Pokemon Scarlet

 Switch
User Score
3.4

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 3197 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 755 out of 3197
  2. Mixed: 290 out of 3197
  3. Negative: 2,152 out of 3197
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  1. Barny
    Nov 24, 2022
    4
    The game is unfinished: there are so many bugs that it is unbearable at times. It stutters to less than 10 fps very frequently and there is nothing that you can do about it, that's probably the biggest downside to it. That's my main problem.
  2. Eilanzer
    Nov 20, 2022
    4
    Game released full of bugs, MASSIVE slowdowns across the game, removed previous options in other games like exp-share and the list goes on and on...
    What i RLY don´t understand is...If they can´t or don´t want to upgrade to good graphics in 3d...Just do cell shade stuff or that semi 2d/3d they did in some games. People would be fine with that in an open world environment with more options    Game released full of bugs, MASSIVE slowdowns across the game, removed previous options in other games like exp-share and the list goes on and on...
    What i RLY don´t understand is...If they can´t or don´t want to upgrade to good graphics in 3d...Just do cell shade stuff or that semi 2d/3d they did in some games. People would be fine with that in an open world environment with more options for the player.
    Pokemon scarlet/violet is just a mediocre fast food version of the franchise, you can eat it...sure...But at what cost you let yourself pay to be **** raw with salt?    … Expand
  3. feleepe12
    Nov 20, 2022
    4
    Jogo muito bom, divertido, mas as falhas técnicas infelizmente prejudicam muito a imersão.
  4. Arikaen1984
    Nov 19, 2022
    4
    The game itself is fun but it runs so poorly it can really ruin it for you. Slow downs, frame drops, pop in, camera clipping through the terrain or sometimes just going somewhere else and not even seeing your character. Gamefreak should honestly feel ashamed of themselves for releasing s a pokemon game that just messes up so much.
  5. TsukasaHiiragi
    Nov 22, 2022
    4
    Pro's

    Open world Con's Extremely limited character customization Extremely limited clothing options Graphical lag and glitches are common Boring and empty areas Pokemon Scarlet/Violet is a serious step backwards from Shield/Shield and even Arceus, its graphically dated with severe framerate issues, graphical glitches are frequent too. Gameplay is a mixed bag with many    Pro's

    Open world

    Con's

    Extremely limited character customization
    Extremely limited clothing options
    Graphical lag and glitches are common
    Boring and empty areas

    Pokemon Scarlet/Violet is a serious step backwards from Shield/Shield and even Arceus, its graphically dated with severe framerate issues, graphical glitches are frequent too.

    Gameplay is a mixed bag with many areas being barren and empty, Nintendo removed a lot of character customization options, extremely limited clothing options in which, I'll call it now...they are probably monetization the clothes so expect 'clothing dlc' soon™    … Expand
  6. Lyudegul
    Nov 21, 2022
    4
    The game is just broken. To the level of Cyberpunk 2077. That game was fun as well and gas a good game is you didn't mind the developing issues, but still the company apologised, removed the game from stores, refunded the money and released the game afterwards, ince they had finished it. Game Freak and The Pokemln Company should do the same and people giving it more than a 7 just becauseThe game is just broken. To the level of Cyberpunk 2077. That game was fun as well and gas a good game is you didn't mind the developing issues, but still the company apologised, removed the game from stores, refunded the money and released the game afterwards, ince they had finished it. Game Freak and The Pokemln Company should do the same and people giving it more than a 7 just because others are hating it should have a higher quality standar. Pojemon Deserves better, fthe fans deserve bettee… Expand
  7. Anomen
    Nov 24, 2022
    4
    This is not an acceptable state for a game to be released in, even less for the highest-grossing franchise of all time. There are more bugs than there is game, the enviroments look worse than those from most 1st year student projects.

    Lately, this series has become Game Freak's experiment to see what percentage of **** they are allowed serve onto the fans' plates without harming sales    This is not an acceptable state for a game to be released in, even less for the highest-grossing franchise of all time. There are more bugs than there is game, the enviroments look worse than those from most 1st year student projects.

