Spin-off of open world Pokémon, Pokémon Legends: Arceus announced for 2022

Game Freak announced Pokémon Legends: Arceus, an open-world action role-playing game set in the feudal past of the Sinnoh region (the location of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl). It will arrive in early 2022 for Nintendo Switch. Announced during the broadcast of Pokémon Presents today, the gameplay showed a game world reminiscent of Breath of the Wild, covered in wild Pokémon to capture and apparently using some action mechanisms to play. The goal is to create Sinnoh’s first Pokedex and includes exploration, Pokémon capture and a version of the series’ traditional turn-based battles.

Check out a game trailer below:

The aim of the game is to “break new ground” for the Pokémon series and features Rowlet, Cyndaquil or Oshawott as Pokémon partners. The game will focus on the mythical Pokémon Arceus, but no further details of the story have been given.

The player will travel from the central village of Sinnoh to different areas of the region, using traditional Poké Balls to capture monsters. More than traditional capture, however, the official website says you need to “watch them to learn their behavior, so carefully sneak in, aim your Poké Ball and let it fly!”

It’s not the only new Pokémon game set in Sinnoh – remakes of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl will be released in late 2021.
Joe Skrebels is the Executive News Editor at IGN. Follow him on Twitter. Do you have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Send an email to [email protected].