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Pokemon Legends Z-A takes you back to Kalos’s Lumiose City, and this review explains how it shines despite having some minor setbacks overall.
Pokemon Legends Z-A caught me off guard and in the best way possible. As a longtime fan of the series, I was skeptical at first, but the fresh combat and deep lore quickly pulled me in. While the city can feel empty once you’ve finished the missions, the game’s heart lies in its battles, lore, and Mega Evolutions. It’s not perfect, but for fans craving a new Pokemon adventure with a nostalgic touch, Legends Z-A delivers a rewarding experience that’s hard to put down.
- Developer: Game Freak
- Publisher: Nintendo, The Pokemon Company
- Release Date: October 16, 2025
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2
- Reviewed On: Nintendo Switch 2 (physical cartridge)
As a longtime fan who has played every mainline title, reviewing Pokemon Legends Z-A started as a somewhat tricky journey. I will admit that I was skeptical at the beginning. I grew up with the turn-based combat system where stat-peddling was a way of life. That said, the rate at which I warmed up to Legends Z-A was almost scary, and it has even made me want to buy Legends Arceus instead.
Having played for more than 60 hours, I can truthfully admit that Pokemon Legends Z-A has been one of the most entertaining games I have played. It’s not perfect by any means, and there’s more than just one qualm I have with it. There have been times when I came close to some really aggressive button-mashing owing to sheer annoyance. There have also been times when I have intently looked at the screen to see the events unfurl in grandeur.
If you have played Pokemon X and Y, you will thoroughly enjoy Legends Z-A like I have. Some returning characters, a sneaky reference to the past events, and the return of the Aura Trio Legendaries – it’s a fitting conclusion to the Mega Evolution saga. As someone who enjoys lore and a good story, Pokemon Legends Z-A has managed to surprise me, and this review will explain how in more detail.
Pokemon Legends Z-A Takes You Back to Kalos for a Whole New and Different Adventure
Initially, the entirety of Pokemon Legends Z-A being in Lumiose City seemed like a recipe for disaster. An entire game based on one city that had just one gym – I was expecting a stale gameplay loop. It did not take a lot of time for the game to prove me wrong. A large part of this is because of the Wild Zones, where the variety of Pokemon can keep you busy for a long time.
However, Lumiose City can become a bit too much as well. Once you are done with the missions and have caught everything, it can become boring very easily. I will explain this in more detail down the line. Legends Z-A shines on two distinct avenues – the combat and the lore. It even connects to Pokemon X and Y, which I believe had one of the better stories in the franchise. I don’t want to spoil all of it, but prepare for some bittersweet moments, although nothing major enough for you to shed some tears.
Exploring Lumiose – Fun With a Dash of Missed Chances
At first, Lumiose City felt like an absolute delight. Every corner I walked into had something new to offer – be it new areas to find, or some NPC to chat with. In fact, some of the NPCs also dropped obscure hints about the lore, especially about a certain Gym Trainer. Looking at the map of the entire city at a glance, it felt more like a giant circular puzzle waiting to be solved. And this became more tedious than thrilling for me once I looked past the first impressions.
Lumiose City had a massive amount of potential with its vertical nature. Rooftops practically work as a second level to the city. I even found some of the more elusive Pokemon like Dratini and Larvitar in some well-tucked rooftop corners. With this added verticality comes an obvious traversal mechanic – parkour. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations, and I feel it is one big wasted potential.
The Roto-Glide feature is more of a double-jump than an actual glide, which is useful for only small hops. It is a massive miss because a true glide system would have made Pokemon Legends Z-A much more liberating. To that extent, I found the parkour and platforming itself to be more of a riddle than outright navigation.
I often had to look up at buildings and backtrack the path for a few blocks, finding holovators or stairs to climb up and then remove obstacles to make a clear way. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy puzzles, but this felt more like a forced system than organic content. It felt like I was deliberately made to spend more time solving these parkour puzzles.
And finally, there’s the underbelly of Lumiose City – the sewers. Surprisingly, this is also one of the most visually impressive spaces that I have come across in Pokemon Legends Z-A. There are solid water effects with reflective lights that looked almost RTX-level on my Switch 2. Once again, this feels like a missed chance. Apart from catching some unique Pokemon, there’s not much incentive to return to the sewers.
