WithPokemon Legends: Arceus, Game Freak dipped its toes into what an open worldPokemongame could be. WhilePokemon Legends: Arceuswas not a fully open-world game, it did feature wide-open zones for players to explore, laying the groundwork for what would follow withPokemon Scarlet and Violet’s massive, open-world Paldea region. But wherePokemon Legends: Arceusfelt like a breath of fresh air for the long-running franchise,Pokemon Scarlet and Violetrepresent a sizable misstep.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violetdo away with the established main seriesPokemonformula of linear progression in favor of embracing a completely open world. Following some tutorial quests at the start, players are let loose in the Paldea region to pursue the three main story quests. One quest is the typicalPokemonjourney of defeating gym leaders and challenging the Elite Four, another is about taking on super-sized Titan Pokemon, and the third has players fighting theantagonistic Team Star group.
LongtimePokemonplayers will realize that these storylines are recycled from previous games in the series, though the difference here is that players can tackle them in any order they wish. WhilePokemon Scarlet and Violethave an optimal routethat can be followed, players could technically fight the gym leaders completely out of order or outright ignore the Team Star conflict if they so desire. The lack of level scaling makes this implementation a bit clumsy, but the freedom is still appreciated.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s three quest lines may be familiar toPokemonfans from a structural standpoint, but they are definitely more engaging thanks to some heartfelt writing and likable characters.Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s writing isn’t going to win awards any time soon, but Game Freak clearly made an effort to make the plot more interesting than it has been in mostPokemongames, so fans will likely appreciate that as well.
Unfortunately, asPokemon Scarlet and Violetplayers explore the open world and complete objectives in the three quest lines, the game’s biggest issues will become readily apparent.Pokemon Scarlet and Violetsuffer from frequent performance issuesthat drag down their frame rate and cause a variety of graphical oddities. Our time with the games only saw one game-breaking bug, with most of the glitches purely visual in nature, but the games clearly suffer from a lack of polish.
The bigger problem isPokemon Scarlet and Violet’s lifeless open world. ThePaldea regionis essentially a vast wasteland that players go through simply to get to the next town to complete the next objective. There isn’t much in the way of side quests or interesting areas to explore. Game Freak filled the open world with constantly-spawning items and Pokemon and called it a day. It’s a shame because there is so much potential with an open-worldPokemongame, andPokemon Scarlet and Violetsimply fall short of realizing that potential.
Exploring the Paldea region inPokemon Scarlet and Violetcan become annoying due to the performance problems, running into absurdly tiny Pokemon, and how the terrain can sometimes be unwieldy. Early in the games,Pokemon Scarlet and Violetplayers get their box art legendaries as their mounts.Defeating the Titan Pokemongrants access to a special item that gives the mount legendary more abilities, in turn speeding up exploration and making it more bearable, but that underscores the problems with the game’s open world. In other open-world games, exploring the open world is part of the fun, but inPokemon Scarlet and Violet, the open world is simply an obstacle to getting to the more engaging content.
Some hardcorePokemonfans will be able to look past the lackluster open world and find enjoyment in completing their Pokedex, and there is genuine fun to be had there. It is still incredibly exciting to discover all the new Pokemon inPokemon Scarlet and Violet. As usual, there are some awful designs like Flamigo (it’s literally a flamingo with one letter taken out of its name) and Gholdengo (anthropomorphic string cheese wearing a belt), but there are some great new Pokemon designs here, too. Some old-school Pokemon also get new evolutions inScarlet and Violet, which is always fun to see, likePrimeape’s new Annihilape evolutionand Girafarig’s Farigiraf.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violethave a mix of bad and good Pokemon designs, but there are some that are downright lazy. Wiglett and its evolved form Wugtrio are basically re-skins of Diglett and Dugtrio. The same goes for Toedscool and Toedscruel, who are dead-ringers for Tentacool and Tentacruel. There are other examples, but needless to say, there are many who are likely to be let down whenever they come across these unimaginative rehashes.
Battling inPokemon Scarlet and Violetis the same as it ever was, but with the new Terastallizing gimmick thrown into the mix.Terastallizing inPokemon Scarlet and Violetis the Generation 9 equivalent of Mega Evolutions and Gigantamaxing. It gives one Pokemon a huge advantage in battle, though instead of giving the Pokemon a new form or having them grow in size, Terastallizing significantly boosts the power of a specific type. For example, a Fire-type Pokemon’s attacks could get a major buff after Terastallizing, but the gimmick has a more interesting function as well.
Terastallizing allows Pokemon to temporarily change their types. While Pikachu is typically an Electric-type Pokemon, one can be caught that has the Flying Tera type, which means it can temporarily become aFlying-type Pikachu. Type-changing using Terastallizing can throw a big curveball in a routine battle, and it certainly adds an interesting wrinkle to the proceedings gameplay-wise.
That being said, Terastallizing lacks the “wow” factor that Gigantamaxing and Mega Evolutions brought to the table. Instead of giving the Pokemon impressive new forms, Terastallizing coats them in a shiny armor and puts an elaborate sculpture on their head. If swapping types also shook up the Pokemon’s appearance in a more meaningful way, Terastallizing would have been a bit more interesting, but as it stands, it’s a passable gimmick that makes battles more entertaining without feeling completely necessary to the proceedings.
One tremendous new addition inPokemon Scarlet and Violetis the implementation of co-op.Pokemon Scarlet and Violetco-op allow four friends to explore the samePokemonworld together. It’s handy for collectingversion-exclusive Pokemonand competing in raids, but otherwise everyone’s progression is independent of one another. There needed to be more co-op specific activities, but what’s here is still a great deal of fun with friends.
Playing with friends, coming up with battle strategies, and catching Pokemon are the most entertaining activities inPokemon Scarlet and Violet. Unfortunately, the bland open world and technical problems weigh down what could have otherwise been another exceptional main seriesPokemongame experience. The bones are here to build something special, so hopefully futurePokemongames do the concept of an open-worldPokemongame justice.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violetare out now, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch. Game Rant tested both versions of the game for this review.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
WHERE TO PLAY
The school that you’ve enrolled in as you playPokémon ScarletandPokémon Violethosts a special independent study project. The theme of this assignment is “A Treasure Hunt.” Explore the world and seek out your very own treasure!Three stories will be woven into your adventure while traversing the sprawling Paldea region. Along Victory Road, you will go to Gyms in different locations in order to to achieve Champion Rank. On the Path of Legends, you can join Arven in search of rare ingredients. And in ★ Starfall Street ★, you’ll challenge Team Star, a group of delinquents causing trouble for the school.These stories are set in an open world, so where you go is all up to you. A world teeming with Pokémon and people to meet is waiting for you—traverse the Paldea region wherever you heart desires.
