One of the best quality of life updates game developer Niantic added to the popular AR mobile game, Pokémon GO, is the idea of seasons. Just like in the real world, the game’s seasons happen in three-month chunks and consist of a gameplay experience that builds off a specific theme. One of the recent seasons was the “Season of Alola,” which saw the introduction of Pokémon from the Alola region from the Pokémon Sun/Moon games.
Just as this year’s GO Fest events were winding down, Niantic announced on social media that the next season, which begins on September 1, will be the Season of Light and feature some cosmic-themed Pokémon.
Following that announcement was a series of teaser tweets hinting at a few events players could expect to see. And while not everyone was receptive to this style of unveiling — truth be told, Pokémon GO players aren’t very receptive to many things — Niantic finally dropped the curtain and revealed a handful of what’s to come in the next couple of weeks.
For starters, shortly after the Season of Light begins, players will get a Limited Research event featuring the psychic squid, Inkay. The event, which runs from 11am to 2pm local time on Saturday, September 3, will be the precursor to the longer Psychic Spectacular event, which will start on September 6. Nothing has been revealed about the Psychic Spectacular event. However, the Limited Research event will allow players to catch Inkay by completing research tasks found on Pokéstops. It will also bring shiny Inkay into the game for the first time. This is sure to entice players into participating.
The weekend of September 10 and 11 will bring two events to Pokémon GO. Saturday, September 10, from 6 to 9pm local time, will bring the Clefairy Commotion event. Niantic hasn’t released any info about this event yet. Based on the late hour, it will likely just feature Clefairy spawning more often in the wild.
Sunday, September 11, brings a fan-favorite mythical back to the game in a 3-hour raid event. Deoxys, the DNA Pokémon, will appear in raids from 2 to 5pm local time. Each of the four forms of Deoxys will be appearing. For the first time, all four shiny forms will be available.
Among these events are the standard Pokémon GO-season-switchover fare, such as the rotation of wild spawns across different habitats, different Pokémon appearing in eggs, and new stickers and avatar items.
New Mega and Legendary Pokémon will be appearing in raids as well. As far as Legendaries go, Deoxys will be in 5-star raids until September 16, and Yveltal will return on September 27. Niantic has not revealed which Legendary will be appearing in 5-star raids between that time, but based on the Niantic’s teasers, fans are speculating (hoping) that it will be Necrozma.
Concerning the Mega Pokémon, Ampharos will stay until September 6, to be replaced by an as-yet-unrevealed Pokémon. However, Niantic’s teasers hint at Mega Alakazam coming to raids, which has fans excited.
But one of the most exciting aspects of this season is the introduction of Cosmog into the game. Cosmog, a Generation 7 Pokémon, is a unique Legendary Pokémon in that it evolves into a more powerful Pokémon. Cosmog is a cute little nebula but will later become one of the Pokémon Sun/Moon box Pokémon, Solgaleo, or Lunala. How Cosmog will be obtainable in Pokémon GO is yet unknown, but its image was hinted at in Niantic’s initial teaser image (which you can see at the top of this post).
While some of this information has been confirmed, some are also speculation. So wait for the official announcement from Niantic before getting too excited. There’s also plenty more coming to the game, which you can read about on the Pokémon GO website.
Personally, I’m very much looking forward to the Inkay research event as well as who the Community Day Pokémon will be. Overall, I think the Season of Light is going to be great, and I can’t wait for Spooky Season to start.
