Pokemon Legends: Arceus will deliver a brand new take on the formula for core Pokemon games. The battle system, storyline, open-world — Arceus will do everything differently from previous entries in Pokemon's mainline titles. One such difference includes the addition of a "home base" system. Jubilife village will act as this hub that players always return to for the sake of progression. In other words, they'll spend more time in Jubilife than anywhere else in Arceus.
Such a concept is a first for the Pokemon series as the core games mainly focus on keeping the player moving from one place to the next until the very end, with very little revisits in-between, but again, Pokemon Legends: Arceus plans to take Pokemon in a new direction, and frequently revisiting Jubilife village is one of the new ways it will do that. As such, Jubilife will house various gameplay elements for players to take advantage of during their stay.
RELATED: Pokemon Legends: Arceus Confirms New Scyther Evolution
Out of the blue, The Pokemon Company released a brand new Pokemon Legends: Arceus trailer that showed off several of these mechanics. Really, the trailer puts more emphasis on other revamped elements that Arceus will introduce, such as battling against Noble Pokemon and Wardens, the latter of whom seem to be Arceus' version of Gym Leaders, but Jublife's features made an appearance, too, and the official Pokemon Legends: Arceus website provided a more in-depth look at what players could expect from them.
Outside of interacting with the Galaxy Team, there are four other known activities within Jubilife: the Hairdresser and Clothier, the Photography Studio, the General Store and Craftworks, and the Pokemon Pastures. The Hairdresser and Clothier allow for character customization. The Photography studio takes dynamic photos of players and their Pokemon. The General Store lets trainers buy items and even craft things like Pokeballs, and finally, Pokemon Pastures house Pokemon when Players have no space left in their parties.
While Jubilife village admittedly has many features players are already familiar with, they seem much more dynamic than in past Pokemon games. The character customization, for instance, looks like it has a lot more going for it than it did in Pokemon Sword and Shield; taking "professional" photos with Pokemon will certainly be a first as far as mainline entries go, and Pokemon Pastures make it seem like players will be able to interact with their Pokemon better than before. Overall, it looks like Pokemon Legends: Arceus plans to reshape Pokemon for the better.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus arrives on January 28 for Nintendo Switch.