Pokemon Legends: Arceus chose his three Starter Pokemon to tie in with the game’s historical setting. Last month, The Pokemon Company announced Pokemon Legends: Arceus, the first Pokemon game in the open world. The new game takes place in “Feudal Sinnoh”, somewhere between 400 and 800 years prior to the modern Pokemon games. While the game will still feature many well-known Pokemon from the Sinnoh regions, it will use Starter Pokemon from other games in place of the traditional Sinnoh Starter Pokemon. Players will choose between Rowlet, Cyndaquil or Oshawott as their first partner Pokemon instead of the traditional Sinnoh trio of Turtwig, Chimchar and Piplup.
The Pokemon Legends Starter Pokemon were likely selected to honor the game’s historical roots. All three chosen Starter Pokemon evolve into Pokemon that fit the game’s feudal themes. Rowlet evolves into Decidueye, a Grass / Ghost-type Pokemon known for its archery skills. Oshawott evolves into Samurott, a Water / Steel-type Pokemon modeled after a samurai. While the evolved form of Typhlosion of Cyndaquil has no immediately obvious ties to feudal Japan, the Japanese name Bakphoon sounds similar to bakufu, the name of the military government that ruled Japan during the feudal period.
We still don’t know much about it Pokemon Legends: Arceus different from the general setting and unique take on Pokemon battles. Rather than turn-based battles taking place in a separate system, players will instead fight in real time with no transitions between the overworld map and battles. Players are tasked with exploring the Sinnoh region and collecting information for that region’s first Pokedex. As the name of the game suggests, the Mythical Pokemon Arceus will somehow be involved and we could see some great additions to Pokemon mythology coming out of the game.
No release date has been announced for Pokemon Legends: Arceus, but the game is expected to be released in early 2022.