    Lately, this series has become Game Freak's experiment to see what percentage of **** they are allowed serve onto the fans' plates without harming sales and, considering it broke the sales récord again, the answer is 100%.    … Expand
  8. maurofmferrao
    Nov 23, 2022
    4
    I really wanted to like this game, but it's impossible!

    Game design is a massive step back from Arceus, and graphically is one of the worst games I have seen on Switch, a visual mess. Please Nintendo fix this game, it's an embarrassment...
  9. LunarD3ATH
    Dec 6, 2022
    4
    There's no such thing as a "bad" Pokemon game, but this one still isn't great. While there are a lot of really cool improvements, none more so than the open-world gameplay expanded from PLA, this game, even after the recent patch, has HORRIBLE performance.

    The pop-in, the dropped framerate, the terrible slow loading of assets when switching camera perspectives (such as when throwing a    There's no such thing as a "bad" Pokemon game, but this one still isn't great. While there are a lot of really cool improvements, none more so than the open-world gameplay expanded from PLA, this game, even after the recent patch, has HORRIBLE performance.

    The pop-in, the dropped framerate, the terrible slow loading of assets when switching camera perspectives (such as when throwing a Poke Ball at a wild Pokemon in combat) are all jarringly bad and constant.

    I'm sure things will improve somewhat over time, as they at least want to iron out most of the performance issues, but even if they actually FOR ONCE fully fixed a Pokemon game to run well instead of just being good enough (PLA still crashes the game when shiny Giratina uses its signature move, btw; every single time), it is still UNACCEPTABLE for a game to be in this state at launch. There is no reason to have pushed this game out this soon in this state instead of just taking more time to develop it.

