Pokémon Legends: Arceus will reportedly feature a day/night cycle similar to games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. While Pokémon Legends: Arceus implements new features and mechanics that change up the core formula of the gameplay, the implementation of a day/night cycle would be in line with past Pokémon games.
Pokémon has featured a day/night cycle as far back as Pokémon Gold and Silver on the Game Boy. The day/night cycle would change some mechanics in the Pokémon games depending on what time it was, Some Pokémon would only appear in the wild at night, and some events with NPCs were only accessible at certain times. There were also some evolutions that were only possible during specific times such as Snom in Pokémon Sword and Shield. The day/night cycle was a major innovation for the Pokémoni series that continues to be present in all mainline titles.
Pokémon insider Eclipse (via Dexerto) claimed on Twitter that Pokémon Legends: Arceus‘ day/night cycle will be treated similar to Grand Theft Auto. The setting will be adjusted with various amounts of light and shadows depending on the time, including sunrises and sunsets, and will be updated whenever the game loads such as resting at a camp or being knocked out. Eclipse further claimed that NPCs will react to the various time changes, such as NPCs commenting whenever it’s nighttime and NPCs not being outside of their houses at night.
And NPCs react to all the changes, like someone already noticed when night comes, it’s unlikely to see NPCs outside of their houses.
A very nice touch to make everything more realistic, I really hope it’s like GTA but I’m happy at the end with all the improvements they’ve done.— Eclipse 🌑 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝐤𝖗𝖆𝖎 𝖀𝖒𝖇𝖗𝖆! (@eclipse_tt) September 2, 2021
At first, Pokémon Legends: Arceus was speculated to be similar to an open-world game in the same style as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The trailers made it seem like it would be a big open world Pokémon that expanded on Pokémon Sword and Shield’s wild area. But the Pokémon Company has since clarified that it would have a structure similar to Monster Hunter where players would survey the various open areas of the Hisui region through a quest-like system.
Leaks should always be taken with a grain of salt, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Pokémon Legends: Arceus had a day/night cycle like past Pokémon games. Pokémon Sword and Shield didn’t feature a day/night cycle exactly like older Pokémon games, making it harder to evolve Pokémon like Rockruff, but it is nonetheless a prominent returning feature throughout the main games. A day/night cycle would also help make the world be more immersive by having the time change and for NPCs being able to act accordingly to it. The main question is how much a day/night cycle would have an effect on Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus will release for Nintendo Switch on January 28, 2022.
Sources: Eclipse/Twitter, Dexerto
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