‘Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ Latest Trailer Reveals New Battle System, Exploration & Region Forms

Nintendo’s latest Pokémon Presents event delivered a wealth of information about the upcoming Pokémon Legends: Arceus, including a detailed look at the new battle system, exploration, new Hisuian Pokémon and region forms of existing Pokémon, and much more ahead of it’s January release.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus takes place in the Hisui Region–a place that will eventually become known as the Sinnoh Region–during a time where the relationships between Pokémon and people are adversarial. The protagonist will begin their journey in Jubilife Village as they explore the wilds of Hisui in their attempt to become a member of the Galaxy Expedition Team. You’ll work to uncover the secrets of the land, complete the first Pokédex of the Hisui Region, and uncover the truths behind the legendary Pokémon Arceus.

While the premise sounds like your typical Pokémon Game, Pokémon Legends: Arceus looks to shake up the formula while preserving the core gameplay we’ve all become familiar with. The game is an action RPG in a fully explorable open world, a first for the series and an ambitious design decision overall. The latest trailer focuses heavily on new exploration elements that make traversing the Hisui Region exciting–you’ll be able to take to the skies, ride the waves and gallop across the land on mountable Pokémon, for starters.

Catching wild Pokémon and combat have also been revamped to fit the style of Legends: Arceus. Players will be able to capture wild Pokémon in or out of combat during their exploration of the Hisui Region. Every Pokémon behaves differently, so you’ll have to sneak up on them or weaken them before capturing them. Out-of-combat captures use a free throw mechanic where you aim Pokéballs at the critters you’re trying to catch. Different Pokéballs have different strengths and weaknesses. For instance, the Heavy Ball has a greater chance to catch Pokémon that haven’t noticed you yet but also has a decreased throw distance.

You can start combat by tossing your captured Pokémon near a wild one, which initiates a dynamic battle at your location. Unlike previous entries, Pokémon don’t take turns one after another. Instead, a Pokémon’s speed stat determines how many actions they can take in a row.

This new turn system works in tandem with the new Agile Style and Strong Style system. A Pokémon’s moves can be augmented with either of these styles, conferring a variety of benefits and drawbacks while greatly changing combat. Agile Style raises a Pokémon’s speed but reduces the move’s power, while Power Style raises a move’s power at the cost of speed.

Jubilife Village and the Galaxy Expedition Team also play significant roles in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Jubilife Village functions as a home base for the player to return to after a long day of missions and exploration. From there, you’ll be able to restock on supplies, accept requests and missions, and head out on survey excursions for the Galaxy Expedition Team.

Survey excursions look to be another exciting addition to the game. Excursions look to be one of the primary missions of the Galaxy Expedition Team, which will have players venture out into the wilds of the Hisui Region in order to learn more about the native Pokémon. You’ll set up a base camp from which you can purchase supplies, rest and heal up, and even craft items that’ll help you complete missions and requests. While exploring, certain Pokémon may attack the player. Taking too much damage will cause you to black out, so resting at camp often will be important. The last thing you want is to get mauled by an Ursaring and lose all your progress.

Lastly, what would a Pokémon game be without the Pokémon? The trailer showcased some familiar Pokémon in new forms, such as the Hisuian Growlithe and Hisuian Braviary variants. There is also Wyrdeer, an evolution of Stantler that has deep ties to Hisui and its people. Basculegion, the new evolved form of Basculin, is a Pokémon that has been possessed by “the souls of other Basculin from its school that could not withstand the harsh journey upstream.” If that’s not a hardcore Pokémon backstory, I don’t know what is.

Nintendo delivered a lot on this short trailer and it’s started to make me excited for the game. The idea of an open-world Pokémon game has been one of my dreams for years, but I was a bit skeptical at Legends: Arceus’ initial announcement. While I’m still skeptical, Pokémon Legends: Arceus has the chance to live up to its expectations and, if it can pull it off well, it could chart a new course for the series moving forward. We won’t know until we get our hands on it, but our excitement for it is quickly growing.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus releases for Switch on January 28, 2021.