokémon formula with more intense battles
- Not always very nice graphically
- Characters who are always silent
- A bit repetitive after a while
Pokémon Legends: Arceus has been tested on Nintendo Switch OLED via code provided by the publisher. The game will be released on January 28, 2022
A well captured past
It is in a distant time that the adventures of this Pokémon Legends: Arceus take place. Men and the famous creatures do not yet live in perfect harmony. Cohabitation is not always easy and the inhabitants of the Rusti-Cité village watch over our dear monsters with suspicion. But this is obviously not the case for our hero who quickly joins the Galaxy Group within the Corps of Researchers. Our objective is rather simple since we will simply have to go to the four corners of Hisui in order to capture and identify the many Pokémon that inhabit this vast region. The goal is to complete 100% of our Pokédex. But the task will not be easy...
To avoid spoiling the scenario of this episode, let's just say that strange events quickly disturb the calm of this seemingly peaceful world. Overpowered, even downright uncontrollable Pokémon are wreaking havoc there and it will be up to our explorer to put an end to this scourge. Overall, the story is rather interesting thanks to the chronological context of the game and the many characters encountered over the hours. Franchise lovers will undoubtedly be passionate about the lore of this era, which hides some nice surprises. Real efforts have been made on the entire narrative part of the title and the dialogues (sometimes a little long) provide crisp details.
Breath of the Wild en guise d'inspiration ?
Let's remove the doubt from the start! No, Legends: Pokémon Arceus does not have an open-world structure that fans have insisted on in recent years. Hisui is divided into several relatively large areas, but unfortunately it is not possible to move from one territory to another freely. When leaving the village which serves as a hub here, the player must select the sector where he wishes to go by selecting it from the map. An obligation that slightly breaks the immersion, but which offers a significant time saving to get to a specific place.
Overall, this semi-open structure is not disturbing... The general atmosphere is reminiscent of that of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild with its very wild settings and gigantic expanses. These areas seem quite empty at first glance, but they can be crossed at full speed thanks to the unlockable mounts during the game. We will keep silent about the nature of these "means of locomotion" but some are quite surprising. Thus, it is indeed nature that is in the spotlight and we greatly appreciate this breath of fresh air which leads to new gameplay mechanics for the franchise.
Fight to reign better
Catching Pokémon remains at the center of this epic. This practice, worn out for a quarter of a century, is significantly reinvented with Pokémon Legends: Arceus. The player directly sees the small monsters on the map and has the possibility of throwing a Poké Ball without having to engage in combat. Depending on their level, but also their temperament, Pokémon can be captured more or less easily. It may therefore be necessary to use trickery by hiding in the tall grass. Combat is frequently unavoidable to weaken the creature before being able to encase it in a Ball.
The clashes remain for the most part quite classic with turn-based actions and the resistance / weakness system so dear to the saga. The only change is that the trainer is free to move around as they please during battle. The static aspect of previous games has finally been abandoned.
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In addition, if he does not invoke a Pokémon after being spotted, our young hero exposes himself to danger since the enemies can attack him out of combat. This is why a dodging system (by pressing Y) has been implemented. If he takes too much damage, the player is simply knocked out. It must be recognized, the gameplay has gained in nervousness since it is essential to act urgently to get out of a perilous situation. The highly supervised duels against trainers from previous versions are only a distant memory... And we're not going to complain about that!
Alas, the difficulty remains at a fairly low level given the general public dimension of the license. Only Pokémon Barons (that is to say Pokémon more powerful than their congeners) really spice up these games. Even more formidable bosses, the Monarchs, come to punctuate the adventure in a very beautiful way!
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An RPG that ticks all the boxes
Still in the radius of the major evolutions of the game compared to its predecessors, we must underline the strong “modern RPG” component instilled by Game Freak. Pokémon Legends: Arceus is teeming with ideas borrowed from the legends (no pun intended) of the genre. Already, we now have the opportunity to craft potions, Poké Balls and other objects by collecting resources during our travels. These can be berries that our Pokémon will drop from trees or materials obtained after destroying specific rocks.
Crafting is available at any time using a kit provided at the start of the game. Side quests are also appearing in number. These side activities are quite entertaining, but lack variety. Capture such a Pokémon, show a completed page of the Pokédex, find a missing character... All the classics go through it.
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Among the small originalities, we must mention the star system. This is used to unlock crafting schematics, additional items, and the ability to control more powerful Pokémon. Once any area has been combed through, Professor Lavender groups our findings together before converting them into points. The total makes it possible to cross levels to win these dear stars.
Also, filling the Pokédex to 100% is no small feat. It is necessary for each Pokémon to accomplish various tasks such as capturing it a certain number of times, knocking it out in combat, using such an attack against it and much more. Enough to offer a substantial lifespan!
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Half-hearted immersion
If the occupations are not lacking in Hisui, it is still necessary to be able to chain them in absolute comfort on the visual and technical level. Contrary to what the first videos might have led to fear, Pokémon Legends: Arceus is pleasant to watch. The artistic touch has a lot to do with its very pronounced colors (especially on Switch OLED). The dynamic weather (rain, fog, snow, etc.) is also excellent. As for the day/night cycle, it in turn reinforces immersion. Everything is not necessarily perfect, the fault of marked aliasing, elements that appear at the last moment and textures that are not always very clean.
To our great relief, nothing affects the enjoyment of the game and future updates may well correct these ultimately undisturbing problems. Stopping for a few seconds to admire the surroundings (thanks to a finally controllable camera!) and the frolicking Pokémon even has something exhilarating about it.
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The observation is very different for everything concerning the audio dimension, which pales in comparison. Despite an upsurge in dialogue and camera angles closer to the protagonists' faces, no voices were recorded. You also have to be satisfied with simplistic sound effects from another era. Thus, the soundtrack as a whole is extremely disappointing.
It would be high time to offer a dubbing worthy of the name to a large license like Pokémon. As for the soundtrack, it is far too classic to make a lasting impression. Hitches that will absolutely have to be corrected for a hypothetical sequel.
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Pokémon Legends: Arceus, the opinion of JVFR
Pokémon Legends: Arceus shows a good dose of initiative to revive a saga that badly needed it. The RPG aspect is gaining in depth via mechanics that have certainly been proven in recent years, but which have never been seen before for a Pokémon game. The exploration is pleasant, the capture of creatures more than rewarding and the crafting brings a rather pleasant survival dimension. No need to spend hours in shops and other Pokémon centers to get back in the saddle.
Feared by many players, the graphic rendering is ultimately quite successful and only the little-worked audio part really does the job. The minutes go by at full speed in Hisui, the quests abound (despite their slight redundancy) and you never get bored. It's almost the first big surprise of this beginning of the year... Pokémon Legends: Arceus is a real success!
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Pokémon Legends: Arceus is an opus that finally dares to move the lines for a license that was resting on its laurels. It's a real role-playing game with modern mechanics and a remarkable atmosphere! Something to please fans and newcomers alikeMost
- Hisui, a pleasant region with varied panoramas
- An RPG side that gains in depth
- Huge lifespan!
- The refined Pokémon formula with more intense battles
- The scenario rather pleasant to follow
The lessers
- Not always very nice graphically
- Characters who are always silent
- A bit repetitive after a while