    Beyond the general incompetence Game Freak has shown over the years, this game release is just proof of their laziness.    … Expand
  10. SomeGuy7000
    Nov 24, 2022
    4
    It kills me how close game freak keeps getting to a fantastic pokemon game. Arceus made so many excellent steps forward, the open world, quick catching, the traversal, and the story being a bit more unique. Scarlet and violet removed the quick catch completely, the traversal is worse with the removal of the flight ability, and most of the story is the same as its been for the past 20 yearsIt kills me how close game freak keeps getting to a fantastic pokemon game. Arceus made so many excellent steps forward, the open world, quick catching, the traversal, and the story being a bit more unique. Scarlet and violet removed the quick catch completely, the traversal is worse with the removal of the flight ability, and most of the story is the same as its been for the past 20 years kid get their first pokemon and a week later they are the strongest on the continent and did some insane feat. The giant pokemon fights from Arceus that had unique boss mechanics are gone they are now just normal fights with big pokemon. They have also gone back to the duel game releases where there's about 5% of unique content locked away in each version, and again you cannot get all pokemon for the dex without either owning both games or trading with other people, which was very welcomed in Arceus. Then there's the performance, my god it's so bad. I would constantly have to restart my game every 30-45 minutes because my games fps would just drop to the point it would just be a slide show, which at times would give me a headache to just look at, and the game isn't exactly pushing the graphics department even for the switch.
    It's not all terrible there have been some changes and additions that I did enjoy. The new auto-battling was good and I regularly used it. The storyline for Arven was good and gave me the motivation to finish it. The world does have more buildings and structures in the open world which is a step up from arceus, but should still be improved in the future.
    Then there's the stuff that was a good idea on paper but needed to be fleshed out more. The school system could have been really cool if they made the system deeper and centered the story more around being a student, at some point, I just completely ignored ever going to the school it never mattered. I liked the idea of the school bullying storyline for the bullies was a good idea but they just didn't get enough development time for the characters, the sections for the auto-battling got boring really fast too. The idea of the great crater was cool but i wish there was more of those ancient pokemon. The last bit of the story with Arven's mom was interesting but I wish more of the game utilized and spent more time with it.
    I can tell the devs at game freak are trying to get creative with the pokemon games but they just don't have enough time and or devs to get it done. It's still a pokemon game and if you like pokemon I'm sure you're still going to enjoy it but for me, there are just too many systems that were great in previous games that got removed coupled with the absolutely horrible performance the best I can give it is a 4. Let's just hope the devs are given the resources needed to make the next pokemon game even better.    … Expand
  11. LightX
    Dec 4, 2022
    4
    Finally, "Pokemon 06"
    Unfinished, Lags alot, especially in the water and the Bambo Forest Area, really low performance.
    Almost no creativity in pokemon designs "Pawmi" evolution line just gets bigger and stands up with little changes in design, Tandemaus is just ... more smaller rats; The "Wiglett / Toedscool" "Not BeiNG tHe sAMe pOKemON" doesn t stick, just say its a region variant    Finally, "Pokemon 06"
    Unfinished, Lags alot, especially in the water and the Bambo Forest Area, really low performance.
    Almost no creativity in pokemon designs "Pawmi" evolution line just gets bigger and stands up with little changes in design, Tandemaus is just ... more smaller rats;
    The "Wiglett / Toedscool" "Not BeiNG tHe sAMe pOKemON" doesn t stick, just say its a region variant
    "Scovillain" Great ideia but bad execution
    You just slaped a heart on Palafin when it evolves and the method of evolution is so... wierd and random, just make a trade/item evolution (Great Abilitie tho)
    "Flamigo" its literally a flamingo... (Gamefreak be like: Flamingo take the "N" and its sounds like flaMIGO, AMIGO in Spanish/Portuguese OMG im so funny and original)
    It could of been more original like "Flamingo, Flame+amigo Flameamigo" i dont know and make him fire, fighting type...
    Veluza just lookes likes a fish made of Metal
    Past Paradox Forms are way better than the Future ones in design, but still no original ideias just changing the base design of the pokemon and giving it really random/bad names and not being able to breed them because they are genderless just because there from the past/future.
    "Lechonk" looks great but just evoles into a bigger pig
    GameFreak just doing it on purpuse trolling Pokemon Fans giving "Dunsparce" a lame no effort/thought into a original design its again another evolution that he just gets bigger "wow" and has 2 forms for some reason
    "Maschiff" is again just a dog...
    Tauros has 3 paldean forms and only the fire type one looks good, it would be better if it only had 2 for each version... but ok the base Fighting type is just a recolor that just slaped the color black and call it a day
    And Squawkabilly another parrot pokemon that has 4 difrent "forms" colors only difrence is that the blue/green have "Sheer Force" as an Hidden Ability and the other 2 (white/yellow) have "Guts" as its Hidden Ability

    Rival Nemona, Annoying like Hop, really dum and oblivious and choses the weaker starter and she is the class president of the school and achived champion rank... yeah right
    Oh and the Eletric Gym Leader is just cringe

    Atleast the story and Arven are not bad    … Expand
  12. rhoxwen
    Dec 1, 2022
    4
    Firsti, the open World addition is not that and story is actually really good. But all these flaws ruins the experience:
    1- Art direction is the worst it's ever been, Pokémon and Human characters look like Garbage.
    2- The game is WAAAY too buggy. 3- The battle System is painfully SLOW. 4- The Open World feels lifeless and empty. 5- Horrible Performance for game that was developed by    Firsti, the open World addition is not that and story is actually really good. But all these flaws ruins the experience:
    1- Art direction is the worst it's ever been, Pokémon and Human characters look like Garbage.
    2- The game is WAAAY too buggy.
    3- The battle System is painfully SLOW.
    4- The Open World feels lifeless and empty.
    5- Horrible Performance for game that was developed by company with a multibillion brand behind it... and running on a console that is capable of so much more.

    not worth of your time and money, Pokémon fans deserve better Collapse    … Expand
  13. aSkorm
    Nov 21, 2022
    4
    No matter how well designed the game might be, it's almost impossible to enjoy.
    I don't think I've ever seen a Switch game running so poorly.
    Releasing a game that runs at less than 60 fps in 2023 is already ridiculous but selling one that can't even reach 30 at any point and frequently dips under 20 is beyond unacceptable. This doesn’t even look good, mind you. Sword and Shield looks    No matter how well designed the game might be, it's almost impossible to enjoy.
    I don't think I've ever seen a Switch game running so poorly.
    Releasing a game that runs at less than 60 fps in 2023 is already ridiculous but selling one that can't even reach 30 at any point and frequently dips under 20 is beyond unacceptable.

