Pokémon Legends: Arceus' Empty Environments Don't Matter
The empty environments in Pokémon Legends: Arceus don’t matter, even though they’ve been the subject of online criticism since the game’s January launch. While it would be nice for an open-world Pokémon experience to have enormous, sweeping, well-manicured areas for the player to explore, it’s not necessary. Pokémon is about catching and battling with Pokémon, which Legends: Arceus still fulfills.
Similarly to how Pokémon Let’s Go, Eevee! and Pikachu! experimented with the longstanding catching mechanics of the franchise, creating a gameplay loop that was essentially Pokémon GO on the Nintendo Switch, Pokémon Legends: Arceus flips the series’ formula on its head. The game takes place in the Sinnoh region, but in a time long before the events of Diamond and Pearl. There are still battles in Legends: Arceus, but the main objective is catching every Pokémon and creating the first version of the Hisui region’s Pokédex.
Related: Legends: Arceus' Iscan & Palina May Be Related To Gen 5's Marlon
To do this, players explore semi-open world areas of historic Sinnoh, called the Hisui region. Instead of encountering Pokémon blindly in tall grass, the creatures are visible in the overworld, and the player needs to sneak up behind them, tossing Poké Balls or initiating battles depending on their strategy. While these environments may be bland compared to other modern games with large explorable levels, it doesn’t really matter. The trees and rocks and landscapes aren't what players should be admiring in Legends: Arceus anyway — it's the actual Pokémon.
The Hisui region is divided into several subregions in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, most of which contain one specific type of climate. The Alabaster Icelands, for example, is snowy terrain
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