Pokemon Legends Arceus is an open-world game, Nintendo confirms

Pokemon Legends Arceus has been confirmed as an open-world game by The Pokemon Company.

Earlier today during a Pokemon Presents livestream from The Pokemon Company, it was revealed that Pokemon Legends Arceus is an open-world game. While the game was previously teased to be taking on an open-world approach, this was never strictly confirmed by either The Pokemon Company or Nintendo, but now we know it's going open-world for sure.

New Pokemon Diamond and Pearl remake footage

In the gameplay trailer just above, we got a brand new slice of action for Pokemon Legends Arceus. We could see the player character travelling over the vast new lands of the Sinnoh region, taking on various colorful creatures which we know and love in combat, as well as traversing the landscape with said creatures, like riding waves with Gyrados.

There was also brand new story-related information revealed about Pokemon Legends Arceus. The Pokemon Presents presentation revealed that you'll be embarking on a quest to complete the first ever PokeDex for a scouting regiment in Arceus, since this game is set in the past for the franchise, going in a brand new storytelling direction with a new emphasis on exploring.

We even got to see some brand new creatures that'll be debuting in Arceus. For example there's Wyrdeer, a deer-like creature whose fur is prized by human settlers for its warm qualities. There's also going to be new variations of creatures that we've previously seen, such as Growlithe and others.

There's a lot to love about Pokemon Legends Arceus, and it's not long until we'll be playing the new adventure for ourselves. Pokemon Legends Arceus will launch for the Nintendo Switch next year on January 28, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.

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Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.