Pokémon Legends: Arceus looks like Breath of the Wild in ancient Sinnoh, coming early 2022

What you need to know

• Pokémon Legends: Arceus looks to be a true open-world Pokémon RPG inspired by Breath of the Wild.
• It is set in the Sinnoh region from long ago where players will be tasked with creating the first Pokédex for the region.
• Pokémon Legends: Arceus is expected to release early 2022 for Nintendo Switch.

During today's Pokémon Presents livestream the company revealed that Game Freak is working on a Pokémon game that fans have been waiting for, taking pages from Breath of the Wild to create a true Pokémon open-world experience.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus takes place long ago in the Sinnoh region from Diamond and Pearl — which also saw remakes announced today — and players will be tasked with creating the very first Pokédex for the region. That doesn't mean we won't see Pokémon from other areas though. A certain professor seems to have brought Cyndaquil, Oshawott, and Rowlet to Sinnoh as well.

The short trailer gives us a decent look at the type of gameplay we can expect. Players are free to roam an open-world and battle and capture Pokémon entirely out in the open. This looks to be the true RPG experience Pokémon fans have been wanting for a long time, though the trailer notes that the gameplay footage is not final and is subject to change.

Development is on-going as the team hopes to release Pokémon Legends: Arceus in early 2022 worldwide for Nintendo Switch.

In other Pokémon-related news, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, remakes of the Gen 4 classics, will be coming to Nintendo Switch later this year. The art direction here appears to be a chibi style similar to the one in The Legends of Zelda: Link's Awakening.

The Pokémon Company has a gold mine on its hands with these new announcements, and Pokémon Legends: Arceus could very well go down as one of the best Nintendo Switch games if Game Freak does everything right.