Pokemon Legends: Arceus' Lovecraftian Themes May Have Flown Under The Radar

gamerant.com:

Pokemon Legends: Arceus quickly become a special title in the Pokemon franchise due to its unique catching mechanics, battle turn order, and difficulty. Rarely has a mainline Pokemon game ever been described as a difficult time, because those games are designed to be played by everyone — including children. However, Pokemon Legends: Arceus could afford to forego that approach. Several trainer encounters in the game can be exceptionally difficult for players who haven't trained their team to be overleveled compared to the area.

Although trainer battles are not as common in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, the game handles them in a way that makes them more meaningful story-wise and in terms of challenge. The game also has more grim themes than mainline Pokemon titles, often shown both in dialogue with NPCs or the Pokedex entries for some creatures, such as Basculegion consuming the souls of dead Pokemon. Pokemon Legends: Arceus' heightened difficulty mixed with a darker story set in a time when people were afraid of Pokemon to create something rather peculiar: a Lovecraftian experience.

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H. P. Lovecraft's horror stories are often referred to as cosmic horror, or Lovecraftian horror: a specific type of fear that comes from learning how small one is compared to the greater cosmos around them. Pokemon Legends: Arceus has many story beats that are similar to the average mainline titles in the series, but it also has strong Lovecraftian themes in the way it approaches the story of Arceus, Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina. The main character is summoned into another world, set centuries in the past, without their consent and with no knowledge of what is going on.

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