Pokemon Legends: Z-A review: "Fast fluid real-time fights and a world worth exploring make this finally feel like the anime come to life"

What's always made Pokemon special, from first booting up the classics on Game Boy to the first episode of the anime, is how it sells us a dream of life in its magical world. That idea of befriending a whole host of loveable creatures, adventuring alongside them, and coexisting together. Finally, in Pokemon Legends: Z-A, it really feels like I can be a part of that world, and is the closest I've come since watching the anime.

12 years since the release of Pokemon X and Y, and as the second game to don the 'Legends' title after 2022's well-received Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Pokemon Legends: Z-A has big shorts to fill. It fills them admirably, feeling comfier and easier to wear than ever. More importantly, it proves that the Legends moniker is more than a sub-series to the beloved turn-based series, managing to innovate and offer a totally fresh experience that pushes Pokemon as a whole forward.

The legend continues

Where Pokemon Legends: Arceus leaned more into the collectathon aspect of Pokemon – pushing you towards completing the Pokedex and exploring the uncharted wilderness of ancient Sinnoh – Pokemon Legends: Z-A is much more battle-centric, with a massively overhauled combat system.

Combat is now real-time. That's right, the Pokemon run around and actually fight, right in front of me, as I dish out commands. Fans such as myself have been begging to see this in action for years, and it's finally here. A big departure, it certainly takes some getting used to, but it's fantastic fun, and a little bit emotional to see it finally happening after all this time. No brawler, there's still plenty of deep systems to wrangle to become the very best – and the more you lean into mastering it, the more you'll have a tactical blast.

Firing out moves now sees you work to a cooldown system – fighting alongside my trusty Chikorita at the start of my adventure through the Kalos region's Lumiose City (returning from Pokemon X and Y), I find myself rotating between Razor Leaf and Tackle attacks – as well as the occasional Defense-lowering Tail Whip – to make the most of all the tools in my arsenal and ensure no second is wasted in combat.

Encounters with wild Pokemon are the most involved, as you can have multiple angry 'mons aiming for you (yes, your actual trainer) and your team at the same time, making your dodge roll ability a necessity so that you don't get knocked out after being directly attacked. This is taken up a notch further in boss battles against rogue Mega Evolved Pokemon – highly aggressive, powered-up 'mons with brutal attacks, as well as different gimmicks like charged attacks and field obstacles to contend with. …And folks are trying to add more dangerous, untamed creatures to the city? Let's not dwell on the practicalities of that too much.

As for trainer battles – where the opposing Pokemon don't have a taste for your blood – you can theoretically just stand in place and mash buttons with your various attacks (healing when needed) to blast through fights. However, while this works, it'd be a disservice to the systems on offer to solely play this way.

From the newly dubbed "trap moves" like Spikes and Whirlpool which set up obstacles on the field, to moves like Volt Switch and U-Turn which allow you to play around with the positioning of your 'mons, there's now much more to consider in battle. It's worth noting that there's no dedicated dodge command for your Pokemon – they follow you around the field, and you can guide them out of the way of attacks this way, but you can't make them jump out of harm's way like you can yourself in wild battles, making it difficult to avoid everything.

I'm torn on whether the combat system would actually be better for implementing an option like this, however – being able to dodge everything could end up trivializing fights too much, and it's still possible to avoid many moves once you've memorized what they look like. After learning proper spacing and the best times to retreat and attack yourself, the whole thing comes alive, and the fast, fluid nature of the fights feels delightfully anime-esque.

Street Fighter

This feeling spreads far beyond the battles, too. With a shift to an entirely urban setting, the bustling streets of Lumiose City are full of people walking around with their Pokemon partners, and there are plenty of ways to interact with the citizens thanks to the enormous number of side missions on offer. For the most part, these center around folks befriending and interacting with the Pokemon around them, and while they range in complexity, they all help convey the charm of Pokemon life. From leading a group of smelly Trubbish away from the tempting leftovers at a cafe to taking a trainer's grumpy Slurpuff on an outing to get its favorite snack, these small moments help build up a bigger picture of the Pokemon world and what it'd be like to live in it.

Going into Pokemon Legends: Z-A, for multiple reasons, my biggest concern was its single-city setting. Crucially, does it feel like a proper Pokemon journey when confined within the walls of Lumiose City? The reality is that, no – it doesn't. Not in a traditional sense. Instead, Z-A offers a different kind of adventure, fulfilling a wish I've had for years.

