Pokémon Legends: Z-A - Hands-On Preview
I had the pleasure of being invited to Lumiose City during a hands-on preview of the upcoming title, Pokémon Legends: Z-A. In an introductory video—likely similar to the first cutscene of the game—my character arrived in the city by train. I looked around at all of the Pokémon freely roaming the city streets, some wild and some accompanying their trainers. The setting immediately felt alive and I was excited to explore.
This is only the second Pokémon Legends title since the subseries started with Arceus in 2022. Arceus was an experimental take on the usual Pokémon formula, allowing more open-world exploration, movement like crouching and dodge-rolling, and the ability to throw a Poké Ball directly at a Pokémon’s head. Z-A has borrowed these elements from Arceus and improved on them, while adding plenty of its own experimental flare. Most notably, Z-A features a real-time combat system—the first of its kind in any Pokémon game.
During the preview, one of the first areas we were introduced to had several Houndour roaming around, and two decided to attack me on-sight. Not my Pokémon. Me.
Once I threw a Gyrados out to handle the situation, it took some time for me to feel comfortable with the new combat system. Essentially, players can lock on to a Pokémon that they’re in combat with, select a move, and unleash attacks as often as they like. Moves in Z-A don’t require PP (or Power Points), instead being dependent on a cooldown timer. It makes for a chaotic, fast-paced experience.
In this Wild Zone, I was able to catch the Houndour I’d weakened and add them to my party. Exploring the zone further— including on the roofs of the buildings—I found many other Pokémon packed into quite a small space. I also took a moment to go inside a café and share a coffee with my Chikorita (which was an adorable scene that looked great with the in-game Photo Mode). If you are concerned about the size of Z-A being limited to ‘one city’, don’t fret. The city is huge and contains multiple layers and levels. It feels dense and detailed, with heaps to explore. Although we were limited in which areas we could visit during the preview, I did get to see the map—and it’s covered in fast travel locations, points of interest, and exclamation marks that presumably denote side missions.
The city also feels different depending on the time of day. After we explored a Wild Zone in the afternoon, we were then able to experience a Battle Zone in the evening. Battle Zones are part of the Z-A Royale—a competition held at night in different areas of Lumiose City. Entering the zone, I picked up a Bonus Card that encouraged me to ‘sneak up’ on another trainer and surprise their Pokémon with a Normal move… and so began fifteen minutes of me crouch-walking around a market area and surprise attacking Pokémon so I could earn points.
I didn’t expect to find the Battle Zone so fun, but it was the highlight of my preview. Rather than in classic Pokémon games where players would walk into a trainer’s line-of-sight and trigger a battle, instead I got to feel like I was the one being extremely irritating to the NPCs. The Bonus Cards added some extra challenge, making me think about which party member to send into which battle so I could rake in as many points as possible.
When a player earns enough points, they can trade them for a Challenger’s Ticket, which can then be used to complete a promotion match. After I made it through the evening and completed the Battle Zone, I was able to initiate the Rank W → Rank V match and try to prove my mettle. The goal of Pokémon Legends: Z-A and the Z-A Royale is to eventually reach Rank A and, based on what I saw, it seems like the process of ranking up will unlock main story missions, and possibly new areas and customisation options too.
There are going to be a lot of character customisation options in this game. I remember going back to my wardrobe regularly in Arceus, and the items already available in the save file we were using for the game preview were excellent. There were outfits and accessories with Pokémon’s iconic trendy designs, as well as many expressive Parisian-inspired options to match the style of Lumiose City’s architecture.
Unfortunately, while there’s a lot of customisation and choice in the wardrobe department, it doesn’t seem like Z-A will be doing much to address the complaints that players had about meaningless dialogue choices in Arceus. Although I only experienced a handful of narrative beats during the preview, the dialogue choices were always two rephrasings of the same sentiment, both ultimately leading to the NPC saying the same thing in response with little opportunity to guide the story. I’m fine with Pokémon narratives being linear experiences but it feels disingenuous to give players a choice when it’s so clear that their decision won’t matter.
The joy of Z-A won’t be in its story; it will be in its many different types of Pokémon battles. In addition to combat in Wild Zones and Battle Zones, and a promotion match with a café owner who had a particular fondness for elemental monkeys, I was able to try out one more battle type. As our preview session wrapped up, I went toe-to-toe with a Mega Victreebell, who spat poison at my Meowstic and I as we tried to dodge out of the way. Although it took some getting used to, by this stage I was finding the real-time combat system more intuitive. I’d worked out how to quickly determine whether moves would be super effective using the iconography in the menu, and it allowed me to make choices without pausing to read or remember. I imagine it will feel even easier when I’m playing with my own party, rather than a selection of Pokémon I had only just met.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A doesn’t feel like an entry-level addition to the Pokémon franchise: it’s fast, frantic, and for the fans. But if the turn-based playstyle of other Pokémon games is what has kept you from trying the franchise before, or you’re a Pokéfan excited to see your favourite friends in a new open world, then I think Z-A is worth your attention. Check out Pokémon Legends: Z-A when it comes out on 16 October 2025.
Time Until Launch (October 16, 2025)
