“Pokémon Legends: Arceus” is the breath of fresh air the series desperately needed. Game Freak, the developers of the main series, had stuck to their turn-based RPG system closely for many years now and it was starting to feel very repetitive. After multiple decades, Game Freak has decided to revamp Pokémon bottom-up and create what might be the best Pokémon game in years. However, while the core gameplay is a great new direction, it can feel like the shell around it is still in beta. A lacking story, mediocre visuals and occasional bugs can mar an otherwise fantastic experience.

To start, let’s clear the baggage. The story is unfortunately quite forgettable. (Spoilers!) Your character is sent to the past from a different time with no memories of your former life. You join a village and are set to research and study Pokémon to create the first PokeDex, which is a journal, unlike the pocket computer of the past games. You deal with two clashing clans, frenzied warden Pokémon and gods of space and time. It sounds like a promising setup, but falls short with forgettable characters, poor dialogue and cutscenes that felt like they were created with a very cheap RPG maker. While story is rarely a strong point in Pokémon games, it feels emphasized here with the new gameplay style, making it that much more of a letdown.

Beyond story, the game doesn’t run particularly smoothly. Visually, while the game isn’t unappealing, it’s only adequate. The art style doesn’t feel particularly inspired and the inconsistent draw distance, frame rate drops and object pop-in don’t help. The worst part of this is the map. It’s split into a few different regions, which take away significantly from the open-world feel, and has very few objects to interact with, despite fascinating ruins and caves allowing for many. It almost feels like it was rushed to be finished.

Now that the negatives are out of the way, I cannot emphasize how much gameplay saves this game. Legends: Arceus completely redefines the monster-collecting formula with an open-world style involving stealth elements. Rather than being forced to catch Pokémon only through battle,  you can now hide behind rocks and tall grass and even use smoke bombs to create openings to throw Pokeballs at the Pokémon scattered across the different regions. This new mechanic alone adds a ton of variety as you take different approaches to catching diverse Pokémon and completing the various research tasks necessary to complete their PokeDex entry. This mechanic leads into battles as well. To start a battle in the wild, you throw your own Pokémon’s ball at your enemy, and if you hit their back, you earn move priority over your opponent. All of these mechanics combine to make catching ‘em all more fun than ever.

Speaking of battles, Game Freak turned the old system on its head by doing away with guaranteed turns and changing to a move priority system. Rather than everyone getting a turn each round and deciding who goes first based on stats and certain moves, Game Freak expands upon this by allowing you to move twice or more in a row with the right strategy. Your initial speed is set by a combination of your Pokémon’s speed stat and the way you enter the battle. However, after that, moves have influence on when you move next, especially with the addition of strong and agile style moves. The former hits harder and gives your opponent the option of moving more than once in a row, while the latter hits weaker but gives you a higher chance of moving again. This, combined with the new way Pokémon can change moves between battles, creates a whole new approach to battle strategy. The biggest downside to this system is that it can’t be enjoyed with friends, as online or local battles are not available in this title.

I may seem very critical of this game, and that’s only because Game Freak is on the edge of something truly great. There may be a lack of polish at times, but I thoroughly enjoyed playing through this game. If you’re willing to be an early adopter, pick up this game. If not, I expect Game Freak to polish this formula in future titles, so pick up its sequels when they release. I give this game 4 out 5 stars.