    This doesn’t even look good, mind you. Sword and Shield looks much better.
    Some of the textures in this game look worse than stuff I’ve seen two decades ago.

    This needed at least one more year of development.

    A lot of the cool stuff introduced in Arceus is also missing.
    Some of the Pokemon magic is still there but, overall, it’s just a big step back on all fronts.    … Expand
  14. Cavekrieger
    Nov 23, 2022
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It’s the worst Pokémon in a long time.
    The graphics are ok, but there are some bugs. This games shows that Pokémon doesn’t need an open world. It said it gives you the freedom to do what ever you’d like but that’s not true. I skipped the grass type gym because I wanted a more difficult grass type gym so I went back after 7 badges and the gym leader didn’t scale. I mean what’s the need for an open world then if you can’t even choose which Leader you fight first. And the trainer in this game are a joke. 1 Pokémon each and maximum of 3, from what I’ve seen, also not scaled. I don’t want to talk to the trainer in order to fight them that’s not how it works. The games is way to easy and the gym battles are not exciting because they don’t use potions! Give them potions!
    The titans were all dead in one hit so they weren’t even fun.
    Please get back to your roots with linear games and more difficult trainer, or at least make the effort to scale them. I mean you can collect 18 Badges, just raise the level after each Badge. You can leave the wild Pokémon as they are, but preferably not visible.
    Sad to say, but I do not recommend this game.    … Expand
  15. Maddozman555
    Jun 19, 2023
    4
    Corto de contenido, feo visualmente, con una historia aburrida y sosa, con menos de la mitad del pokédex está es uno de los peores juegos de la serie, lo único bueno de esta entrega es la nueva mecánica que le da un giro fresco al competitivo, pero no es suficiente para hacer brillar al juego
  16. Darkfruit64
    Nov 20, 2022
    4
    Do not understand how people are rating this a 10, despite listing it's many flaws in their reviews? Underneath the various graphical, lighting, clipping issues, poor unstable fps, lag, stutters, and animation flaws there's a lot of fun to be had. But all of the aforementioned issues really dampen the experience, this clearly is an unfinished product which unfortunately we've come toDo not understand how people are rating this a 10, despite listing it's many flaws in their reviews? Underneath the various graphical, lighting, clipping issues, poor unstable fps, lag, stutters, and animation flaws there's a lot of fun to be had. But all of the aforementioned issues really dampen the experience, this clearly is an unfinished product which unfortunately we've come to expect by now.

    Clearly there was a lot more creative vision here than we're used to seeing, but was executed horrifically. But of course since everyone eats these games up every time, they will likely never improve. Truly a shame, as with a little more development time, fine tuning and optimisation these could have been phenomenal entries.    … Expand
  17. Sir_Ligma
    Nov 20, 2022
    4
    So let me start by saying that gameplay wise and what they are trying to do is brilliant. It's the most fun I've had playing a Pokémon game for a long time. However.... Hooly Dooly the performance is shocking. Textures a terrible, frames drop the second you go too fast, everything looks so janky. This game could have been a 10 if they had just delayed for a bit and put some polish on it,So let me start by saying that gameplay wise and what they are trying to do is brilliant. It's the most fun I've had playing a Pokémon game for a long time. However.... Hooly Dooly the performance is shocking. Textures a terrible, frames drop the second you go too fast, everything looks so janky. This game could have been a 10 if they had just delayed for a bit and put some polish on it, but nope, GF once again need to milk the money cow to get their annual cash injection, really is a shame as it's so close to being perfect… Expand
  18. masterrcb
    Nov 24, 2022
    4
    Core gameplay is fun. but performance and visuals is not. For a Multi million franchise, GameFreak as developer is LAZY.
  19. andrerubio
    Nov 25, 2022
    4
    Review em PT-BR

    Como fã de longa data da série, posso dizer que me diverti por algumas horas, mas seguramente posso dizer que não recomendo. Esse foi seguramente o pior jogo da série principal de pokémon que já joguei. Falar das questões técnicas é chover no molhado, todo mundo está falando disso, e não é por menos, o jogo está desastroso tecnicamente, toda hora algum bug ou glitch    Review em PT-BR

    Como fã de longa data da série, posso dizer que me diverti por algumas horas, mas seguramente posso dizer que não recomendo. Esse foi seguramente o pior jogo da série principal de pokémon que já joguei.