Overall, the side missions add a nice sense of purpose – you help the residents and Pokemon of Lumiose. However, I could feel this loop lose its shine once I completed most of them. What starts as a great first impression eventually fades away, with a pretty bland city devoid of “recurring” activities.
Story – A 3,000-year-old Story Reaches a Conclusion
Pokemon Legends Z-A keeps its narrative short, with around 20 hours of a solid storyline. Without spoiling too much, the story directly picks up five years after the events of Pokemon X and Y, and offers a closure to AZ’s saga. As it stands, the Ultimate Weapon wasn’t AZ’s only creation, and he had also made Ange. However, Ange was not a weapon, but a device to share the eternal life that Floette had with other Pokemon.
Eventually, Ange was never used, and I will not reveal why that happened. It was also the Ultimate Weapon’s firing in X and Y that awoke Ange. This eventually made its energy overflow, and caused the Rogue Mega Evolution phenomenon in Lumiose City.
To nobody’s surprise, Team Flare returns, although not directly. To be more accurate, the presence of Team Flare returns, but not in the way I had expected. Pokemon Legends Z-A does not paint anyone as the bad guy; instead, it is all about coming together to face off against a bigger threat. Lysandre, now under the moniker of L, steps into a more nuanced role, even aiding me from time to time. In the final act, I pair with Zygarde to save the city – the typical “dynamic duo” style.
When the dust settles, AZ’s long and tragic 3,000-year journey finally comes to an end. While the story did satisfy me, I am not a fan of this “goody two-shoes” theme altogether. There were almost no plot twists, and the sense of danger looming felt very casual. Without an overarching antagonist who’s actively trying to botch my plans, Pokemon Legends Z-A also felt somewhat hollow to me.
Team MZ – The Sideline Protectors of Lumiose City
From a story perspective, my biggest complaint about Pokemon Legends Z-A is the role of Team MZ. As the bona fide “protectors” of Lumiose City, they were just useless for the most part. In every Rogue Mega evolution fight, someone from Team MZ is paired to help. However, I felt like I was the only one actually doing anything. None of the members of Team MZ actually ever used their Mega Evolutions during the Rogue Mega Evolution fights. In fact, their overall damage output was also negligible.
This struck me as extremely odd, given the premise of the game and Team MZ itself. I, a tourist, am saving the city, doing all the heavy lifting, to become its knight in shining armor. All while the actual “supposed” defenders mostly stood on the sidelines. I would have liked to see some more active participation from Team MZ, who felt more like allies only for the sake of the story rather than actual gameplay.
Combat – Where Pokemon Legends Z-A Truly Shines
The combat system in Pokemon Legends Z-A is where the game truly comes alive. I am someone who is used to the traditional turn-based battles, and I was surprised by how quickly I warmed up to this system. The transition to real-time action with dynamic positioning redefines a lot of the battle strategy. I enjoy how movement is now an integral part of the entire survival. It’s essentially me and my Pokemon on the move to dodge attacks together.
This system also makes the battle more meaningful and personal to some extent. It’s not just sitting back and pressing keys, but trying to actively read what the opponent will do. If you are a skilled player, you can evade most of the attacks with proper timing. Once again, this is a welcome change from the accuracy-based dodge mechanics of the mainline Pokemon titles.
The other important factor is that you, as a trainer, take damage from other Pokemon’s attacks. And once you take a substantial amount of damage, you lose the battle, even if your team is alive. Positioning also changes the battle setups altogether. Environmental hazards like Stealth Rock or Spikes can now be maneuvered around. This throws the “confirmed damage” factor out of the window. In fact, directional attacks can also open up creative sequences.
One of my favorites while using Emboar was to go for a Flare Blitz, followed by a Rollout immediately. Here’s how it worked – the dash from the Flare Blitz always ends behind the opponent, and Rollout activates immediately at that point. This causes Emboar to come back right in front of me while hitting the opponent once again. Enemy NPCs and their Pokemon cannot react that fast to changing directions. In effect, this creates a two-hit combo just with the use of positioning.
