At college you have a lot of free time and students – like “yours truly” – spend a lot of that free time playing video games. One game in 2025 that surprised me at Appalachian State is Pokémon Legends: Z-A. While playing this game, you can feel the development company, Game Freak, slowly grow more confident with trying to incorporate new and interesting algorithms into their gameplay, similar to Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Based in the futuristic landscape of Lumiose City, the game immediately stands out by focusing the setting in a dense urban environment rather than a wild open wilderness. At first, that might sound limiting, like it doesn’t have much to offer or explore, but the way it’s executed immediately eliminates the fear of redundancy. The city changes depending on the time of day, your progress, and the choices you make. It gives you a sense of growth that Pokémon games have rarely achieved before.
Instead of the usual “one and done” approach that previous games have you do, Z-A encourages you to truly learn the city, the corners, its shadows, and all of its alleys. This makes exploration feel rewarding in a different way than traditional routes and caves.
The gameplay builds off of mechanics previously established in Legends: Arceus, but improves them to be a little smoother with more focus on the transitions. Catching Pokémon has never felt faster-paced and engaging, with the mixture of battle and turn-based strategy in a way that feels more polished this time around. Mega Evolution (Which, for you non-nerds, is when a Pokémon gets a super cool buff from a stone, which essentially makes it evolve) makes a return in Legends: Z-A. Mega Evolution is a huge highlight of the game, especially since it’s woven into the story rather than treated as a simple gimmick.
All of that said, Legends: Z-A isn’t 100% perfect. Some players miss the original anatomy of gyms and the classic “Defeat the gym leader” structured story. While the plot is more focused and ambitious, the story can feel slower in certain sections, especially with its heavier use of not very interesting dialogue. Performance issues may also be a concern, as the Pokémon that run away sometimes have very low frame rates, and the detailed city environment contributes to pushing the hardware to its limits.
Ultimately, Legends: Z-A lives up to the Pokémon hype. It’s a perfect introduction to the Pokémon games if you’ve never played one before because, like most Pokémon games, the navigation and rules are easy to learn. However, Legends: Z-A doesn’t try to replace any of the traditional Pokémon games, but instead offers a fresh perspective on what the series is capable of. If you’re in college like I am and looking for a change to a lore-heavy story-centric game, Legends: Z-A is the answer.