    Falar das questões técnicas é chover no molhado, todo mundo está falando disso, e não é por menos, o jogo está desastroso tecnicamente, toda hora algum bug ou glitch te tira da imersão, e quando algo não está bugado, só está feio mesmo, com texturas em baixíssima qualidade, tudo isso prejudica a experiência.

    Sobre o mundo aberto, é apenas uma ilusão, o level dos pokemons selvagens e ginásios não escala junto com o seu, e existem locais que você precisa de determinadas habilidades para alcançar, ou seja, existe uma ordem recomendada de caminhos a seguir, mesmo que escondida. Eu até tentei chegar em um lugar antes da hora, e fui barrado por uma mensagem "você não pode vir aqui agora". Todo o restante é repetitivo, principalmente as batalhas contra os líderes da equipe Star, todas iguais.

    A mecânica nova é interessante, mas não acho mais legal que as anteriores, e visualmente ela é bem estranha.

    Os desafios pré ginásio são fracos, sem emoção e não são divertidos (te fazem empurrar uma azeitona gigante como se fosse algo extraordinário), senti falta daqueles ginásios temáticos, só pela arquitetura e decoração você já sabia o tipo de pokémon que seu líder usaria, senti falta dos puzzles ou desafio de outros treinadores fortes até chegar no líder.

    A liga também não tem emoção nenhuma, você praticamente conhece todos os integrantes dela antes de chegar nela, não tem uma surpresa ao enfrentar o campeão ou coisa do tipo. Não existem mais salas pra cada um da elite, você os enfrenta numa sala branca sem graça, e na minha gameplay a música travou, no clímax do jogo eu não pude ouvir a trilha sonora (muito boa por sinal), e vi que isso aconteceu com muita gente. E por decisão de algum infeliz, não é possível desafiar a liga novamente, sério, quem teve essa decisão? Sempre foi possível, por que dessa vez foi melhor remover essa feature?
    E pra piorar, depois que você vence a liga não tem mais um Hall of Fame mostrando os pokémons que você usou.

    Não existe mais uma caverna ou caminho cheio de pokémons fortes até você chegar na liga, você simplesmente entra no prédio e pronto.

    O sistema de breed está uma porcaria, quem curte ficar fazendo times perfeitos pro competitivo vai se frustrar muito.

    O ponto positivo fica por conta da trilha sonora e na ideia de alguns novos pokemons, que ficaram bem legais.

