Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are the newest entries in the Pokemon series, bringing in a fascinating approach to open-world gaming. That was already introduced to us more or less via Arceus, but now Pokémon Scarlet and Violet fully embrace the open world. In addition, they do an excellent job at offering a non-linear progression, something that people have wanted for a very long time, and now it’s here.
Forging your path
As we said earlier, the non-linear progression sets the game apart. You get to visit a large region named Paldea, and while the game will guide you to various locations, for the most part, you are on your own, which is cool because it adds to the experience and delivers a very innovative set of ideas.
The way Pokémon Scarlet and Violet play is regular Pokemon stuff. You are at home, meet the rival and pick three starters. Afterward, you head onto the open world and try to catch many different monsters. There is a tutorial which we found to be very good, maybe a bit too long. After you get past that, you can fully explore the game world the way you want.
You have three paths to focus on. The Victory Road is where you take on eight gym leaders, or you can do Operation Starfall, where you deal with the current Team Rocket. With that in mind, you will also have the Path of Legends. Here you will battle colossal Pokemon. So there’s a lot of content to be had here, and it’s all very fun and innovative. That’s the thing that you will appreciate the most.
It’s nice that you can go and tackle the most challenging enemies right from the start if you want. The game doesn’t tell you the difficulty of a specific area until you reach it, so you can attempt to attack some other locations immediately. Even if this might be odd for a level-based RPG, it works pretty well here.
Find Pokemon all over the map
That’s the cool thing about the game. You can find all kinds of enemies spread all over the map. There are tons of them all over the game world. You will see them from afar, which is great because it adds tremendous value. That’s cool, and it delivers on its promise. The fact that you can attack only certain Pokemon if you want is excellent since you can level up and grow your Pokemon in a fantastic way.
Intense battles
The battles in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are exciting, although the first Pokemon in your party can automatically battle the wild Pokemon. These are interesting ideas because you can accumulate a lot of Pokemon thanks to faster battles. It becomes a lot more fun and exciting, and in the end, you will have an immersive, fun experience all the time without any hassle.
When it comes to the manual battles themselves, they are very well calculated. We found them to be very creative, and you can test out a multitude of special attacks. It adds a lot of variety to the experience while still being very exciting. After you receive or find a TM, you can craft copies at the pokemon centers. Even defeating wild Pokemon will bring you crafting materials. That makes the crafting experience more versatile in the game, and it makes the game more interesting.
You can also choose to swap the moves of the Pokemon whenever you want. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet also help shake up the breeding system. Daycares are removed, and you can set up a picnic with two compatible Pokemon, and they leave eggs in the basket. What’s remarkable is that the eggs will populate in boxes, so you never have to reorganize the party so you can make room.
You can have six Pokemon per team and three types of Pokemon, so there’s plenty of variety for you to check out here. What many people like in this game is that you can experiment and see which Pokemon is the best for you. It’s immersive and exciting, and it certainly pushes the limits in a very creative way.
No battle tower
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet removed the battle tower, but then again, the games are bringing in some interesting online features. Maybe the most remarkable thing they added is coop play since you can play with up to 3 more people and see the game world together. You can also battle trainers, catch other Pokemon, complete quests, and so on. Plus, even if you enter a raid, the other people receive a notification from joining.
Adding cooperative play is a great idea; it offers better ways for you to play while still being creative and engaging. Even from the main menu, you can access trading, battling, mystery gifts, and surprise trades. Nintendo listened to the players since they did implement a much better online system.
Drawbacks
That doesn’t mean the game is perfect. There are many challenges and issues with Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, to the point where Nintendo even admitted that the launch was not the best. The reason is simple. This game ended up being launched with many bugs, some of which were game-breaking. It’s a bad thing for Nintendo, which is known for delivering high-quality games for the most part.
Aside from that, Nintendo Switch is showing its age. The presentation is rough, and the game doesn’t look impressive, to begin with. Yes, it has a cool look to it, but it’s still a lot of fun, and you will find it to deliver an exceptional, exciting, and fun experience for you to explore.
That said, visuals are muddy, they aren’t as good as we would like, but it may in part be due to aging hardware and other factors.
There are other issues like pixelated objects in the distance, missing textures, NPCs popping in and out, and so on. Sure, we wouldn’t expect PS5-level graphics from this hardware, but it’s still one of those things that could be much better implemented. That said, Nintendo is committed to making things better, so we can expect the situation to improve.
Conclusion
If we leave the technical issues aside (since they will most likely be solved eventually), the core game is impressive, and you will find it to be a lot of fun. It’s a cleverly designed title with many great locations and a stunning open world. On top of that, the game does an outstanding job with the non-linear progression and the fact that you have battling features like crystallizing. However, with that in mind, they removed the battle tower, and the visuals could be much better. Hopefully, things will improve down the line, but even the way it is, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is still a great pick, especially if you love the Pokémon series!
Summary
The open-world gameplay of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is a brilliant direction for the future of the franchise, but this promising shift is sabotaged by the numerous ways in which Scarlet and Violet feel deeply unfinished.
Overall
72%Pros
- Open world lets you cover the typical Pokemon beats at your own pace
- Satisfying Pokemon combat mechanics
- Nice variety in non-combat activities
Cons
- Open world doesn’t feel particularly lived-in
- Frame rate occasionally chugs while you’re exploring
