Pokémon Legends: Arceus review: Bidoof of the Wild

digitaltrends.com:

For the past seven years, every new Pokémon game has felt like a good idea scribbled onto a napkin. Each new release puts a genuinely clever spin on the franchise, but none have felt like a full painting. Pokémon Legends: Arceus isn’t that final version either, but rather a museum collecting all the best doodles in one place.

In the franchise’s biggest departure to date, developer Game Freak has thrown some of the series’ fundamentals out the window. There are no gyms, no elite four, and no competitive component. While it draws inspiration from more contemporary RPG series like Monster Hunter, it’s more focused on organizing disparate Pokémon innovations from the 2010s in one place.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus makes bold changes to the tried-and-true formula, successfully kicking off Pokémon ‘s long-needed reinvention. But the series’ technical limits hang around its neck like an everstone, preventing it from fully evolving.

Bitten by the Breath of the Wild bug, Pokémon Legends: Arceus is an open-world reimagining of the monster-collecting series. While there is catching and battling, the key verb is “researching.” Players are dropped into an ancient version of the Sinnoh region (called Hisui) and are tasked with creating the first Pokédex.

The emphasis on research leads to some ingenious gameplay hooks. Observing Pokémon behavior nets players research points, which help build out a full Pokédex entry for the creature. Players get points by, say, catching a Pokémon, using type-effective moves against it in battle, feeding it, etc. It applies the idea of mobile-like daily challenges to each creature, letting players progress for doing virtually anything. It’s satisfying to check off boxes and there are quite literally