The Pokémon Company has released an extensive Pokémon Legends: Arceus trailer that examines what the new title’s gameplay will involve.
The trailer expanded on the new mechanics that the company has shown glimpses of in past trailers, like catching wild Pokémon outside of battles, facing alpha and noble Pokémon, and crafting materials. Hisui is a region that’s full of new elements to explore.
Players can gather materials by finding rocks, trees, and other natural elements throughout the region. To collect them, players must send their Pokémon out to attack these natural elements, which breaks them down into materials and gives them to the player. Some of Jubilife Village’s residents will ask for the player to find certain items during quests; the player also needs them to craft items like Poké Balls.
When finding Pokémon out in the wild, the player must sneak up on them to have a chance at catching them. They can toss out berries to distract Pokémon or simply try to catch them unaware. If a Pokémon notices the player, they go into an alert state, meaning that they must be caught through a more traditional battle sequence. If the player attempts to throw Poké Balls at an alert Pokémon outside of battle, they’ll simply bounce off the Pokémon. But hitting an unaware Pokémon with a Poké Ball to initiate a battle can potentially grant the player an extra turn. The structure of turns is much more malleable in Arceus than in previous Pokémon titles.
The game features missions, which are main story quests, and requests, which function as side quests. Requests could be anything from observing certain Pokémon to catching multiple of a specific Pokémon or calming down a rogue noble Pokémon. The Pokédex is returning as a quest element and will track the player’s progress on discovering and learning about the Pokémon in Hisui. After each mission, you’ll get points for how much you’ve recorded in your Pokédex, which in turn will raise your Research Level.
Trading Pokémon will also be possible in Arceus. A location in Jubilife Village known as the Trading Post will allow players to trade Pokémon with each other as well as redeem their Merit Points for items.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus will be released on Jan. 28 for the Nintendo Switch.
