Game Freak has finally revealed another entry into the Pokemon Legends series after Pokemon Legends: Arceus. Game Freak did skip the previous year by not releasing any mainline Pokemon games as was the custom for so long. We will be playing in Lumiose City and will have Totodile, Chikorita and Tepig as our starter pokemons but alas they haven’t announced a release date as of yet.
The Setting This Time Around
As mentioned before, we are going back to Lumiose City which was the setting from Pokemon X and Y along with some returning characters from the previous game. This also means we’ll get X and Y evolutions for our chosen pokemons as well.
The trailer showcased some of these evolutions for some of the most iconic pokemons of the franchise such as Kangaskhan, Absol and Charizard. Just like in Pokemon Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire players can choose to use their mega evolution stones mid battle to unlock a higher level of power for their pokemons.
Of course this opens a new way of strategic play where using the stone at the right time can make or break the win for the player. Some fans have been speculating that mega evolution would play a significant part in the story as this region Kalos is the origin of the mega evolutions.
Finally Some New Mechanics
There are some new traversal mechanics at play as the trailer showcased, players can now teleport to the rooftops of certain buildings and travel from rooftop to rooftop. This also means players are likely to discover hidden treasures or encounter rare pokemons in these places.
Another cool feature they trailer showcased was the ability to play out battles inside the city specifically when battling wild pokemons. The battle itself seemed more natural compared to the previous title as we can move around and so can the pokemon we choose to battle with.
The trailer also showcased some more serious battles against other trainers and legendary pokemons where we also have to dodge along with our pokemon to avoid getting hit after which it would be our turn to attack, making the battle more interactive than before.
Some Concerns Among The Community
While there is a lot of excitement due to the announcement and the speculation that it would be released this year along with the Switch 2. However there are some concerns floating around stating that some of the areas showcased did look empty similar to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet received criticism from fans after players noticed the lack of any life in most of the environments players went to. Almost all the paths, towns and cities looked devoid of any people which took away from the experience and it was especially egregious as it was a first party title.
Hopefully players won’t have to experience that issue this time around, as Game Freak did not release any titles in 2024 leading to the speculation that they took extra care in developing this title.
Conclusion
The pokemon franchise is quite literally one of the biggest franchises in the world for Nintendo, even though Pokemon Scarlet and Violet did not receive the traction one might have expected, it still caused major controversy among players and journalists alike due to the absence of quality.
Thus people will be even more cautious as a majority of the playerbase felt scammed with the purchase. Along with that there will now be more eyes on the performance of the game as this was another point of failure for the previous title.
Overall we can only wait for Nintendo or Game Freak to announce a release date for Pokemon AZ, We still do not know at what time the Switch 2 will launch other than it being slated to release this year. It could be that the game becomes available for purchase as soon as the Switch 2 gets released into stores.
