>>49831032Wide-open spaces are used in a way that changes how you undertake your journey, and a wealth of Pokémon, items, and customisation options makes experimenting with the way you play just as freeing as the ability to choose which physical direction you take. Going hands-on with the game myself, I’ve easily spent upwards of ten hours in the opening area alone, constantly enticed by new things to find. I’ve got approximately half of the first area to play around with, and six regions are promised in the full game; the idea of effectively 12 times the number of things to see, do, and find is almost overwhelming. And those are just the things we encountered. After our first hours-long session with the game, we thought we'd gone through everything with a fine-toothed comb. Only after swapping stories with others who'd also been playing did we realise we'd missed an entire Alpha, a secret spawn, and a weird burned up flower field, and had to jot down where to find them in our second go-around. Legends Arceus might be geared around turn based battles, but there are plenty of surprises to come across. Even how you tackle enemies is up to you; the ability to take a stealthy approach means you can pick off the toughest ones in a bunch (or baby Pokémon that will alert others) in order to get the drop on larger encounters. TL;DR it’s the best Pokémon experience to date and I’m forever excited for what the future holds for this franchise.
