Pokemon Legends: Z-A finds developer Game Freak at its most experimental, like Arceus. This is a spin-off series from the bigger main games where fresh, often innovative ideas go through some trial and error, creating a clear separation between the mainline titles and the slightly more daring Legends games. Legends: Z-A reins in its scope (quite literally) while delivering very welcomed changes to the combat to keep things thoroughly engaging, even when the game isn’t really firing on all cylinders or struggling to successfully execute some of its new ideas.



Unlike previous Pokemon games where you’re thrown into a big, sprawling world on a grand adventure, Pokemon Legends: Z-A takes place exclusively within the confines of Lumiose City, the Paris-inspired location of the Kalos region previously seen in Pokemon X and Y. This time, Lumiose City has been greatly expanded with a new layout, new locations, and sights to see. You start off as a fresh-faced young trainer looking to rise up the ranks of Lumiose City’s toughest trainers.



Having the entirety of Pokemon Legends: Z-A take place in one city was, to Game Freak’s credit, a very bold move. The amount of things you can see and do this time is leagues above the more condensed version of Lumiose City we saw in Pokemon X and Y. Streets are larger and interconnected, you can climb rooftops, and there’s generally more detail packed into the sizeable reimagining of the location. It’s a commendable effort to expand the scope of a location we visited before, but at the same time, the later portions of the game begin to suffer from a lack of diversity in the setting. By the end, I felt burnt out of Lumiose City and wished for just a slight change of scenery.

Having the entirety of Pokemon Legends: Z-A take place in one city was, to Game Freak’s credit, a very bold move.

Game Freak’s idea to expand Lumiose City also comes with setbacks. Despite the reined-in scope of the explorable world, the developer does little to make its city streets feel lively. Most buildings can’t be entered, leaving the city feeling like a giant maze rather than the bustling metropolis it tries to be. NPCs will often just stand around statically waiting to be interacted with, making the world feel a little surface-level and shallow at times. This problem isn’t exclusive to Legends: Z-A as most Pokemon games suffer from it – some might even call it Pokemon’s “charm” – but for a spin-off series where experimentation is the key, it’s disappointing to see Game Freak fall back on a few lazy design choices rather than try to evolve them in any meaningful way.



Pokemon Legends: Z-A features a day and night cycle where things become more interesting. While you’re freely walking the streets during the day, you can bump into wandering trainers and their Pokemon walking beside them. You can actively choose to engage them in battle (or ambush them for a starting advantage), or simply go about your business. Outside of pre-scripted story battles, it never really forces you into fight, giving you some agency in how you choose to explore the city.

By night, Lumiose City is altered into Battle Zones, areas where trainers actively seek battles. This gives you a chance to increase your rank (from Z-A, I see what they did there) as you defeat opponents, opening up more challenging encounters or intense battles with prolific trainers along the way. Again, you’re kind of free to wander and explore, but given how excellent the battle system’s changes are (more on that in a bit), I took every opportunity to engage in battles, evolve my Pokemon and get incrementally better as a trainer – a very satisfying and rewarding progression loop that the Pokemon games continue to do very well.



The real innovation comes with how Game Freak evolves the battle system in Pokemon Legends: Z-A. Battles are now played out in real-time, with players issuing commands to their Pokemon as they move around the environment. Turn-based isn’t entirely lost – some features still carry over, like the command tab – but the new focus on faster-paced real-time combat means battles are shorter and feel pretty intense when you’re juggling your positioning with making sure your Pokemon are performing in the fight (think Xenoblade Chronicles). I love the changes made to the battle system as it actually feels like a leap forward for the franchise. Some of the turn-based combat’s charm is lost, but its replacement is so thoroughly fun and refreshing, I didn’t really think about it after a while.

The new focus on faster-paced real-time combat means battles are shorter and feel pretty intense when you’re juggling your positioning with making sure your Pokemon are performing in the fight.

While in battle, you can trigger special Mega Evolutions for Pokemon to give you an upper hand in fights. If you liked it before, you’re going to like it perfectly fine here – most of them have pretty unique, visually striking designs, my favourite of course being Mega Charizard X/Y. Let’s just never talk about the absolute nightmare fuel that is Mega Starmie. Mega Evolutions are a great way to mix up battles or force you to change strategies, especially when other trainers suddenly use it against you, adding a great sense of urgency and panic to the pace of combat.



For as much as Pokemon Legends: Z-A tries to evolve the series, it also falls back into some disappointing habits. Most dialogue resorts to text-heavy exposition dumps from cardboard cut-outs of characters outside of the main group, resulting in a story that feels much longer than it needs to be. I think that has to do with the pitfalls of being in one same-looking location all the time that the narrative starts to feel like it’s dragging at points. You’ll eventually get into a comfortable rhythm with the all-too-familiar gameplay loop of catching Pokemon, training them and battling others, but it’s a formula that really depends on the player and how strongly they feel about changes in the series (or lack thereof).

Understandably, it also had to be made with the original Switch in mind, but it’s getting to a point where Game Freak is simply running out of excuses.

Performance-wise, I reviewed Pokemon Legends: Z-A on Nintendo Switch 2 and it runs very well, hitting a mostly consistent 60FPS. At least compared to Scarlet and Violet, Legends: Z-A does look better visually, albeit not very impressive considering the capabilities of the Switch 2 hardware. Many textures, especially windows for some reason, are lazily copy-pasted everywhere, and there's an ugliness to the rugged sharpness of surfaces and terrain.



Understandably, it also had to be made with the original Switch in mind, but it’s getting to a point where Game Freak is simply running out of excuses. Pokemon is the biggest franchise in entertainment; it generates billions of dollars, so there’s simply no reason for new Pokemon games to look this lacklustre. I sincerely hope we see a bigger visual facelift with the next mainline generation of games because it’s worrying that Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have gotten so complacent in an age where other franchises are taking bigger leaps and leaving it in the dust.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A doesn’t reach the same highs as Arceus nor bring as many fresh new ideas to the table. The evolved battle system is its biggest innovation and it does a lot to keep you engaged, even when the game stumbles in other key areas. Pokemon fans will probably enjoy the change of pace with Lumiose City’s more confined setting and there’s a lot to love when it comes to the faster flow of combat and exploration. There’s a very good game here buried under stagnation which tragically continues to hurt the series. That said, it falls back into a familiar, comfortable groove that you can enjoy in isolation – it’s also fair to say players deserve better.

Nintendo Switch 2 Review code provided by Nintendo | Pokemon Legends: Z-A is available to purchase at Nexus Hub for R1,440