Review: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Is the Mega Evolution That the Series Needed
November 4, 2025
The Pokémon series is in a bit of a weird moment, as it now begins its Nintendo Switch 2 era. The series’ games have become incredibly divisive. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, for example, are either the best games in over a decade or another shameful mess, depending on who you ask. Pokémon Legends: Z-A unfortunately continues the trend of being rather contentious, but, even with its faults, the game proves that innovation is the way forward for the series.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A is a dramatic departure from the mainline series games, yet it still manages to capture the essence of Pokémon perfectly. At its core, the series appeals to the joys of collection and growth. Pokémon Legends: Z-A hones in on both of those things incredibly well, despite its fundamentally different gameplay and design structure. The game’s ambition and desire to innovate is purely a positive, but they also spotlight the fact that the team behind Pokémon is clearly capable of more.
Enjoyability: 10/12 — Pokémon Legends: Z-A Understands What Fans Want
The unique appeal of the series comes through in full in Pokémon Legends: Z-A. What really helps is that the main tenets of Pokémon find a greater focus in this game. Pokémon Legends: Z-A is an exemplary entry for those who love catching, battling, and bonding with their Pokémon. Those aspects of the game feel particularly polished specifically for a better player experience. It’s easier than ever to feel more involved in those things.
In general, Pokémon Legends: Z-A has a good understanding of what players may want out of the game. The main missions have some really great sequences. The side missions give you plenty to keep yourself busy with. There are plenty of collectibles to look out for. There is a good amount of clothing customization. Legends: Z-A’s only real shortcoming is its monotony. There will be times where the motivation to do any of those things just won’t be there, because not much new is happening. The game is a victim to its 30+ hour runtime.
Gameplay: 11/12 — Real-Time Action Works So Well With Pokémon
It was easy to have some doubts about Pokémon Legends: Z-A’s new gameplay system, but it works out incredibly well. The heavy inspiration from the Xenoblade Chronicles series is very evident, but that’s far from a bad thing. What matters most is that the battles actually feel good. I would even dare to say that the battle system feels natural. This is the first time that it has ever been implemented in the franchise, yet it almost seems like Pokémon was designed for combat like this.
Real-time action should always feel snappy, and that’s definitely the case here in Pokémon Legends: Z-A. Early trailers made the game look a bit sluggish, but that wasn’t a problem at all in my playthrough. The timing and positioning takes some getting used to, but the combat is perfectly responsive — on the Switch 2 version, at least. And if you’re wondering, there is definitely room to implement actual strategies to your battles. Reacting to your opponent properly can make a genuine difference, especially in the late-game.
One last thing that I want to note here is that the evasion mechanics are a lot more engaging than I was expecting. Over the course of the game, you legitimately have to worry about not getting hit too much. It doesn’t impact the experience all that significantly, but I personally enjoyed that added layer to certain fights. I do wish the related stealth mechanics were more fleshed out, though. Expecting a Pokémon game to act like a Metal Gear title might be asking too much, but some added depth could go a long way for the catching experience.
Atmosphere: 10/12 — A Diluted Charm
Pokémon games usually ooze personality, but Pokémon Legends: Z-A is a little dry in that respect. The music is still gorgeous and the monster designs are as lovable as ever, but there just isn’t much room for Legends: Z-A to impress players with its world. Lumiose perfectly captures what a Pokémon-filled city should feel like, but there isn’t much more to the game aside from that.
The lack of notable sights in Lumiose is impossible to overlook. Pokémon Legends: Z-A still manages to be a charming game, thanks in large part to its distinct humor and cheerfulness, but the diluted adventure doesn’t hit as hard as it could.
Design: 9/12 — Limited by Size
I touched upon this lightly in the last section, but Pokémon Legends: Z-A’s biggest problem is its scope. Lumiose feels too small, too restricting. It totally works as the sole setting of the game, don’t get me wrong, but the relatively small scale is part of the reason why Legends: Z-A struggles with monotony. The intrigue of the city slowly starts to dissipate the more you interact with it. Over time, moving through Lumiose loses most of its charm.
Most of the main missions in Pokémon Legends: Z-A are fun on a fundamental level. There actually is a decent amount of variety to them, as well. These patches of variety just happen to come after long stretches, so the moments in between feel pretty weak, in comparison. Rogue Mega Evolution battles aren’t exactly boring, but they don’t add anything new to the experience after a certain point. On a similar note, new Wild Zones make for a fun attraction whenever they become available, but they hold your interest for such little time. Unfortunately, Pokémon Legends: Z-A’s small size really does limit how the game is able to tackle player progression.
Direction: 10/12 — A Promising Approach
Pokémon Legends: Z-A is one of the series’ most mature narratives. Or at least, it had the potential to be. The story gets really dark in some places and the characterizations are some of the best in the series, but Pokémon Legends: Z-A refuses to commit to its heavy tones. It always opts for the usual feel-good Pokémon vibes as immediate relief. Despite the game’s lack of commitment to many of its underlying messages or a traditional antagonist, Legends: Z-A still offers a mostly captivating story. The ending is absolutely the main highlight. It’s where you can really feel the game trying to set the tone going forward.
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Outside of the main story, Pokémon Legends: Z-A is strong in its approach to offering side objectives. They are so incredibly easy to access, and following them through to completion is usually fairly simple. That’s not to say that all side missions are easy. They’re just mostly reasonable requests that offer clear guidance and directions. The rewards are often good, too. You don’t have to do any of them, but they add a nice amount of flavor to the evolving world. This style of side missions should definitely get implemented into a mainline game.
