Early in Pokemon Legends: Z-A, the towering and gaunt AZ makes a grim proclamation: The game’s setting of Lumiose City “bustles today with Pokemon and people, but beneath the surface lurks a terrible grief.”
Walking around Paris-inspired Lumiose, it’s evident that as the city undergoes earth-shattering changes, uncertainty and anxiety permeate the air. Amidst catching ’em all and being the very best, the thematic core of Pokemon Legends: Z-A is a question: How does a city solve its problems?
In the five years following the events of Pokemon X and Y, during which Team Flare wreaked havoc in the region, Lumiose City experienced an exodus, and property values plummeted. In response, the city initiated an urban redevelopment plan and charged the tech corporation Quasartico Inc. with its creation and implementation. This company wields extraordinary power over the city’s infrastructure and governance, essentially putting Lumiose under a tech oligarchy.
