Running around an NPC in Pokemon Arceus triggers a funny glitch

Players have been playing Pokémon Legends: Arceus, the latest Pokémon title that has taken a few changes in the typical Pokémon formula for it to stand out. Open world games are always buggy in one way or another but this particular bug/glitch is rather scary to look at, especially when you keep triggering it.

Over at Twitter, onion_mu tweeted what would happen if you go around the character Irida multiple times in Pear Clan’s settlement. Apparently, doing a loop expands the size of certain assets nearby, and doing it multiple times results in the assets growing into a scary state, clipping through the game world to the point that you wonder if the game will suddenly crash at any time.

Have a look at the glitch below.

my friend found a glitch where if you circle irida like this the universe explodes #PokemonLegendsArceus #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/Zcv0aUDqfx

— onion (@onion_mu) February 14, 2022

If you want to try it out for yourself, head to the Pearl Clan’s settlement. Simply go to the location shown above and start making circles around the character Irida. Other players have pointed out that the character doesn’t need to be present to trigger it, as the glitch seemed to be centered around that particular spot in the game, while some say it’s based on the game’s Level of Detail, or simply put, how far away objects are rendered. 

Other players replied in the tweet and not only confirmed the bug can be replicated in their own playthroughs but others took the opportunity to show the game’s other graphical issues, such as environments in the open world aggressively popping in and out that’s actually painful to the eyes.

Players also noticed that the glitch can happen in Jubilife Village with certain NPCs, like those near the candy stand as shown below, but this time it doesn’t require you to take laps around a character.

#PokemonLEGENDS #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/9vFgsHeAAs

— ミスターBOX@太郎丸マスター🐕 (@11a11mrbox) February 13, 2022

If you happen to trigger the glitch, it’s easy to fix as simply going near the overgrown monstrosities will reset the environment to their original size. Reloading the game also fixes it. It’s not harmful in any way from what we can gather, but it’s still entertaining to see a game do something it wasn’t supposed to do. 

If you’re interested in the latest Pokémon game, check out our Pokémon Legends: Arceus review to see if the changes in the Pokémon game formula is something you’ll appreciate. 

Pokémon Legends: Arceus launched at the end of January and is now available on the Nintendo Switch.