An open-world Pokemon game is coming to the Nintendo Switch: VIDEO Insider logoThe word “Insider”.
2021-02-26T19:33:28Z
The Pokemon Company
- A brand-new type of Pokémon game was unveiled in a presentation on Friday morning.
- “Pokémon Legends: Arceus” looks like the open-world, 3D Pokémon game that fans have wanted for years.
- The game is headed to Nintendo’s Switch, and is scheduled to launch in “early” 2022.
- Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.
For years, Pokémon video game fans have been clamoring for an open-world version of the wildly popular game series.
And on Friday morning, they finally got exactly that: “Pokémon Legends: Arceus” is an open-world Pokémon game headed to the Nintendo Switch in “early” 2022, The Pokémon Company announced in a video presentation.
The game “honors past Pokémon games’ core gameplay while infusing new action and RPG elements,” according to its website — a mix of the mainline Pokémon games with a more active style of gameplay.
The game is already being compared to Nintendo’s 2017 reinvention of the “Legend of Zelda” franchise, “Breath of the Wild,” particularly because of a camera move from the trailer that looks very familiar:
Beyond the art style and open-world nature of both games, the debut trailer for “Pokémon Legends” demonstrates that it’s still foundationally a Pokémon game.
Tracking, battling, and capturing Pokémon is core to the gameplay of “Legends,” albeit in a very old version of the Sinnoh region from the “Pokémon Diamond” and “Pokémon Pearl” games. “The story unfolds in a long-gone era, before the idea of being a Pokémon Trainer or having a Pokemon League even existed,” the company said.
The game is headed to Nintendo’s Switch console, and it’s scheduled to launch in “early” 2022.
Check out the debut trailer for “Pokémon Legends: Arceus” right here:
Got a tip? Contact Insider senior correspondent Ben Gilbert via email (bgilbert@insider.com), or Twitter DM (@realbengilbert). We can keep sources anonymous. Use a non-work device to reach out. PR pitches by email only, please.
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