This action-adventure title’s designers have scrapped much of the popular — and family-friendly — series’ standard mechanics, and the result is a refreshing makeover. Set in the remote past, gameplay involves joining up with an organization dedicated to reassuring humans that the as-yet unfamiliar and untamed creatures known as Pokemon — whose individual appearance ranges from cute to fearsome — can, in fact, be domesticated. Gamers also explore the largely unsettled territory around them and aid a researcher as he documents the habits of the pet-like beings and catalogues all the various forms they take. While free of any genuinely objectionable visual or verbal content, the narrative rests on a backstory in which a central figure is not only designated as the primordial Pokemon but is credited with creating all the other fantastical critters who came after him, as well as with shaping whole regions of the franchise’s imaginary geography. Players old enough to distinguish between fiction and reality will easily take this in stride, though. They’ll also appreciate the prominent place given, once again, to the recurring theme of environmental responsibility. Playable on Nintendo Switch. The Catholic News Service classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Entertainment Software Rating Board rating is E — everyone.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus
