User Score
3.4

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 3197 Ratings

User score distribution:
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  1. Nov 23, 2022
    5
    There is a good game here, but Pokémon Scarlet and Violet make it actively difficult to enjoy it with the abysmal performance. The actual world is a blast to explore, or would be if I wasn't able to see through the ground and hit more than 15 frames per second. There are a good amount great new Pokémon designs this generation, but there are quite a lot of bad ones as well. If you're goingThere is a good game here, but Pokémon Scarlet and Violet make it actively difficult to enjoy it with the abysmal performance. The actual world is a blast to explore, or would be if I wasn't able to see through the ground and hit more than 15 frames per second. There are a good amount great new Pokémon designs this generation, but there are quite a lot of bad ones as well. If you're going in completely blind to the game I can easily see you being disappointed in your starter Pokémon's final evolution. The character animations of the humans are awful, lifeless husks being puppeteered with view frames. The actual Pokémon's attack animations are somewhat improved. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet should have been delayed an extra year in order to fix the performance issues and the character animations. I can't recommend Scarlet and Violent until there is improvement to the performance so it becomes at least playable. Expand
  2. Nov 20, 2022
    5
    I found the overall game fun to play but the performance issues are to bad to really justify the release of this game. If it had more time and care this would be one of the best games on switch. unfortunatly Gamefreak is the developer for this game.
    Hoping for a patch in the future untill then i probably won't play.
  3. Nov 24, 2022
    5
    Pokemon Legends Arceus even with its problems is a masterpiece close to that, deserving reviews between 7 to 8. Scarlet & Violet have constant stutters, fps 15~20, bad rendering distance, poorly applied textures, empty world AND FULL OF BUGS! A $60 game for those competitive crybabies where quality doesn't matter. Where do fanboys think something like this deserves an 80~100? XenobladePokemon Legends Arceus even with its problems is a masterpiece close to that, deserving reviews between 7 to 8. Scarlet & Violet have constant stutters, fps 15~20, bad rendering distance, poorly applied textures, empty world AND FULL OF BUGS! A $60 game for those competitive crybabies where quality doesn't matter. Where do fanboys think something like this deserves an 80~100? Xenoblade Chronicles 3 destroys this game. Expand
  4. Nov 19, 2022
    5
    I started to play this game but I cannot enjoy it. The tutorial is a slog, the battle system is the same as previous titles even though Pokemon Legends: Arceus improved upon the formula and the performance is ridiculously unoptimized for an 2022 title. Cutscenes somehow seem even more so as if their a stop motion movie than previous games.

    The story is also something that feels as if it
    I started to play this game but I cannot enjoy it. The tutorial is a slog, the battle system is the same as previous titles even though Pokemon Legends: Arceus improved upon the formula and the performance is ridiculously unoptimized for an 2022 title. Cutscenes somehow seem even more so as if their a stop motion movie than previous games.

    The story is also something that feels as if it has been told a thousand times with you going on your regular Pokemon journey to become a champion. Open world Pokemon was something I dreamt of for years, but this is not how you do it.
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  5. Nov 21, 2022
    5
    Its an insult to indie developers who struggle to smash in the videogames world, while The Pokémon Company is rich and make this. You cant even explore to feel the fantasy of this world because the horrible and negected graphics kills your identification. Pokémon COULD be one of the best IPs ever existed, if only they take 3 years to make a deep game.
  6. Dec 19, 2022
    5
    loving the open world and new mechanics.
    No order of gym is nice but pointless if the gyms have a set level, so there is just a hidden order.

    BUT: Pokemon as a franchise really shouldnt deliver such an graphic disaster.
    The money is there, just no motivation to finish the product i guess?

    And when your game releases, its messed up the pokemon home support only launches 5 months later....
  7. Jan 4, 2023
    6
    Interesting concept of freedom, first time in a main Pokemon game. As a veteran player used to classic linear Pokémon games, one may feel a little lost at the biggining but you’ll eventualy catch up and know where to go and keep up with the level required for each gym fight or Star base.

    A very fun and enjoyable game, however, the technical issues ruin the experience. I know the Switch is
    Interesting concept of freedom, first time in a main Pokemon game. As a veteran player used to classic linear Pokémon games, one may feel a little lost at the biggining but you’ll eventualy catch up and know where to go and keep up with the level required for each gym fight or Star base.

    A very fun and enjoyable game, however, the technical issues ruin the experience. I know the Switch is already outdated (2017 cheap hardware and we’re in 2023) but they should’ve pulled off a better job given the size and the money of The Pokemon Company. Graphics are so poor, framerate is annoyng, droping down to 15 fps or even worse.
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  8. Dec 11, 2022
    7
    It's not a bad game... Honest!

