Pokemon Legends: Arceus is out tomorrow, and a day one update of sorts is on its way to the new Nintendo Switch title. Like most games these days, Pokemon Legends: Arceus will be receiving some improvements when the public gets their hands on it.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus is the latest game in the series from Game Freak, with Nintendo listing it as a mainline title in the Pokemon franchise. It features the biggest departure from the mainline series yet with open-ended exploration, new battle mechanics, and even resource gathering and crafting. It's been compared with Breath of the Wild for its aesthetic and Monster Hunter for its gameplay mechanics.
Nintendo put up a post regarding Version 1.0.1 of Pokemon Legends: Arceus. In typical Nintendo fashion, the patch notes of Pokemon Legends: Arceus are very general. In this case, the patch notes simply say, "fixed some problems for a better gaming experience." This could mean pretty much anything from framerate updates, graphical improvements, or text changes.
Some of the more recent Pokemon games released over the last decade have received patches of some kind, making Pokemon Legends: Arceus far from the first case. Most famously, Pokemon X/Y had a game-breaking glitch that needed fixing. Whatever the day one patch for Pokemon Legends: Arceus does for the game, it will be welcome as some gamers are turned off the game due to how it looks and runs.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus's embargo ended a couple of days ago, and reviews for the game are coming in from various sites. There's mostly praise for the game for its departure from the traditional Pokemon gameplay, and providing a fresh perspective on the series. For a series that is over 25 years old this year, making changes to its core mechanics couldn't have been easy to come up with. However, Pokemon has been berated by some gamers in the past for sticking too much to its conventional formula, changing very little over the years.
As of right now, it will be up to the players of Pokemon Legends: Arceus to charter the direction of public opinion on the game. Some are excited for the new changes and trying out a new gameplay style for Pokemon, while others are apprehensive about the game's performance and graphics. It is currently unknown what will happen to the Pokemon series if Pokemon Legends: Arceus does well, but if early reviews are to be trusted, there might be something here that could change Pokemon's direction forever.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus launches January 28, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.