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Pokemon Go is as much of an influence on Pokemon Legends: Arceus as the core series. That might be difficult to believe, but we’ve got to give plenty of thanks to Go for making Pokemon Legends: Arceus as much of a series revitalization as it is – the mobile title plays a big part in making this such a compelling gameplay loop.
Part of that is down to where Pokemon Go began. When it first launched back in 2016, Pokemon Go was a barebones experience – one entirely focused on the sole goal of catching ’em all. That’s always been a core part of the Pokemon experience since the beginning, but you’re rarely incentivized to tick off all 100-odd Pokemon on the list through the mainline games. Pokemon Go changed that, especially in those early days of the AR title where that really was all it had to offer, and now Pokemon Legends: Arceus is doing the same, hinging the ultimate end to the game’s story about completing the Pokedex in its entirety.
But, Pokemon Go was also the first to uncouple catching and battling Pokemon, instead focusing on aiming your Pokeball throw, combined with the use of berries, and eventually other lures, to procure your next ‘mon. Helped, of course, by Pokemon appearing in the overworld for the first time, it was such a diversion from the traditional format of wading through the long grass and waiting to see what popped up. It also introduced the Pokemon series to enhanced RPG elements – namely choice.
What and when to evolve was suddenly a choice, and that level of control is at the heart of the Pokemon Legends: Arceus experience, tied up in the most open world that the series has seen to date – albeit not quite as open as Pokemon Go’s world, aka Earth. That same joy of seeing Pokemon pop up and exist in the world around you is replicated in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, with the same ball precision and occasional use of berries being prevalent in catching ’em all.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus also deftly takes other elements of the Pokemon Go experience and adapts them for solo-play. Go’s monthly Community Days, where a single Pokemon will appear in abundance for a short window of time – complete with enhanced shiny rates – are replicated more subtly in Arceus in the form of Mass Outbreak events. These were seen in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl too, but feel like a more natural fit with Arceus’ focus on exploration and discovery.
There’s also a certain familiarity when it comes to how Pokemon Legends: Arceus breaks down its story into Missions and Requests. It’s the structure through which Pokemon Go delivers what there is of a story, or guides you towards catching otherwise unobtainable Legendary, Mythical, or rare Pokemon. Game Freak’s latest release does just the same too, with Requests like The Sea’s Legend or the one that involves finding all 107 Pokemon Legends: Arceus wisps for a Pokemon-shaped surprise. Discovering that there’s more to Arceus’ side quests is a welcome surprise, even if they are often much less complicated and involved than those found in Pokemon Go.
Of course, it’s not the first time that The Pokemon Company has tried to fuse elements of Pokemon Go with the core series. It experimented with just that in the duo of Pokemon Let’s Go titles, Pikachu and Eevee. But the elements of Go implementation could feel gimmicky, and skewed to a much younger audience, with the resulting game feeling too focused on befriending the titular creatures – the Go features weren’t able to shine in that environment, at least not as much as they do in Arceus.
The excellent implementation of so many Pokemon Go mechanics makes Pokemon Legends: Arceus familiar and accessible to two potentially entirely different fanbases. One who has solely experienced the Pokemon franchise through the Go lens, and another who has been with the series for a number of years. It’s interesting to think that the mobile game has had such an impact on the core series – or a potential Pokemon Legends sub-series – but seeing as the mobile game has made over $5 billion in five years, there’s clearly an appetite for this format. Either way, it’s been a major influence on this revitalization for the series, and that can only be a good thing.
