Pokémon Legends: Z-A Review - A Risky Reinvention Held Back by Antiquated Design

Developer Game Freak shook up the traditional formula for Pokémon games with the release of Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Unlike the traditional mainline games, Legends: Arceus deviated from that formula to deliver a more open, story-focused entry in the Pokémon franchise. The result was a game that felt fresh with features that could benefit the mainline games, though it also suffered heavily running on the original Switch's hardware. Pokemon Legends: Z-A aims to shake up the formula further with major changes to the franchise's core combat mechanics, a single setting and an even greater emphasis on storytelling. Does Pokémon Legends: Z-A successfully shake up the Pokémon formula and deliver another exciting adventure or is this another doomed trip to Kalos?

Z is for Zygarde

Pokémon Legends: Z-A takes place five years after the events of Pokémon X and Y. You play as an out-of-towner who, after arriving in Lumiose City, are drafted into Team MZ by your rival, Taunie or Urbain, to participate in the Z-A Royale. Since X and Y, Lumiose City has undergone an urban redevelopment plan to allow humans and Pokémon to coexist peacefully within the city. That fragile peace is disturbed when Prism Tower begins spewing out Mega Energy, causing wild Pokémon to rogue Mega Evolve. As part of Team MZ, it's up to you to rise through the ranks of the Z-A Royale, pacify rogue Pokémon and save Lumiose City.

Much like Legends: Arceus, Legends: Z-A places a stronger emphasis on the narrative than the mainline games. Surprisingly, Z-A tells a compelling narrative filled with a wonderful cast of characters. As you rank up in the Z-A Royale, you'll interact with a wide array of colorful characters from all walks of life. You'll meet a martial artist who wants to use his fists to tear down Wild Zones so Pokémon and humans can truly live together, an eccentric socialite who doesn't understand the concept of the word "no," and a syndicate leader whose tough demeanor hides a passion for Lumiose City and its residents. Getting to meet these people is a major highlight of going through the story.

The main plot itself is formulaic and derivative of X and Y's narrative. There's a major threat caused by a super weapon, a deep dive into Kalos' history, and it's up to you, Zygarde's chosen, to rise and put a stop to it. It's a charming narrative that's bolstered by the characters and decent pacing. While ranking up in the Z-A Royale does get tedious in later ranks, it's still less tedious than having to meet certain Pokedex requirements in Legends: Arceus.

Where Legends: Z-A's story suffers is with its antiquated presentation. While much can be said about Lumiose City's appearance, the main culprit within the narrative is the lack of voice acting to bring these characters to life. With such a strong emphasis on story, and a whole lot of cutscenes, there's no excuse for a narrative-focused game in 2025 not to have voice acting. Pokémon Legends: Z-A has the best-looking character models, facial animations and characters in franchise history, and Game Freak didn't let them express themselves via voice. Z-A has an interesting, character-focused narrative to tell, but antiquated decisions continue to hold the franchise back.

Where Did all the Balconies Go?

Pokémon Legends: Z-A bucks the traditional philosophy of giving players an entire region to explore in favor of building out one big city. The entirety of the game takes place in Lumiose City's boundaries and stands as Game Freak's first attempt at building a massive city. The result is admirable with players able to run through various districts, alleys, rooftops and Wild Zones to battle trainers, catch Pokémon and traverse the city. The main problem? Lumiose is a one-note city. There's no visual distinction between districts, all alleys and rooftops recycle similar colors and geometry, and outside a handful of interior spaces, the city lacks geometry. Much hoop-la has already been raised about the 2D windows and balconies painted onto buildings, but seeing them in person hits differently. Lumiose City, which is based on Paris, should be filled with life and rich architectural details. What we got doesn't come close.

Game Freak at least managed to fill the city with plenty to do. By day, you'll complete side quests, quell the fury of rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon and explore Wild Zones to capture Pokémon. By night, you'll enter Battle Zones to battle trainers, earn a Challenger's Ticket and then battle a boss to advance your rank. There's a lot to do in Lumiose City across the twenty-hour story and beyond. There's also a strong roster of Pokémon to see and catch in the Wild Zones. These small areas don't come close to capturing the size or scale of Hisui or Paldea, but they get the job done, offering a wide array of Pokémon from across generations.

