When Pokemon Legends: Z-A was initially revealed to take place entirely within the confines of Lumiose City, many fans were skeptical of the game’s scale compared to the previous Legends game, Pokemon Legends: Arceus. This predecessor thrived on the exploratory gameplay of traveling to different zones of the Hisui Region and hunting for rare and powerful critters using real-time catching mechanics. Pokemon Legends: Z-A‘s Lumiose City runs the risk of feeling claustrophobic compared to Legends: Arceus‘ natural environment, but could avoid this issue by taking a page from Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom‘s book.
Both Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom rewrote the book on modern open-world design, creating two of the most interesting and content-filled sandbox worlds for players to explore. While it seemed impossible for Tears of the Kingdom to one-up Breath of the Wild‘s version of Hyrule, the game utilized vertical space to increase the scale of the game’s map without having to create an entirely new world. Pokemon Legends: Z-A faces a similar constraint with its Lumiose City setting, so it may be wise to follow Tears of the Kingdom‘s approach to a similar solution.
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Pokemon Legends: Z-A’s Lumiose City Could Follow Tears of the Kingdom’s Vertical Level Design
Pokemon Legends: Z-A’s Map May Be Deceptively Large
Lumiose City may be one of the largest metropolitan areas in the Pokemon world, but the thought of a game confined entirely to one city when the whole of the Kalos Region exists may seem like wasted potential to some. The game is already confirmed to have Wild Zones within Lumiose City, breaking up the map into different sections where both people and Pokemon can coexist, but the boundaries of a city only offer so much space for players to traverse. However, the gameplay shown for Legends: Z-A so far may point to some clever solutions for maximizing the map’s space, including taking things to new heights in the most literal sense.
Several shots in the Pokemon Day trailer for Legends: Z-A show trainers running across rooftops and engaging in battles against wild mons from these buildings. Much like how Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom utilized the Sky Islands to create a new layer of the map for players to explore, it’s possible that Pokemon Legends: Z-A will encourage players to explore the highest points of the city to find all of the hidden secrets there. Lumiose City is home to some iconic landmarks, such as Prism Tower, which would make for some exciting locations to climb.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A Has Room for its Own Version of Tears of the Kingdom’s Depths
Pokemon Legends: Z-A could also take things below ground as well, similar to how Tears of the Kingdom introduced the Depths as a mirror to Hyrule’s overworld. Although the ground beneath Lumiose City wasn’t explored much in Pokemon X and Y, there is definitely room for Legends: Z-A to go there as there are known buildings below the city, like the former Team Flare base in Lysandre Labs. The game could even draw inspiration from the real world and include the Pokemon world equivalent of the Paris Catacombs as a creepy new location for the series.
Tears of the Kingdom made perfect use of vertical level design to revamp Hyrule’s map after Breath of the Wild, and Pokemon Legends: Z-A shouldn’t be afraid to open up Lumoise City in the same way. Other recent open-world games have shown that the vertical level design of Tears of the Kingdom can make a world feel so much bigger than it initially appears, such as Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree‘s Land of Shadow. A city like Lumiose is a prime candidate for this type of open world thanks to the opportunities for vertical exploration that large buildings and skyscrapers provide, and Legends: Z-A should capitalize on this level design potential.
