After being announced as part of the Pokemon series' 25th anniversary this February, Pokemon Legends: Arceus got a more complete breakdown during the Pokemon Presents on August 18. Legends: Arceus is Game Freak's attempt to do something new and unique with the series as Pokemon Home developer ILCA creates Gen 4 remakes Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. The Pokemon Presents revealed Legends: Arceus has a dynamic new speed-based battle system alongside its greater focus on open-world exploration and stealthily catching wild monsters.
It also revealed more about the world itself, which is a feudal version of the modern-day Sinnoh region called Hisui in which humans have only just begun exploring out of a settlement called Jubilife Village. The player character is part of the Galaxy Expedition Team, sent to study the region as enraged Pokemon lash out. One stand-out part of the game will be Hisuian variants of Pokemon like Braviary, which also serves as a flying Ride Pokemon reminiscent of the paraglider in Breath of the Wild. As the game leans into exploration more than previous entries, it would make sense for Game Freak to further develop Hisui by drawing upon a mechanic it briefly introduced over 10 years ago in Pokemon Black and White: Seasons.
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Seasons in the Unova Region
For all their praises, and the fact they kicked off a 25-year gaming phenomenon, the original Pokemon Red, Green, and Blue were fairly barebones. The Kanto region was packed with 150 monsters to catch or trade, and in terms of Gym order was a lot more open-ended than any title to follow. However, this first attempt at the creature-collecting RPG struggled to hold together on the Game Boy; any speedruns of the original titles show just how buggy and easy they are to exploit. One thing left by the wayside was any serious attempt to portray a realistic physical world.
Pokemon Gold and Silver took a big step in the right direction by introducing a day/night cycle, which became standard for the series in Generation 4 onward (Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald had events affected by their internal clocks, but no aesthetic changes). After that, Ruby and Sapphire made Pokemon themselves more unique, indivudualized members of their species via the addition of stat-changing Natures and Abilities. Among other things, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl made battles more sensible and dynamic by splitting moves into "Physical" and "Special" categories based on their effects rather than their typings.
The Generation 5 games were housed on the DS like their predecessors, but progressed with constant Pokemon animations during battle and the aforementioned seasons. The Unova region fluctuates between winter, spring, summer, and fall – though the cycle advances once every real-world month. Unique visuals and some seasonal Pokemon differentiate Unova each month, and the Deerling evolutionary line was designed with four variants based on the season during which they were caught.
However, perhaps the most important change is that seasons affected what players could do throughout the region. One of the most clear examples of the changes came from Icirrus City, where Black and White version's seventh Gym Leader (and future movie star) Brycen is housed. During winter months the town becomes covered in snow, opening up access to new areas such as the top of Brycen's Gym because snowfall forms a ramp. Similarly, multiple optional paths in the preceeding area Twist Mountain are blocked by snow during the winter.
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How Seasons Could Impact Pokemon Legends: Arceus
Seasons have yet to reappear in any mainline game released following Black 2 and White 2, and there's probably a good reason for this. Having to design four distinct versions of every environment with optional content is a lot of work in the best of circumstances, but Game Freak also happened to move on to development for the Nintendo 3DS starting with Generation 6's Pokemon X and Y. The team had to get its bearings working on fully 3D environments, and changing times of day was already one variable complicating the process.
The fact that seasons still haven't come back into the fold as of Pokemon Sword and Shield is somewhat disappointing though, even if there are a diverse range of areas and environmental setpieces across the Galar region and its two DLC expansions. Pokemon Legends: Arceus doesn't seem to be incorporating the idea either, as one piece of official art depicts the Hisui region as various distinct biomes separated by mountains. Players will be given assignments by the Galaxy Team and sent out to explore one area at a time, according to the game's official website.
While this is a fine way to diversify content and ensure players can seek out specific kinds of Pokemon in immutable areas whenever they want, it may have the unfortunate side-effect of making Hisui feel static. One of the best things about seasons in Black and White is the way they give each area character and reward players coming back to explore. An open-world like in Pokemon Legends: Arceus could benefit from similar tricks on a grander scale; hiding some objects under snowfall during the winter that become unearthed come spring. Should Deerling and Sawsbuck appear in the cast of obtainable Pokemon, like their originally Unovan companion Braviary, it would also be a good opportunity to feature them changing appearance once again.
That being said, if creating multiple versions of each environment is difficult for more basic 3D games like Pokemon X and Y, it's understandable why Game Freak might choose to focus its time and energy on other areas of development for Legends: Arceus. The idea is still interesting and feasible though, judging from the way games like Breath of the Wild implement smaller-scale weather systems such as rain across Hyrule. Hopefully future Pokemon games look to the past and reimagine some of the series' bigger ideas before the inevitable Generation 5 remakes.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus releases January 28, 2022 for Nintendo Switch.
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