Pokémon Legends Arceus, Diamond & Pearl Remakes Get Release Dates

The newest games in the Pokémon franchise have been given release dates, and it’s looking to be a busy few months for fans. Announced earlier today, The Pokémon Company confirmed that Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl will be released later this year on November 19, whereas the radically different Pokémon Legends: Arceus will come out on January 28, 2022.

First revealed back in February, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl are remakes of the 2006 Nintendo DS games. They brought players to the Sinnoh region and introduced the legendary Pokémon Dialga and Palkia. The new versions of those titles are being developed by ILCA, Inc. with Game Freak’s Junichi Masuda helping oversee the project as a co-director. They intend to remake the original games as faithfully as possible, something we can see in the layouts of environments, the camera angle, and how the art style of the game tries to bring the original character designs into the modern age.

Also revealed alongside the remakes was Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Set in the Sinnoh region long before Diamond and Pearl, the game looks to be taking the franchise in an exciting, new direction. Said to be “fusing action with RPG elements,” the game allows players to explore an open-world where Pokémon roam freely as they put together the first ever Pokédex. We’ve only seen a short trailer that gave us a brief look at gameplay, but what’s been shown so far appears to be what every fan of the franchise has wanted since it first started 25 years ago.

It’ll be some time before either of the games are out for us to play ourselves, but E3 and Summer Game Fest are right around the corner. Fingers crossed that we end up getting another look at both games during these events.