    De resto, continuo recomendo o Sword and Shield como melhor pokémon do switch, com o ambiente mais acessível pra montar um time competitivo e com visuais infinitamente melhor do que esses do Scarlet, se for pra fazer um mundo aberto assim, prefiro os lineares do Sword.    … Expand
  20. neonoafs
    Dec 4, 2022
    4
    Problemas com texturas, quase não se vê pokémons selvagens, quedas de fps, animações horríveis... E muito mais.
  21. B387pp1
    Nov 22, 2022
    4
    A game so bad nintendo had to issue refunds. Gamefreak keeps getting lazier with each title and to be honest I can’t blame them. Releasing titles every few months is probably exhausting for the programmers there. If they had more time im sure the glitches and bugs could be ironed out to be every 5 minutes instead of every 5 seconds. There are PS3 games that look better than this
  22. icep
    Dec 20, 2022
    4
    The game is very buggy, laggy, glitchy, ugly, new art style is a stepdown from the old one Imo. Battles and menus are slow. Traversing some towns are painful. Pokémon look so small in the overworld and pop in and out. NPCs pop and flicker in the overworld. Terrain doesn't make any sense. Animations are somehow WORSE than sword/shield. Terastalising gimmick is just goofy and doesn't fit inThe game is very buggy, laggy, glitchy, ugly, new art style is a stepdown from the old one Imo. Battles and menus are slow. Traversing some towns are painful. Pokémon look so small in the overworld and pop in and out. NPCs pop and flicker in the overworld. Terrain doesn't make any sense. Animations are somehow WORSE than sword/shield. Terastalising gimmick is just goofy and doesn't fit in the game. Postgame is minimal. Multiplayer is a mess. The only positives I can think of was there were alot of cool new Pokémon and the music was pretty good. Honestly I can not believe I am saying this, but I even enjoyed Sword/Shield more than this with the dlc. I honestly don't think updates/dlc can even fix the game. Its just so awful to play. I feel the life force of my switch draining whenever I play the game for more than an hour. Compared to other Pokémon games, even on the same system, it feels like a 5 dollar steam game in beta. Compared to other JRPGs on the switch that have launched recently, (XBC3, CCRFF7). The game looks cheap rubbish, just to make a quick buck.… Expand
  23. Bent3ndo
    Nov 25, 2022
    4
    Pokemon titles are a marmite topic for many people when it comes to more recent releases. Half the fanbase forgive the series' technical and visual flaws and appreciate the premise of catching them all (not that you can "catch em all" any more within standalone titles). The other half, and the half of the camp I sit within, expect the largest franchise in the world to treat its IP withPokemon titles are a marmite topic for many people when it comes to more recent releases. Half the fanbase forgive the series' technical and visual flaws and appreciate the premise of catching them all (not that you can "catch em all" any more within standalone titles). The other half, and the half of the camp I sit within, expect the largest franchise in the world to treat its IP with respect, and more importantly treat its fanbase with respect. Scarlet and Violet are no exception to this opinion. If anything, the issues presented this time around are WORSE than what people criticised with Arceus' arrival at the start of the same year.

    Game Freak are not only too small a team to be expected to deliver the content asked of them, but their release schedule is far too crammed to deliver the quality of games expected of what should be the slickest, most polished looking gaming franchise there is out there.

    The Pokemon Company need to pull their act together and provide Game Freak with the budget, team and time that these modern Pokemon titles need. Otherwise people can expect less and less quality from these bigger and bigger titles as time goes on.

    Pokemon deserves better, we deserve better.    … Expand
  24. Davidq
    Nov 20, 2022
    4
    The game in content looks like a classic Pokémon game, despite the premise of the Overworld, and based on this premise the game looks worse than the previous ones. Some examples: ● Interaction with and between NPCs is reduced to almost 0, as the player's actions have no effect on their before and after. ● Almost non-existent side quests.

    Compared to the classic series, it has many new    The game in content looks like a classic Pokémon game, despite the premise of the Overworld, and based on this premise the game looks worse than the previous ones. Some examples: ● Interaction with and between NPCs is reduced to almost 0, as the player's actions have no effect on their before and after. ● Almost non-existent side quests.

    Compared to the classic series, it has many new features, some of which are really pleasant, for example, the pokemon-environment iteration is done quite well. The main problem of the game is the instability of the software, with numerous bugs, and the very poor graphic quality which ruins its immersiveness. I will not dwell on these problems both because they are many and because they are easily found by anyone. The real question is: why make such a game when you don't have the time, means and skills to do it? Something simpler is done, without trying to overturn everything, even if times go by quickly and the fans want something more. Obviously, any product that you go to make must be sold at a fair price and this time it didn't go like this, a real shame ....    … Expand
  25. FlexosuarousRex
    Nov 19, 2022
    4
    I love pokemon and, sadly, hate these games. There are some good Ideas here: auto battling, world sharing, multiple paths, a companion pokemon that is upgraded at certain benchmarks that open up different traversal options, and auto healing all come to mind as positive changes.

