This Pokemon Legends: Arceus trailer has no right to be this scary

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We don't want to run into whatever this explorer found, at least not without a Master Ball

The latest Pokemon Legends: Arceus trailer is two minutes of straight-up found footage horror teasing some dangerous encounters in the Hisui region. 

"A researcher has made a rare discovery in the Canalave Library: some mysterious footage that appears to document the landscape of the Hisui region," the trailer description reads. "Please examine this footage and report back with your findings – they may prove useful during your adventures in Pokémon Legends: Arceus."

What are our findings? We aren't going out there, that's finding number one. Seriously, what is this Pokemon trailer? The heavy breathing, the scratchy film grain, the cliffhanger ending. This is a horror short no matter how you look at it. We've seen plenty of Halloween events this season, but we didn't expect Pokemon of all things to take the spooky spirit this far. Sure, we joked about that alarming Ursaring encounter, but this trailer is on a whole other level.

The researcher in this footage was out taking in the snow and Pokemon only to be attacked by… some kind of dog-like Pokemon? He first mistook it for a Growlithe and a Vulpix (possibly the Hisuian and Galarian regions, respectively, given the snowy environment), so it could be some sort of white canine. That said, the only Pokemon that are actually 'shown' in this trailer are vague brown smears on film, so who knows what this thing could've been. It's probably not the rumored Hisuian Mew, though, because whatever it is, it actually walks through the snow at the end of the trailer, whereas Mew is known to simply float around. 

The Canalave Library where this footage was apparently unearthed is located in Sinnoh, where it was introduced as part of Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. Evidently, it was also around back in the early Sinnoh era in which Pokemon Legends: Arceus is set. The upcoming open-world game is all about examining the mysterious Hisui region, and after seeing this trailer, we're not sure we're going to like what we find. 

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Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.