It looks like Breath of the Wild

Published on Mar 1, 2021

The Pokémon Company shared previews of their upcoming releases in celebration of their iconic series of games' 25th anniversary this past Friday, and one announcement in particular has taken the internet, and especially the games press, by storm. Set up as the event's biggest announcement, Pokémon Legends: Arceus was shown at an early stage of development and billed as both a departure from the mainline series' conventions and a "new era" for Pokémon games as we know them.

If you're a fan of Pokémon, this is a huge deal. The structure of the mainline series of RPGs has remained largely the same for the past 25 years, save for a few additions and subtractions here and there in the last few installments. Pokémon Legends: Arceus looks like a very different experience, and that's great! It's not that the time-tested formula of previous Pokémon games wasn't still enjoyable. Some folks argue it's started to feel stale, and while I don't personally agree, fair is fair. It isn't necessarily that anything desperately needed to change, or that change is always good. Rather, change is interesting! And in the case of a longstanding series like Pokémon, which has gone largely unchanged for 2.5 decades, it allows us to see what else The Pokémon Company and Game Freak have up their sleeves. I'm sure there are people there who've been dying to try out something new with the world of Pokémon as much as some players have.

Interesting as this all sounds, though, some fans simply wished to point out that, hey, Pokémon Legends: Arceus kinda looks like Breath of the Wild. The thought of what the SEO on such a post might look like proved too mouth-watering for the games press to pass up. One by one, they all agreed. Yes. It looks like Breath of the Wild. Let's take a look.

GameSpot came in nice and early with their take: Pokemon Legends: Arceus Evokes Breath Of The Wild, And That's Thrilling. Right in the title too! In fact, they weren't the only outlet to stick those words right up top...

Polygon crashed the same party with The new open-world Pokémon has Breath of the Wild vibes.

Kotaku brought their signature snarky-cum-folksy bloggeriness to Hmm, That New Pokémon Game Sure Looks A Lot Like Breath Of The Wild. They even had the ingenuity to show that, yep, they used that shot:

That's the one.

Input came in hot with Game Freak finally realized the future of Pokémon is 'Breath of the Wild.' Ugh, finally. The company making this series of games for 25 years finally realized that a game from four years ago is their WHOLE FUTURE.

Vulture takes a piece of the action with Pokémon Is Getting the Breath of the Wild Treatment.

GamesRadar provides a little more context with their Pokemon Legends Arceus looks like Breath of the Wild set in Sinnoh history.

GameRant sneaks a peek at Kotaku's homework with Pokemon Legends Arceus Sure Does Look a Lot Like Breath of the Wild.

Even ScreenRant - that's right, the other rant - couldn't resist the siren song of SEO with Pokémon Legends: Arceus Confirms BOTW-Style Open World Game Leaks.

Newsweek still exists, so sure, why not type up 'Pokémon Legends Arceus' Announced, Brings 'Breath of the Wild'-Style Exploration in 2022.

iMore goes with a healthy mix of all of the above, serving up a GORP-style Pokémon Legends: Arceus looks like Breath of the Wild in ancient Sinnoh, coming early 2022.

That brings us to the end of the list of outlets that put the damn thing right in the damn title. You may notice some big names, or maybe your favorite outlet is missing from this list. Well, don't worry. Dig a little deeper, and no one is free from sin.

FanByte posted a roundup post under the seemingly innocent title, [ICYMI: Pokemon Presents Revisits the Series’ Past and Teases its Future](Pokemon Presents Revisits the Series’ Past and Teases its Future), but down at the bottom of the article, under the section about the announcement of the game in question, we find, of course: "It looks like a whole-ass Pokemon: Breath of the Wild."

The goddamn Washington Post came down from its high horse to write about some videoed games with their exaggerated ‘Pokémon Legends Arceus’ is the game mainline Pokémon fans have been begging for. Credit where it's due, I had to dig three paragraphs down to find, "The game appears to take aesthetic inspiration from “Breath of the Wild,” and is an entirely new story told in the Sinnoh region." But I did still find it.

And finally, bringing up the rear, the old soldier, Game Informer, trots on by with the wordy New Pokémon Game Is An Open-World Story Set In Feudal-Style Sinnoh Region, Pokémon Legends Arceus. They don't make it past the first sentence without describing the upcoming release as, "a title that takes a page from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild with a stunning open world set in the Sinnoh region."

The takeaway? One might argue that, wow, let's all be careful how we respond to major game announcements online, lest we multi-handedly give a newsroom something extra to crank out for their ad partners.

Perhaps.

But the real takeaway?

I mean.

Shit, it does kinda look like Breath of the Wild.