Pokemon Legends: Arceus chose the three Pokemon Starter to link to the game’s historical setting. Last month, the Pokemon company announced Pokemon Legends: Arceus, his first open-world Pokemon game. The new game will be set in “Feudal Sinnoh”, set somewhere between 400 and 800 years before modern Pokemon games. While the game will still contain many familiar Pokemon from the Sinnoh regions, it will use Pokemon Starter from other games instead of the traditional Sinnoh Starter Pokemon. Players will choose between Rowlet, Cyndaquil or Oshawott as their first Pokemon partner instead of the traditional Sinnoh trio of Turtwig, Chimchar and Piplup.
Pokemon Legends The starting Pokemon was probably selected to honor the game’s historical roots. All three chosen Pokemon Starter evolve into Pokemon that fall within the game’s feudal themes. Rowlet evolves into Decidueye, a Grass / Ghost Pokemon known for his archery skills. Oshawott evolves into Samurott, a Water / Steel Pokemon modeled after a samurai. While the evolved form of Cyndaquil Typhlosion has no obvious immediate connection to feudal Japan, its Japanese name Bakphoon sounds similar to bakufu, which is the name of the military government that ruled Japan during feudal times.
We still don’t know much about Pokemon Legends: Arceus in addition to its general setting and unique approach to Pokemon battles. Instead of turn-based battles, which take place in a separate system, players will fight in real time, with no transitions between the world map and the battles. Players will be tasked with exploring the Sinnoh region and compiling information for the first Pokedex in that region. As the name of the game suggests, the mythical Pokemon Arceus will be involved in some way and we could see some big additions to the Pokemon mythology coming out of the game.
No release date has been announced for Pokemon Legends: Arceus, but the game is expected to appear in “early 2022”.