A Real-Time Battle Wonderland

Pokémon Legends: Z-A's largest departure from the franchise formula is with its gameplay, which shifts from turn-based to real-time. Like a traditional Pokémon game, each Pokémon can only have four moves at a time with each assigned one of the eighteen available types. Being real-time, combat is now about holding down the ZL button to target an enemy and then using the face buttons to execute a move. Instead of Power Points and Accuracy, each move now requires a cooldown timer and proper positioning. A powerful move like Hyper Beam is going to have a longer recharge time than Ice Beam. Meanwhile, a physical move like Crunch requires a Pokémon to make physical contact to land.

The introduction of real-time combat places a strong emphasis on positioning. Your Pokémon freely follows you around the map, giving it the chance to dodge attacks if you're quick enough. On the flip side, it's also possible for enemies to utilize their positioning to dodge your attacks. It's an extra layer of strategy that makes battling interesting, but also chaotic. When in 1v1 battles, the real-time system works amazingly well. Add in more Pokémon and trainers, however, and it becomes pure chaos with so many moves being thrown out at once. It's during these moments that turn-based combat, or having direct control over your Pokémon, are superior solutions.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Kalos game without the return of Mega Evolution. Flashy and cool, the mechanic returns re-tooled for real-time combat. Essentially, as you battle, you fill up a meter. Once full, you can Mega Evolve if your Pokémon hold its proper stone. You then have the length of the meter to utilize your Mega Pokémon, though you can always build it up again. While not invincible, these boosted Pokémon are key to winning Rogue Mega Pokémon encounters and can help you out in a jam. Mega Evolution has always been a visually cool, but limited mechanic since only a small pool of available Pokémon can use them. Much like X and Y, you'll easily find yourself leaning towards those that have Mega forms versus those that don't.

A Tale of Two Presentations

Pokémon Legends: Z-A is a tale of two presentations. On one hand, Z-A might be the best-looking Pokémon game yet. Much of this is thanks to the highly detailed character models, well-crafted interiors and wonderful effects work from the Mega Evolutions and moves. It also helps that the game runs remarkably well. While Switch 2 owners aren't getting a massive boost in asset quality or resolution, the stable 60fps performance is stellar. Given how poorly both Legends: Arceus and Scarlet/Violet ran, Z-A's performance is a huge win.

With such a strong emphasis on story, and a whole lot of cutscenes, there's no excuse for a narrative-focused game in 2025 not to have voice acting.

On the flip side, Z-A also looks and sounds antiquated. The lack of voice acting, for a game so reliant on cutscenes that showcase the excellent character models, is unacceptable in 2025. Meanwhile, Lumiose City lacks character and defining characteristics. Where Kanto, Galar, Hisui and Paldea this-generation all featured characters and unique landscapes that made each region feel special, Lumiose City looks like a handful of models copied-and-pasted with some flat assets thrown on them. As the final Pokémon title on Switch, Pokémon Legends: Z-A's presentation is both the best and worst of what this era has come to represent for Pokémon fans.

Closing Comments:

Pokémon Legends: Z-A lives up to its Legends moniker by taking a lot of risks a mainline Pokémon game wouldn't. The focus on the narrative and characters results in one of the franchise's better stories. Setting the game in a singular location helps the story maintain decent pacing and allows activities like battling Rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon and battling in the Z-A Royale to thrive. Real-time combat and the return of Mega Evolutions shake up the traditional formula in new ways, tasking players to think of new strategies to claim victory. Legends: Z-A is a risky reinvention of what a future Pokémon title can look like, but it also feels antiquated. The narrative is good for a Pokémon title, but the heavy use of cutscenes makes the lack of voice acting in a 2025 release look jarring. Setting the game in one city was a great idea, but Lumiose City is far too repetitive and visually uninteresting to be the only location. Combat is fun and strategic in 1v1 battles, but becomes too chaotic and visually messy when more Pokémon and trainers are involved. From a presentation perspective, this is both the best and worst of Pokémon on the Switch. Pokémon Legends: Z-A is a fun romp through Lumiose City thanks to its fun and engaging gameplay and stable framerate that's ultimately held back by an antiquated approach to world design and presentation.