Pokemon Legends: Arceus's New Pokemon Has a Disturbing Backstory

Pokemon Legends: Arceus continues a proud tradition of revealing the terrifying truth behind the Pokemon universe in the most disturbing way possible. During today's Pokemon Presents, The Pokemon Company revealed Basculegion, a new Pokemon from the Hisui region (an area that will eventually become known as the Sinnoh region.) Basculegion is an evolution of Basculin, a Water-type Pokemon first introduced in Pokemon Black and White. While Basculegion continues the Sinnoh region tradition of new evolved forms of existing Pokemon, it also has an incredibly sad backstory. It turns out that the energy used to evolve Basculin into Basculegion is formed from the spirits of its dead schoolmates.

The description for Basculegion notes that Basculin evolves when it "is possessed by the souls of other Basculin from its school that could not withstand the harsh journey upstream." Additionally, it gains power from the souls possessing it, granting it the ability to swim without tiring. However, those souls also seem to have a will of its own, which means that it will occasionally attack other Pokemon without warning. Because Basculegion is a mix of fish and ghost, it's classified as a Water/Ghost-type Pokemon.

The Hisui region seems like a wild place, as evidenced by the fact that players will actually have the ability to ride Basculegion through the water. We're not really sure that it's a good idea to ride a fish engorged and empowered by the souls of the dead, but it makes for a cool visual.

We'll note that this isn't the first time that a Pokemon has gained an evolution due to spiritual possession. Runerigus is a a living painting brought to life by absorbing the spirit of a Yamask....which coincidentally is also a Pokemon created from the soul of a dead person. We've also seen Pokemon occasionally possess either humans or other Pokemon as well, such as Sandygast controlling small children so they can pile more sand onto their body and cause them to grow in size. Needless to say, the Pokemon world is a very wild and surprisingly dangerous place.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus will be released on January 28, 2022.