    However, the game is just not good for several reasons: the game is completely infested with immersion    I love pokemon and, sadly, hate these games. There are some good Ideas here: auto battling, world sharing, multiple paths, a companion pokemon that is upgraded at certain benchmarks that open up different traversal options, and auto healing all come to mind as positive changes.

    However, the game is just not good for several reasons: the game is completely infested with immersion breaking bugs, there isn't a point to sharing the world as there is very little multiplayer content to chew on other than raids, the game feels directionless and exploration just amounts to catching different pokemon without every truly feeling like you are discovering anything, team star... I don't understand what they are or what their goals are or why they are even a threat but all of the characters seem to not like them, the mounted controls feel very shallow and jank, absolutely horrid pop in, many assests seem to be stop animated even at close range, the gym challenges are more annoying than anything, the majority of npcs have horrible designs, trainer battles can be completely skipped, many of the new pokemon designs are either wack or lazy, and even though this is a personal issue I can't get over the hats when the pokemon terrastilize it looks so dumb... I could go on.

    TLDR: There are some good ideas but I cannot recomend this game to anyone based on its many flaws both from a design and technical standpoint.    … Expand
  26. TheRavolta
    Nov 19, 2022
    4
    This game sadly is not good at all. I like the direction the game goes to, but everything good has at least 3 bad things overshadowing it. It is also clear that Game Freak went for the open world style not because they had a good vision they wanted to execute, but because they wanted to squeeze money out of that very successful trend, especially looking to BoTW, without even realising howThis game sadly is not good at all. I like the direction the game goes to, but everything good has at least 3 bad things overshadowing it. It is also clear that Game Freak went for the open world style not because they had a good vision they wanted to execute, but because they wanted to squeeze money out of that very successful trend, especially looking to BoTW, without even realising how far they missed the mark.

    The gameplay (when it is not just a buggy mess) is pretty good. Just usual Pokemon stuff you would expect.

    The art direction is pretty interesting, and most things look a lot better designed.

    The technology of this game doesn't even compare to N64 titles. Constant graphic glitches (I am not kidding, you will constantly see some kind of graphic error). The game is in a comparable technical state as Cyberpunk 2077. NPC's, your player character, and the world around you just casually glitch out at any given time. The FPS are bad, not even cracking 30 FPS. And that is just sad if you look at what the Switch usually is capable of if you give your games enough time, which Game Freak clearly did not do.

    Graphics are as bad as a NGC game today. It is not doing the Nintendo Switch any justice, and could have been easily improved to at least 3DS or Wii U standards. If Game Freak really would try, they could easily do it, but not in 3 years.

    Animations are as robotic as they have been since X/Y. The only difference is: X/Y is 9 years old, and was the first fully 3D pokemon title. There are some exceptions though: The main characters have some good looking animations in certain cutscenes, that even feel natural.

    The sound is pretty mediocre, as it has been since OR/AS. It is not bad, but not outstanding as well.

    Overall it breaks my heart that Game Freak just does not care about the customers. They throw half backed lackluster games on the market, because the executives force them to. And I am sick of fans defending them like their own family. People would often say: "The Pokemon Company forces Game Freak to rush their games", or the classic "What else can you do on the Switch? It has not enough power", which is just mind boggling to me. Game Freak is part owner of the Pokemon Company, so clearly TPC doesn't dictate Game Freak to do anything. And for the power of the Nintendo Switch: look at BoTW, look at Xenoblade Chronicles, look at Mario Kart 8 (which originally has been released on the Wii U), and you are gonna tell me the Switch does not have enough power?! Game Freak just needs to do it right, give the games more time, but they clearly don't feel the need to do that even with nearly unlimited money, because the hardcore fan boys and girls buy it anyway and defend them with their own lives. I hope Game Freak gets a well needed wake-up call.    … Expand
  27. Excamur
    Nov 20, 2022
    4
    I don't understand why they removed the good decisions of Leyends: Arceus. I WANT TO CATCH POKEMONS WITHOUT ENTER IN COMBAT. I WANT TO THROW THE POKEBALLS. Please Game Freak, do it. The transitions and this way of play is NOT good.

