Everyone seems to be assuming Legends is Open World. At no point in the Direct did they claim it's open world. It was described as "Action RPG/a new approach that's breaking new ground."

The wild area in this game appears to be virtually identical to the wild area in SwSh. Slightly better graphics, that's cool. But nobody said this works just like BotW. Nobody said you can climb every mountain and hill you see in the distance. Nowhere is this confirmed. Why is everyone assuming this is the case?

Add on top of that the town being used as a hub, this may be a very small game due to limitations of the Switch. The wild area I'm sure is fun, but it really looks like a rehash of Sword and Shield, just with an interesting setting of Sinnoh in the past. Am I wrong? It seems bizarre that everyone is already blowing expectations out of proportion. In all reality, the new mechanics revealed are a dodge roll and throwing the pokeball without battling. Is a dodge roll "breaking new ground?"