Gotta Catch 'Em All!

On January 28th, Nintendo and Game Freak released a new game for Nintendo Switch consoles: Pokémon Legends: Arceus. This game is based on the past before modern technologies in the Pokémon world and you come from the future to help everyone and to complete the Pokédex.

Photo from Tiffanie Poust of the game

The art style is similar to Pokémon Sword/Shield and the recent remake of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl with realistic trees, grass, water, and even ray tracing with the sun in different positions casting shadows. The lighting used in the game is very realistic, and when you face the sun your character has no shadows on their face, but when you turn your character away from the sun there is a visible shadow on part of the face, or the face is covered fully in a shadow. There are also clouds and stars that render in during their respective times of the day. The game's art style is not completely realistic like Call of Duty perse, but not as simply designed like Animal Crossing. The game has cartoonish features such as the character design, which does have soft features and male characters rarely have facial hair. The game also adds in rendering while the character is roaming the fields and hunting for Pokémon. This makes the game look visually so much better because in real life we all cannot see so far ahead without binoculars, but as we move closer it comes into our view and that is done very well in this game.

Another thing in this game is the color palette. Due to the timeframe of the game many colors are neutral and basic, only with a few vibrant colors scattered throughout the game. The most places you will find vibrant colors are the Pokémon themselves, as well as special objects such as crystals that can be broken. They also have realistic sunsets and sunrises in the game, just to add onto the already growing list of art the game has just with the sky and the time of day.