Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Has Game Freak Finally Conjured Up Something Special? (Mostly!)
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
Pokémon Legends: Z-A, running surprisingly well on Switch 2, is a charming and goofy proof-of-concept for the series' future, packing improved animations and a compelling new battle system, even if its repetitive grind and visual limitations leave this digital wizard still yearning for a truly epic enchantment.
Right, so we’ve all been on this ride before, haven’t we? Another Pokémon game drops, and the community immediately splits into three camps: the "it's perfect, don't touch my childhood" brigade, the "this series is dead, Game Freak hates us" doom-mongers, and then us – the curious lot who pick it apart like a digital magical artifact, wondering what strange energies are at play. This time, we’re casting our collective gaze upon *Pokémon Legends: Z-A*, and bloody hell, it’s wilder than it first appeared.
For years, playing modern, Switch-era Pokémon games has felt a bit like performing a tricky enchantment: you’ve got to let a few things slide for the magic to work. Remember *Sword and Shield* with its uncanny Potemkin Villages and the baffling decision to bin dungeons? You swallowed that, for a taste of those open-world Wild Areas. *Legends: Arceus* swung big with a *Monster Hunter*-meets-*Breath of the Wild* vibe, but the visuals were murkier than a goblin's swamp. And *Scarlet and Violet*? Mate, that was less a game and more a tech demo held together with duct tape and good intentions. Yet, through it all, the core *Pokémon* formula – battle, trade, collect, and that lovely found-family theme – always shone through. It's an enduring spell, that one.
So, the big question with *Pokémon Legends: Z-A* is: has Game Freak finally found their wand of stability? Well, on the Switch 2 (and fair warning, base Switch players, it seems nobody’s really had a crack at your version yet), things have *significantly* improved. This game runs perfectly in handheld mode, which, let's be honest, is a minor miracle by *Pokémon* standards. The animations for both trainers and 'mons? A genuine step up, looking less like rigid puppets and more like, you know, living creatures. It’s like they finally remembered how to make things move without glitching through the floor.
What we’ve got here is a fresh reimagining of catching, battling, and world structure, a sort of hybrid brew of the last three main entries that actually works quite nicely. And it's all wrapped in this delightfully goofy layer of comedy, a welcome return to the series' signature off-beat humour and genuinely oddball characters. It’s a bundle of joy in many ways, like stumbling upon a chest full of unexpected loot.
Now, for the *Legends* part. You’re an out-of-towner in Lumiose City, only this time no time-travel paradoxes (thank Arceus). You quickly fall in with Team MZ, a bunch of teens with snappy banter that’s genuinely funny. Their dinner table strategy meetings, packed with subversive looks and improved character animations, are a treat. The plot itself is a bit of a whimsical ramble – helping the returning 3,000-year-old AZ protect Lumiose City via an intentionally vague quest and a competitive ladder called the Z-A Royale. Why? Because you're apparently rather nifty with Mega Evolution, which, fair dinkum, is back and better than ever.
The Z-A Royale is essentially this game's take on the old gym structure, only you’re earning Challenger Tickets by completing mini-objectives in "battle zones" that pop up each night. The big twist is you can sneak up on trainers and their Pokémon, landing a bonus damage hit before they even know what's coming. It’s a bit like a stealth spell in a fantasy RPG, really. At first, this is quite fun, a refreshing twist on battling, and ticking off tasks feels like that satisfying daily grind in a live-service game (but, you know, not evil). But after a dozen or so identical streets and rooftops, all with eerily similar visual textures, it does start to feel like a bit of a grind of the *bad* kind. We’ve always had grinding in *Pokémon*, but this lacks the compelling progression that makes the old XP grind feel purposeful.
Then there are the Rogue Mega Evolution battles – let’s just call them "raids," because that’s what they are. These are caused by excessive 'mega energy' making Pokémon go all berserk. Your job is to defeat them in waves of three, including some excellent new Mega Evolutions (no spoilers, but trust me, some are wonderfully goofy). These battles can be genuinely challenging, requiring tactical selection and decent dodge timing. Proper youngsters might struggle a bit, which is a rare but welcome bit of teeth from a *Pokémon* game.
The new real-time battle system is another big swing. Turn-based is out, real-time is in. Your trainer can get knocked out (no biggie, just respawn at a PokéCenter), no Abilities, and moves are on cooldowns instead of PP. You lock-on, dodge, and cycle through moves. My initial worry during a preview was that it’d be chaotic, but within the game's context, it mostly works. You can run from overwhelming groups or thin them out with wide-area attacks like Surf. There's strategy to be found – chaining cooldowns, positioning your 'mon – but at times, it can descend into a bit of button-mashing while you wait for a move to cool down. Still, it's the best alternative we've had from the *Legends* series so far, and I reckon it's got potential to go deeper.
One of *Z-A*'s genuine strengths, though, is how it shows Pokémon in their natural habitats. A Trubbish lurking in some back alley bins, Flying-types perched on rooftops, or a Pansage in a tree – it's those little details that have been hinted at for generations, finally getting their moment. It adds a lovely layer of immersion, making Lumiose City feel like a living, breathing space.
Speaking of Lumiose City, it's a pleasant surprise, even if you keep your expectations calibrated for "modern *Pokémon* visuals" rather than, say, "cutting-edge Switch 2 wizardry." The textures are flat, often repeated, and can feel a bit eerie, like a digital diorama. But Game Freak has made it genuinely curious to navigate. Scaling scaffolding for collectibles, spotting a rare 'mon on a distant rooftop and figuring out how to get there – it’s spontaneous environmental puzzling that’s weirdly compelling. Plus, they’ve smartly integrated old "HMs" into a system where many moves can clear obstacles.
So, where do we land? Like the last few main series games, *Pokémon Legends: Z-A* comes with hefty caveats. It gets repetitive. It’s still visually limited in places. It’s still missing those grand, mysterious dungeons and a sense of an overarching challenge that used to drive the series. It’s a bit abridged, a little self-contained. It feels like a bridging game, a proof of concept. But mate, what a proof of concept it is!
The charm is undeniable – the humour, the jazzy, wistful soundtrack, even a subtle homage to a dungeon that screams "we *can* bring these back in 3D, promise!" It’s a mix of old ideas and new ones, finding arguably the most enjoyable balance yet. But it leaves you with that nagging feeling, doesn’t it? That familiar *Pokémon* fan's lament: imagining a bigger game, with more varied environments, more 'mons, more *everything*. We're still stuck with imagining that epic spell, but with *Z-A*, I'm genuinely convinced the magic could finally be powerful enough to cast it.
Tags: Pokémon, Nintendo Switch, Game Freak, Action RPG, Review
Original article: Eurogamer