Pokémon Legends: Arceus takes right lessons from Pokémon Go

digitaltrends.com:

At this point, the Pokémon Go phenomenon feels like it happened two alternate universes ago. Remember those euphoric few months in 2016 when everyone was constantly outside and congregating with total strangers? The mobile game has been much more than a flash in the pan for Nintendo. It renewed mainstream interest in the franchise, maintaining its cross-generational dominance.

Pokémon Go’s success has created some complications for the franchise, though. It’s a unique experience built for mobile, one that hardly resembles the traditional RPG setup of the mainline games. Finding a way to integrate its hooks into fully fleshed-out Switch games is no easy task, making it hard to fully capitalize on the momentum.

With Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Game Freak has finally cracked the case. By putting an emphasis on “research,” Nintendo’s latest game takes all the right lessons from Pokémon Go without throwing the franchise’s strengths out the window.

When Pokémon Go first launched, it was a better social experiment than a video game. The gameplay was even more of a grind than its RPG counterparts. Players simply caught as many Pokémon as possible while walking around. Evolving a monster meant catching the same creature over and over again to stock up on candies. It wasn’t terribly fun; it was just a good excuse to get outside.

The hit game has added more mechanics since then, which have made it a little less repetitive. Most notably, it now includes field research. The system works the same way as any mobile challenge system, giving players monthly tasks to complete. Players can get rewards for anything from hatching eggs, to throwing curveballs, to simply walking.

The system helps pave over some of Pokémon Go’s problems, but it’s