Outside of a handful of official in-person gatherings around the globe, 2021 marked the second year running that Pokemon Go Fest--the Pokemon mobile game's biggest annual event--was largely held virtually. Although developer Niantic has traditionally hosted Go Fests at real-world venues, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the company to pivot to a virtual format for 2020's event. Despite the impromptu shift, Pokemon Go Fest 2020 turned out pretty well, and Niantic built upon the lessons it learned last year to make Pokemon Go Fest 2021 one of the best events it's ever held for the game.

Just as last year, the festivities were spread across two days, with different activities and Pokemon available during each. Day 1 featured rotating virtual habitats that shifted hourly and changed up what kinds of Pokemon appeared in the wild. In lieu of exploring outside, this was a clever way of simulating the experience of wandering into a new environment and stumbling upon different Pokemon. Like last year, it was fun to check in throughout the day to see which monsters I would encounter.

Day 2, however, was the true highlight. In contrast to last year's event, which was "interrupted" by a Team Go Rocket takeover, day 2 of Pokemon Go Fest 2021 revolved entirely around Legendaries. Every Legendary Pokemon that has appeared in Pokemon Go to date returned to Raid Battles throughout the day, which made for a fittingly epic way to celebrate the game's fifth anniversary. For a reasonably casual player like myself, who had seldom been able to wrangle together enough people to complete a Legendary Raid prior to this year's Go Fest, the sheer prevalence of Raids was exciting, and I enjoyed spending the day raiding and filling out my Legendary collection.