The Pokemon Company announced Pokemon Legends: Arceus earlier this year, representing the biggest break away from the traditional series formula for a new mainline entry in Pokemon history. Announced with an early 2022 release window, the game drew tons of attention, to little surprise, and now we finally know exactly when the game is going to be released.
It’s been confirmed via the official Pokemon Twitter page that Pokemon Legends: Arceus will be out exclusively for the Nintendo Switch on January 28, 2022. Pre-orders are also now open. There was speculation upon the game’s announcement that it might not be able to hit its target early 2022 launch window, but for now it seems those worries were unfounded.
In Pokemon Legends: Arceus, which is set in a “long-gone era of Sinnoh”, players will be traveling the region before it was settled and civilized. Exploring the open world and catching and surveying Pokemon to build the first ever Pokedex serves as the backbone of the experience, and by and large, it looks like the series is finally trying something new and ambitious, and completely unlike anything it’s attempted in the past.
It remains to be seen how it will all shake out, but at least now we know exactly when to expect the game.