The Pokémon franchise has often surprised me over the years — things like the introduction of real-time combat in *Legends: Z-A*and the open world of *Scarlet and Violet *were certainly a shock to my system, but I'd never been actively jump-scared by the series until today.

In the process of writing an article, I did a quick Google search to remind myself of the release date of *Legends Arceus*, and was immediately greeted by a big Poké Ball hovering at the bottom of my screen and a pang of desire in my chest to catch 'em all.