Frustrating Pokemon Legends Arceus bug makes all Pokemon uncatchable

Marc Griffin
Catching Pokemon in Pokemon Legends Arceus

A hilarious fleeing glitch in Pokemon Legends Arceus caused one player to miss his chance to catch a ‘mon, who had no intention of joining his team.

Pokemon Legends Arceus gave players an adventure that most of the community has dreamt about since taking a liking to the franchise almost thirty years ago.

Plunging trainers into a reactive world teeming with the adorable and fascinating creatures we’ve come to love, Arceus gives players the ability to explore every crevice of the Hisui region. Trainers are required to sneak, crouch, swim, and climb around the region as they attempt to catch all of the Pokemon available to them.

But, with all of the ways to acquire the loveable specimens, they have more opportunities to flee captivity, and glitches in the game have seemingly amplified their escape measures. Unfortunately, one player has learned this the hard way.

Catching Pokemon in Pokémon Legends Arceus
Sneaking up on Pokemon can increase your chance of successfully capturing more ‘mons.

Pokemon Legends Arceus player stumped by fleeing glitch

Redditor KingAster35 uploaded a head-scratching yet funny video to the Pokemon Legends Arceus Reddit forum on April 11, 2022.

In the aforementioned clip, KingAster35 can be seen attempting to capture an average Spheal. Pulling up on the spherical seel a bit too fast, the rotund creature flees—nothing too crazy there. But, when the trainer runs toward another Spheal spotted near a tree, that is when things get glitchily weird.

As he approaches the ‘mon near the tree, it, too, flees but does so by rolling up the tree, falling out of the tree, and continuing to roll away. Stumped by the fleeing glitch, the Redditor stands there, almost mimicking the exact reaction that people watching the video would give.

While the fleeing glitch seems to be an isolated incident, and there hasn’t been a long-standing history with Pokemon fleeing in strange ways, it now joins the list of strange bugs that have littered the game since its release.

It’s challenging to know when or if Game Freak will release a patch to correct these glitches, but we’re hopeful it’ll happen sooner than later.