    The design is also HORRIBLE, I want back the anime style from Arceus and the other Pokemon games. This realistic style just doesn't fit Pokemon. And, the    I don't understand why they removed the good decisions of Leyends: Arceus. I WANT TO CATCH POKEMONS WITHOUT ENTER IN COMBAT. I WANT TO THROW THE POKEBALLS. Please Game Freak, do it. The transitions and this way of play is NOT good.

    The design is also HORRIBLE, I want back the anime style from Arceus and the other Pokemon games. This realistic style just doesn't fit Pokemon.

    And, the last thing, but not less important, the game is broken, the FPS are too bad, there are too many bugs, this is disgusting.

    I think that the game is rushed, this needs at least 6 months more of developing. I really hope that in the next game they use the good mechanics present in Arceus, the Anime style and a good performance.    … Expand
  28. Umbra30
    Dec 27, 2022
    4
    PROS:
    - Open world pokemon game
    - Wild exploration improvement - Accessibility improvement - Good soundtrack CONS: - Ugly graphics, Pokemon X/Y (2013) looks better - They changed the iconic humans art style from the series (why? It's like removing Akira Toriyama's art style from Dragon Quest saga) - NPCs design are ugly with few exceptions - Bad performance, some crashes, bugs    PROS:
    - Open world pokemon game
    - Wild exploration improvement
    - Accessibility improvement
    - Good soundtrack

    CONS:
    - Ugly graphics, Pokemon X/Y (2013) looks better
    - They changed the iconic humans art style from the series (why? It's like removing Akira Toriyama's art style from Dragon Quest saga)
    - NPCs design are ugly with few exceptions
    - Bad performance, some crashes, bugs and frame drops
    - The new pokémon design is ridiculous and they don't look like monsters anymore (a half motorcycle lizard? who had this idea? a 5 years old kid?)
    - The new cities are forgettable, they have no content, the houses no longer have interior, there is no reason to explore
    - Gym challenges are pathetic
    - Visual issues like texture pop in or NPCs and distant objects running at 5 FPS

    CONCLUSION:
    - Rushed game with good and bad decisions, sacrifices quality in favor of innovation    … Expand
  29. GlennDH
    Dec 8, 2022
    4
    Lovely how 'most helpful' reviews aren't helpful in the least, glorifying the game to something it's not.
    I guess it's an average pokemon game AT BEST. The bugs are awful though, sometimes straight up breaking the game and it shouldn't have come out in this state.
  30. Captaintails
    Nov 28, 2022
    4
    this game is an insult, it shows how fatal the development of this game was. it is glitched, and its pokedex is not the best, instead of buying this game with 60 dollars, better understand god of war ragnarok, this game is a jewel. This game is trash but more trash are the pokefans who defend this game
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Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2022

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
72

Mixed or average reviews - based on 118 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 56 out of 118
  2. Mixed: 60 out of 118
  3. Negative: 2 out of 118
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 24, 2024
    60
    Not a bad game. It still has its solid core, new Pokémon, and what's worked for years continues to work. The open world is a questionable addition in my opinion. [Issue#324]
  2. VideoGamer
    Dec 14, 2023
    70
    Pokemon Scarlet and Violet take the long-awaited step into a fully open-world, but one poorly implemented and marred by frustration. A compelling story and characters are a saving grace in what is ultimately a fun game, but Pokemon's attempts at modernising continue to fall disappointingly short.
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  3. Het Nieuwsblad
    Jul 31, 2023
    20
    A square wheel spins more smoothly and fluidly than this game. If three Pokémon or characters come into view at once, the whole game creaks and falters. Edge-off unplayable. And that's a shame. Because the addition of an open world is "on paper" a puffy idea to refresh the franchise. No more linear walking that takes you past gyms and ever stronger and different Pokémon, gotta catch 'em all. You can go wherever you want. With some tactics, you can take on some very tough challenges with Pokémon that aren't nearly strong enough. Fun! Except this game just wasn't ready. It's shameless that Nintendo and Game Freak are still throwing it on the market. Nevertheless: 10 million games sold in just three days.
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