Friday morning I had some shopping to do, so I took the opportunity to drop into EB Games. I had a copy of Pokemon Legends: Arceus to pick up!
The wait for Pokemon Legends: Arceus has been a funny one for me. On one hand, a ‘modern’ Pokemon game is something that has been needed for a long time.
On the other, the simple nature of the originals has appeal, especially for casual players. The vibe of a ‘Breath of the Wild’ Pokemon game was looking like a blessing and a curse!

But I got the chance to start playing, and so far, everything is going well. The open-world feels more like the demo for Monster Hunter Stories than Breath of the Wild.
There was the standard RPG exposition dump for the first hour. I did get to see the starters though. The choices were a surprise as I have been trying to keep away from spoilers.
But one of the choices is Rowlet. Since Pokemon Moon, I have loved the little guy and always name mine Owlsley. No Daredevil easter egg reference – I just always liked the name.

I am about 3 hours in, which for a game that came out at the tail end of a major project is pretty good for me. The pacing has been alright, and the story twists have raised my eyebrows a couple of times already.
Even though many would have already spoken about a lot of the story in-depth, I am going to remain vague. I can still imagine plenty of people that want to find out things for themselves.
While Pokemon Legends: Arceus is mechanically a very different Pokemon game. That said, it’s also very much familiar to long time players.
Badges and their benefits have been replaced with research rankings, for example. While the ways of doing things have changed, the core basics are very much still felt.

So if like me you don’t have a lot of time to play Pokemon and are worried it is too different, have hope. I can see Pokemon Legends: Arceus actually being a lot of what we hoped for.
There is a lot of grinding, like all Pokemon games. The way it looks to be shaping up though, this can actually be your ‘light’ play session goals.
The story beats all look pretty well telegraphed. This means you can plan to start the bigger game areas on your timetable. I am pretty sure I can confirm this theory with only another couple of hours of play.
And while I do that, I am going to see if I can start an Eevee gang to take on Pokemon Legends: Arceus with!
