Pokemon Legends: Z-A Will Be Set "Entirely Within Lumiose City"

thegamer.com:

Pokemon Legends: Z-A was announced earlier today, a new game in the Legends series set in the Kalos region. It's managed to do what many thought Game Freak couldn't and instill a bit of excitement and optimism in the Pokemon community, though that excitement has been dampened a little bit for some after Nintendo revealed the game will be set entirely within Lumiose City, the capital of the Kalos region.

Nintendo announced this little tidbit via its official Twitter account immediately after the game was announced, and garnered quite a few mixed responses in the process. Those that have played its predecessor, Pokemon Legends: Arceus, will know that it was much more open, having players visit a variety of different locations to hunt for new Pokemon.

It seems as though a different approach is being taken with Pokemon Legends: Z-A, probably due to the fact it appears to be set in a future Kalos region rather than the distant past like Arceus was. That wording from Nintendo implies that players won't be running around the entire Kalos region, instead simply sticking to Lumiose and possibly assisting in this redevelopment project the game has teased.

There are a few people disappointed by that news, with one fan calling it the game's "first red flag", but there's quite a lot of potential in Game Freak sticking to a single city environment. For starters, we probably won't be getting the empty open world that previous games such as Pokemon Scarlet & Violet and Pokemon Legends: Arceus were criticized for, and there have been plenty of excellent open world games set in a single city, with the Like A Dragon series being a prime example.

Couple that with the fact that Game Freak seems to be finally bringing back Mega Evolutions, and Pokemon Legends: Z-A has all the ingredients required to become a potential fan favorite. We'll need to see some gameplay first though, something which Game Freak wasn't quite ready to show off during today's presentation.

That's not all that