Don't get me wrong, the city doesn't feel small – it's densely packed with areas hiding items and rare Pokemon, and the rooftops basically form their own labyrinth towering down from above. Hell, you can even explore the Lumiose Sewers as a whole separate dungeon, which is a definite highlight. The more compact setting also gives Legends: Z-A's human characters a bigger chance to shine, with many of the new faces here being some of the series' most likeable – and memorable – additions in years. After 34 hours playing – in which time I completed the main game and heaps of side content – I still haven't seen absolutely everything on offer, and I reckon I'll be playing for a long time yet before I get bored.

Crucially, living and breathing city life for an entire RPG means the return to Kalos feels like a true slice of life in the Pokemon world that you're a part of. That dream sold to us by the Pokemon anime? It's right here, clearer than it ever has been in the actual games, and it's impossible not to get caught up in the joy of that as you wake up and leave your new residence of Hotel Z in a morning, wild Fletchling and Pidgey flying past and perching gently on streetlights as you run down the streets with your Pokemon by your side. The lack of regional adventure may not be to everyone's taste, but if you've ever fantasized about living in the Pokemon world like I have, there's a lot to love here.

There are still downsides to the setting, though. Many buildings are there purely for decoration and can't be interacted with at all, and fewer still actually let you inside, which is slightly disappointing. Beyond that, a more significant issue is the lack of variation in the environment leading to a lot of it looking very similar. It's not a problem across the board – the aforementioned Sewers offer a major shakeup to the traditional streets, and other locations like the Saison Canal spice up the scenery on the ground and underground levels – but it's another matter altogether up on the rooftops.

The rooftops are a massive part of Lumiose City – so many rare Pokemon are hiding up there, as well as small hidden areas with NPCs and items, but, visually, it's very difficult to set most of it apart. I've personally lost track of where I've been and where I've not, and looking at it doesn't help because it's all so similar. I've resorted to scanning for unclaimed items as an indicator of places I've missed, but that's no perfect solution. It makes me wish that there was at the very least a layered city map to look at that filled out as you explore, but really, the top level of Lumiose really could have done with more to spice up its appearance.

Wild Zones can be hit and miss, too. As the name would suggest, these are the main places to find wild Pokemon in the city, but they're generally rather small – most of the time, you can expect to catch everything in them within five to ten minutes. But although Legends: Z-A's focus is largely on battling rather than collecting, it's still satisfying to do, and there's plenty of incentive thanks to Research Tasks, which award points for things like catching everything in an area, evolving a set number of Pokemon, catching a certain amount of a different Pokemon type, and so forth. Earn enough points and you'll earn different rewards like Technical Machines that can teach your pals new moves, EXP Candies to level up your 'mons faster, and the grand prize, a Shiny Charm to boost your chances of finding rare shiny Pokemon.

C'est la vie

After Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's famously rocky launch, it'd be remiss not to talk about performance here, but I'm pleased to report that in my time playing Pokemon Legends: Z-A on Nintendo Switch 2, I've not encountered any issues like stuttering or frame rate drops, with everything running butterfree smooth in both in TV and handheld mode. I can't speak for its performance on the OG Switch, of course, but it's safe to say that Switch 2 owners won't have any trouble here. I reckon it's also the best looking Pokemon game so far, which isn't to say that it's a stunner – some textures can look flat, and it's certainly not got the highest graphical fidelity of all time when you look closely at the Parisian streets, but it's a noticeable upgrade from what's come before.

The Pokemon series' return to Kalos has been long overdue. Up until the Switch era where DLC expansions took over from the typical third version or sequels of the different main entries (rest in peace Pokemon Emerald, Pokemon Platinum, and Pokemon Black and White 2), Pokemon X and Y were the only main series RPGs to be left as standalone adventures. Between the two versions, I've spent over 300 hours in those games, and returning to Lumiose City in Legends: Z-A in many ways feels like playing the sequel we never got back in Generation 6.

As far as Legends games go, returning to a well-trodden location on this occasion means there's naturally less of a sense of wonder in comparison to Legends: Arceus, which offered such a radically different version of Sinnoh that its locations were mostly only similar in name rather than actual appearance.

However, Legends: Z-A makes up for it both by expanding on the Nintendo 3DS' limited take on Lumiose City, as well as piling on the nostalgia for the fans like me who fell in love with those 2013 games. I've got to shout out the music here, too – as well as totally new tunes, there are also plenty of remixes of classic Kalos region bangers, and they're all incredible. Music has always been a strong suit of the series (in this house we bust moves to Route 210 from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl), but from the atmospheric songs that play as you explore the city to the many different battle themes, I genuinely think we have some all-timers on our hands here.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A may not be the perfect open world adventure, but its slice of life vibes and brilliant battle system changes are a real delight, and I hope this isn't the last we see of its innovations. In many ways, it feels like what Pokemon should have been all along, and I'm excited to see what impact it could have on the series' future, but for now, Lumiose City? C'est magnifique.