Pokรฉmon Legends: Z-A feels like a strong step forward for the series
The Pokรฉmon series has had staying power ever since its debut in the 1990s, but it has felt especially popular in recent years, thanks to Pokรฉmon GO and the resurgence of the trading card game. Given that more Pokรฉmon fans are experiencing new ways to play, itโs the right time for developer Game Freak to refresh the video game series. The upcoming Pokรฉmon Legends: Z-A looks to do just that with a more action-oriented focus on a Pokรฉmon trainer's journey.
At a special Nintendo showcase during PAX West 2025 in Seattle, I spent some limited time with Pokรฉmon Legends: Z-A and its revamped combat system that ditches turn-based combat for real-time action. So far, this new entry in the long-running series is showing promise for a follow-up that could shake up the pokรฉmon meta in the right direction.
Set in the Paris-inspired Lumiose City, Pokรฉmon Legends: Z-A focuses on a new trainer coming into their own as they improve their skills and expand their roster of pokรฉmon. However, Lumoise City has a darker mystery brewing after an unknown force is causing several pokรฉmon to enter a frenzied state that triggers their Mega Evolution mysteriously. As the protagonist rises in the ranks, they'll soon come to find out what's behind the rise of rogue pokรฉmon.
Speaking as a lapsed Pokรฉmon fan who occasionally revisits the series for its more interesting entries, I've found that Pokรฉmon games tend to be very familiar, stopping a few steps shy of reaching a broader scope that many players have imagined Pokรฉmon games to be since watching the animated shows.
Recent Pokรฉmon games like Legends: Arceus and Scarlet/Violet have moved the series forward in the right ways, and Legends: Z-A is continuing that trend by focusing more on the moment-to-moment actions of being a trainer.
Real-time combat is a significant game changer in Legends: Z-A, and it's a shift that many returning players will need to adjust to. Arceus set the foundations of a more open-ended style of player activity, but it still reverted to the turn-based tactical approach when the combat kicked in. Legends: Z-A moves away from that.
The demo started with a nighttime training session, in which I had to engage in several pokรฉmon fights with trainers in a designated battle zone in the back alleys of the city. This led me to round corners and find trainers waiting for a fight, employing either a direct approach or more sneaky methods.
During my demo, I was given the team of Chikorita, Weedle, Mareep, and the flying pokรฉmon Fletchling. When you engage in a fight, your trainer stays locked onto their enemy pokรฉmon, with your chosen fighter right at your side. During these fights, you move around in real-time and have active skills that are on cooldowns. This sounds pretty standard for games, but for a Pokรฉmon game, it's quite the adjustment, one that I really liked after a few matches.
What's interesting about Pokรฉmon Legends: Z-A is that it's turned Pokรฉmon into an act
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