The second trailer for Pokémon Legends: Arceus dropped during the August 2021 Pokémon Presents, detailing specifics about the newly named Hisui region’s lore, the Pokémon that live there, and how players will battle them. While this was all brand new to Pokémon, the Pokémon Legends: Arceus trailer almost looked like it could be one for an entirely different Nintendo game - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Comparisons between Pokémon Legends: Arceus and BOTW are not new. When the first trailer was released earlier this year, many fans compared its open world, action-adventure genre, and art style to Breath of the Wild. But as more information has been announced, the similarities between Legends: Arceus and BOTW have gone beyond the superficial.
At its heart, Breath of the Wild is about the exploration of beautiful landscapes full of hidden surprises. It appears Pokémon Legends: Arceus will the same central hook, and the trailer showed specific gameplay features that seem ripped right from its Zelda predecessor.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus' Many BOTW Similarities
Besides climbing, Breath of the Wild's main modes of transportation have been confirmed for Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Players will be able to ride the new Pokémon Wyrdeer over land, fly through the air with the help of Hisuian Braviary, and swim through the water atop Basculegion. Although Link does not have a water mount (outside of riding Prince Sidon in the Vah Ruta battle), Pokémon Legends: Arceus' land and air traversal methods look comparable to BOTW's - especially the Hisuian Braviary flying, which looks nearly identical to Link’s paragliding.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus also introduces an extensive, direct crafting system to Pokémon for the first time, just as BOTW did for Zelda. Although Breath of the Wild does not let players craft weapons or tools, as Pokémon Legends: Arceus does with items like Poké Balls and Smoke Bombs, Link relies on material collection to craft food and potions to survive. The benefits of crafting items will likely make resource gathering more important than in any other Pokémon game before, and players of BOTW should be able to implement its material-gathering mindset into their Pokémon Legends: Arceus playthroughs seamlessly.
One of the elements of Pokémon Legends: Arceus that distinguishes it most from other Pokémon games is the fact that its main characters can be injured by Pokémon. Straying from the typical Gym battle formula, it appears players in Pokémon Legends: Arceus will instead battle boss-style Pokémon in the wild. Overworld bosses are certainly not unique to BOTW, but the boss Pokémon appear to be made hostile by some sort of red, ethereal force. This is very reminiscent of the Guardians' possession by Calamity Ganon.
Although the new Pokémon Legends: Arceus trailer has provided many intriguing elements to speculate about, the game is still has quite a lot of time before launch. It's possible even more connections to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will come to light soon.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus will be available for Nintendo Switch on January 28, 2022.