Having said that, not every mechanic in Pokemon Legends Z-A hits the same high. Traditional setups like Swords Dance, Geomancy, or debuffers like Fake Tears or Roar feel less impactful. Buffs and debuffs don’t stack the multiplier anymore – they just extend the duration of the effect. This might seem like a good balancing method, but I personally miss the option to craft setups or outplay them with something like an Unaware Clefable. The lack of abilities also does not help this cause.
Rogue Mega Evolutions, although providing a decent challenge, are interesting only at the beginning. I found the overall process to be incredibly repetitive after a while. On the positive side, the Mega Evolution mechanic is fantastic – you build up Mega Energy mid-battle and can only transform once the threshold is met. Even then, it is a temporary evolution, much like how it functions in the anime.
Overall, the entire combat system rewards quick thinking and constant movement. This makes Pokemon Legends Z-A a title that favors proactive players over passive planners. I am not here to debate which is the better one, but success in Legends Z-A battles is less dependent on the perfect build and more on how well you can adapt on the battlefield.
Audio and Visual – It’s a Joyride On The Nintendo Switch 2
On my Switch 2, Pokemon Legends Z-A runs beautifully. The visuals are crisp and always at 1080p, and I have not experienced a single framerate drop during my 60+ hours of gameplay. Even during battles or cutscenes, the performance remained flawless. Loading times are fast, and the overall presentation seems very well optimized for the Switch 2. I did have a physical copy of the game on a cartridge, so that might have aided in the performance a bit.
Where the technical aspects get full marks, the cityscape of Lumiose leaves a fair bit to be desired. For a city that is modeled after Paris, it definitely lacks the expected elegance. The architecture feels flat, with the obvious missing balconies and defined urban features. Surprisingly, Pokemon Legends Z-A’s most visually compelling environment seems to be underground. The sewers, for example, are rendered with amazing attention to detail.
The water physics, reflections, and stones look realistic, and Lysandre’s Lab is another standout. Its mix of retro aesthetics and modern design, with red lasers and transporter effects, feels overly elaborate when compared to the ground above. I almost felt as if they were two separate projects that were merged together within the same game.
For the audio, Pokemon Legends Z-A does not disappoint when it comes to the battle themes. I jammed with the energizing and retro music, although one big part felt missing from the overall experience – voice acting. Given the story’s cinematic tone, it feels like a missed opportunity not to have voice acting in it. With a bare minimum dialogue performance, Legends Z-A would have been a far superior game, especially since this one is closer to the RPG-level immersion.
In Conclusion
Despite my initial skepticism with Pokemon Legends Z-A, I am glad I gave in to my inner Pokemon-nerd and tried it. Having played every mainline title, I was unusually hooked by the active combat and its story-ties with X and Y. I did have my moments of genuine frustration, especially with the city layout and parkour. These were, however, outshone by the battle mechanics and the lag-free experience on the Switch 2.
Pokemon Legends Z-A is not the perfect game, but it’s an adventure I will not forget anytime soon. It feels like a bold step to embrace a more RPG-like nature, one that respects the roots while also introducing real changes. If you are someone who loves Pokemon and the nostalgia it comes with, your journey in Lumiose City will be a pleasant one. And if you are like me, you will also find yourself lingering in the game far longer than you had initially planned.
Pokemon Legends Z-A is a solid entry with great combat and a decent narrative that ties directly to Pokemon X and Y. Unlike preset strategic play in the mainline titles, quick thinking and proactive play take the center stage, which is a breath of fresh air. On the Switch 2, the game performs smoothly on both the technical and visual aspects, without any lag or glitches.
On the other hand, the setting in Lumiose City feels repetitive and underwhelming once you run out of missions to complete. The parkour mechanics feel forced and unpolished, while the lack of an antagonist and Team MZ’s sidelined role makes the game feel hollow.
If you are a Pokemon fan seeking a new kind of combat thrill, Pokemon Legends Z-A is an enticing playground. However, if you are looking for a polished Pokemon RPG, there’s room for disappointment to settle in.
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