Pokemon Legends Arceus, the franchise’s first step into a quasi-open-world, is quickly approaching its late January 2022 launch date. With just over a month before arrival, The Pokemon Company is growing more comfortable sharing gameplay details aboutPokemon Legends Arceus. The latest example comes in the form of a short trailer shared on Twitter. The trailer providesPokemonfans a brief look at what seasons will look like inPokemon Legends Arceus, as well as different weather conditions.
The trailer in question is only about 18 seconds long, but it covers a lot of ground in those 18 seconds. Second-long clips of gameplay are shown teasing different seasons, weather conditions, and day/night cycles. Each different clip shows howPokemon Legends Arceus' environments changewith the seasons, with green foliage through spring and summer, golden leaves and grass for the fall, and snow covering everything for winter. Further, the time of day lends each environment different lighting, giving spring mornings brightness and fall evenings a golden glow.
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Theweather effects ofPokemon Legends Arceusare also quite visually appealing, though it’s unclear if they directly influence the game’s environments. Snow and rain weather are the only two conditions that are clearly shown, outside of sunny weather with light cloud cover. Even with rain and snow, the skybox ofPokemon Legends Arceusdoesn’t change, so weather mechanics in the game may be very basic, at least in terms of visual presentation.
One very important question left unanswered is how seasons, weather, and day/night cycles will influence thePokemonfound in the open-world and subsequentPokemonbattles.Pokemon SwordandShielddidn’t officially support seasonal changes, but The Pokemon Company would make the weather change based on the time of year. These shifting weather effects could lead to differentPokemonbeing available in Wild Areas, and could change battle conditions, too. These mechanics seem like a good starting point for expectations ofPokemon Legends Arceus.
WhatPokemonplayers would very likely love to see is a combination of all of the above. RoamingPokemonchanging not only with seasons, but with weather changes and the day/night cycle, too. There’s a hint at that in the trailer, but details still need to be confirmed. It’s an exciting opportunity for The Pokemon Company, at the very least.
A 3D open world is an exciting new frontier forPokemon.Pokemon Legends Arceuswill letPokemonfansinteract with a world in a way they haven’t before. The Pokemon Company could add any number of new features toPokemon Legends Arceusand fans would likely be open to the changes. But, knowing The Pokemon Company, it’s likely to be more risk-averse than fans may want. AllPokemonplayers can do is wait and see what the team has put together.
Pokemon Legends Arceusreleases January 28 on Switch.
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