The quiet, starlit sky belies innumerable fiery battles ahead. Suddenly in the night, your humble pocket monster is enhanced to a gigantic size and easily rolls over a weaker Pokémon, the puffy, purple Gengar. To celebrate the victory, your friend makes an unusual croissant curry.

In Pokémon Legends: Z-A, the goal is not just “Gotta catch ’em all”. There’s a mystery here. Within Lumiose City, an homage to Paris, I discovered an alluring setting for a sci-fi conundrum involving angry, wild Pokémon who randomly attack.

Before the evening’s strategic battles commence, realistic human trainers stroll tree-lined Champs-Élysées-style avenues. The days are easy as I watch orange and yellow Magikarp splash and leap from water that ripples and flows clearly. I can see the rocky bottom. That’s important because well-rendered environs weren’t always a priority in Pokémon games. Rather, it’s complex gameplay and new Pokémon species that have brought fans back again and again for almost 30 years.

Here, you’re a young, wide-eyed tourist who arrives by train, only to be recruited immediately by the friendly Taunie, a knowledgeable, ponytailed townie who acts as your optimistic guide and occasional battle companion. (It’s she who makes the curry, which is nicely plated.) There’s much to do. Beyond checking out the views from bridges and parks, I helped a researcher find new species and took jobs from a detective to solve minor side-quest enigmas. Sometimes, I just sat at an inviting cafe and observed the town’s varied citizens and manicured flora.

Then, it was back to the fight. The process of Mega Evolution creates Brobdingnagian Pokémon. You can encounter the giant opponents raging in gated parks, basketball courts and roof decks. I scaled the tall buildings and battled on penthouse terraces, which gives a taste of Assassin’s Creed’s rooftop gymnastics. Once you’re triumphant, you can leap down to the ground because your advanced phone has a Roto-Glide function. It acts somewhat like an invisible parachute.

Mega Evolution was introduced in the 2013 game Pokémon X and Y, which featured rudimentary video game animations. The transformation in Pokémon Legends: Z-A is dramatic and often fun to watch — swirls of roiling, colourful tornadoes with hypnotic, flashing lights and crackling boulders. Despite the pyrotechnics, later battles become an adrenaline-inducing game of strategically choosing the right potions, moves and dodges. They can take more than 15 minutes to complete.

Still, there’s reason for those who complain about the series’ own evolution to be perturbed. There’s no audio dialogue between human characters, only readable text. (The Pokémon you meet do greet you with ardent growls, whines or squeaks.) When Taunie offers you a power-up, an animation shows the handoff but the gift itself is invisible. This kind of transaction happens again and again and took me out of the experience. The game also uses too many controller buttons, and memorising what each one does is fraught. The experience needs to be streamlined.

Yet I completely enjoyed the diversity within Lumiose City, of both Pokémon and humans. One scientist in a trench coat tells you, “There are even Pokémon with unknown genders.” An impeccably dressed trainer reveals that his grandmother threw away all of his equipment only because he wanted to be a fashion designer. Finally, a bald man laments, “Sometimes being with others makes you feel more alone.”

In an industry that believes indulging in online multiplayer activity fosters real-life community and lasting bonds, this comment is revolutionary. Sometimes you do want to be alone — and just play Pokémon.

Harold Goldberg/NYTNS