The Pokémon Company has confirmed that its upcoming title, Pokémon Legends: Arceus won’t be open world, following a fan discovery.
Fans first speculated whether the game would be fully open-world when screenshots of the game caused Joe Merrick from Serebii.net to write “[it is looking] increasingly clear that Pokémon Legends: Arceus may not be fully open-world” and instead would have “segmented open areas”.
In a statement to Kotaku, The Pokémon Company said:
“In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Jubilife village will serve as the base for surveying missions. After receiving an assignment or a request and preparing for their next excursion, players will set out from the village to study one of the various open areas of the Hisui region. After they finish the survey work, players will need to return once more to prepare for their next task. We look forward to sharing more information about exploring the Hisui region soon.”
This indicates that the game will play more like a Monster Hunter game, and less like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The ancient Sinnoh Region, or Hisui Region, is likely to be split into lots of playable areas, instead of one large map. These regions will be connected to one another, with a camp system in Jubilife village.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus will release for Nintendo Switch on January 28 2022.
Words By Kieran Burt
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