Pokémon Go’s next season of gameplay, known as the Season of Heritage, launches Dec. 1, and developer Niantic is teasing an exploration of the Pokémon franchise’s past — much like the next main game in the franchise, Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Niantic announced first details on Pokémon Go’s Season of Heritage on Tuesday, outlining the next three months of events for the mobile game.
Missing from Niantic’s announcement is any sort of explicit tie-in to Pokémon Legends: Arceus, which is coming to Nintendo Switch in January. But Pokémon Go’s resident professor, Willow, is said to have found an ancient relic: a door with three mysterious locks. With three months in the season and three Team Leaders offering monthly timed research, one might safely assume that it’ll take a while before we know the answer to what’s behind that door.
Only one new Pokémon is outright confirmed to debut in Pokémon Go this season: Druddigon will finally show up on Dec. 7, as part of the game’s Dragonspiral Descent special event. A tie-in with Pokémon Legends: Arceus could introduce more new Pokémon and Hisuian evolutions from that Switch game, including Wyrdeer, Basculegion, and Hisuian Growlithe, and maybe Kleavor and Hisuian Zorua.
Also on the horizon for Pokémon Go are a pair of unspecified Community Days for Season of Heritage in January and February, and the Pokémon Go Tour: Johto event, which closes out the new season Feb. 26-27, 2022. (Niantic held a Pokémon Go Tour: Kanto event earlier this year, a paid event which focused on the first generation of Pokémon.)
Missing from the new season is a new generation of Pokémon. Unlike the past two years, when Niantic added Unova-region Pokémon in 2019 and Kalos-region Pokémon in 2020, it doesn’t seem like we’ll get the Alola Pokédex in Pokémon Go this year. That’s not too surprising, given that only about half of the Kalos Pokédex is available in Pokémon Go so far. And no, they didn’t announce Kecleon either.
More details on Pokémon Go’s Season of Heritage and associated upcoming events are available on the game’s official website.
