Pokémon: Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl's new and improved Grand Underground allows players to explore Pokémon Hideaways, where Pokémon roam freely like they will in the Hisui region of Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Rather than hiding in tall grass or appearing sporadically in caves, the Pokémon found in Hideaways are out in the open and can interact with players differently than they do in the overworld. While far from being open-world, BDSP gives players their first glimpse of what it will be like to encounter and interact with Pokémon in the ancient realm of Legends.
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl’s Grand Underground expands the original Underground from Diamond and Pearl with new features, such as Pokémon Statues and global online play. Players can still dig up fossils and bury spheres, but they can also explore the new Pokémon Hideaways. These Hideaways feature a wide variety of different Pokémon who are happily roaming, many of which can only be caught in this subterranean area.
These wild Pokémon will chase after trainers who enter their Hideaways, beginning to blend Pokémon’s separate aspects of gameplay: exploration and combat. As the two begin to influence one another in Pokémon BDSP's Grand Underground, players can get a feel for what’s to come as Legends will meld these two aspects together.
How Pokémon BDSP’s Hideaways Set Up Legends’ Open World Gameplay
Pokémon Legends: Arceus' world appears to be massive and highly-interactive in which Pokémon are free to interact with players however they please. While BDSP's Hideaways don’t allow for a ton of interactivity outside of battling and catching, they change the way players approach a new area and give Pokémon more influence over the way that players explore.
Being able to see the Pokémon in the overworld can give players a thrill when they spot a Pokémon they haven’t seen before or haven’t managed to catch yet, and chasing after it while dodging other Pokémon in the cave adds a new layer to catching Pokémon that the franchise promises to expand upon in Legends: Arceus. Rather than entering a battle sequence that’s separate from the rest of the world, Legends: Arceus will combine environment and combat, which is an exciting and highly-anticipated first for the series.
While Pokémon: Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl still retain the classic separation of environment and combat, the ability to interact with roaming Pokémon in Hideaways is a thrilling precursor of what’s to come when Pokémon Legends: Arceus is released in early 2022. It promises to be a merging of Pokémon’s two very distinct forms of gameplay, opening a world of possibilities for exploration and Pokémon training that players have never experienced before.