    I really wish I could score this game higher and I know a lot of people feel the same way. There were a lot of expectations and nearly all of them fell short and feel like a missed opportunity. First of all let's hit hard, performance. Oh boy did they really mess up here. I've seen more advance games run better on weaker platforms so there no excuse. Zelda
    It's not a bad game... Honest!

    I really wish I could score this game higher and I know a lot of people feel the same way. There were a lot of expectations and nearly all of them fell short and feel like a missed opportunity.

    First of all let's hit hard, performance. Oh boy did they really mess up here. I've seen more advance games run better on weaker platforms so there no excuse. Zelda BotW on the WiiU runs better than this and I played that from start to finish (+DLC) so I know. Now don't get me wrong, in the main wild areas there is little faults in performance but then you get so many glitches it still takes away from the experience. I've fallen through the floor more than once and others have had worse. It's not all bad and definitely patchable but GameFreak need to step up.

    Open world is a lie. I don't mean this to seem harsh but they could have done this better in so many ways. 3 Stories to complete but, in order to actually enjoy all the stories and not be caught short in level, or be overpowered, you have to follow the route the lead you on. This game could have done with a level scaling system based on badges earned. Want to do the Titan storyline first, ok but the gym leaders and Team Star will gain more levels on their teams for each badge you earn. Want to become Champion, cool, however the titans grow in difficulty. Each badge should be attainable at whatever point in the game but the next one should be a challenge. I've felt the sting of doing things out of order and I was overlevelled for gyms and underlevelled for titans. Level scaling can be done, I've seen it in other games too. And as for Nemona... Please, for the love of everything, let me set up my team first before you pounce on me again.

    The Story progression. I have no problems here. Lots of heartfelt stories, lots of comedic segments and even a few cliché moments but, all in all, a good time. I was really impressed with the Titan storyline and the champion path was a good time too. Even the team star story has more depth than I expected based on previous titles. The game doesn't fall too hard. You can't cater to all tastes but they really tried to do something for everyone.

    Battling and Grinding. This game handled this fine. You have to grind a little bit with enough trainers in the wild areas it was never too much and there were many new Pokémon to collect. Experience share should definitely have been optional but that point is well shared before now. Some Pokémon didn't give you a chance to get away and you were stuck in a battle loop with the aggressive ones. A moment of invulnerability to run away if you didn't want to fight would have helped but, overall, not really an issue.

    Overall - this game is not bad. Is it great, no! It has some glaring issues and was released before it was ready with some amazing oversights that could have improved people's overall enjoyment. Is it a bad game, no! With a great storyline and in depth characters this game shines when it gets there and you take a moment to really feel what's going on. This game is a mediocre experience and, for all intents and purposes, is a Pokémon game at heart. Battles, gyms, evil teams and a rival have always been a thing, add to that the Titan story and you have a fully fleshed out experience if you can look past the other issues.

    Does this game deserve the bashing it's getting, no. People wanted more, I get that, but this isn't a bad game! It's lacklustre and upsetting, especially to long time fans, but it doesn't deserve the hate it's receiving!
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  9. Dec 3, 2022
    5
    This game had great potential,which was ruined in the state this game released in.
    The characters ware great,the story was amazing, and the gym leaders ware some of the best.
    Out of the 3 beginning quests 2 ware incredible and the last one was alright. I love how you can befriend the teachers to learn more about them. The classes' ware interesting (Other than arts and language), The
    This game had great potential,which was ruined in the state this game released in.
    The characters ware great,the story was amazing, and the gym leaders ware some of the best.
    Out of the 3 beginning quests 2 ware incredible and the last one was alright. I love how you can befriend the teachers to learn more about them. The classes' ware interesting (Other than arts and language),
    The bugs and performance is what ruins the game.

    I want this to be a learning experience for game freak and Nintendo because the game does a lot of things,but oh boy did they **** a lot of things wrong too!
    If it wasn't for the bugs and the performance it could have been one of the best Pokémon games.
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  10. Nov 25, 2022
    5
    Pokemon Scarlet (and Violet) is a clearly unfinished product. There is a very fun game beneath all the catastrophic performance issues, ugly graphics and animations and terrible design decisions, but these are very hard to overlook. If this wasn't a pokemon game it would have been bashed to hell and back by everyone, but apparently it's just "taking steps in the right direction" despitePokemon Scarlet (and Violet) is a clearly unfinished product. There is a very fun game beneath all the catastrophic performance issues, ugly graphics and animations and terrible design decisions, but these are very hard to overlook. If this wasn't a pokemon game it would have been bashed to hell and back by everyone, but apparently it's just "taking steps in the right direction" despite being a 30+ years old franchise that makes billions of dollars. The worst part is that this will never change, given the game's absolute sales success. Gamefreak will keep pumping out terrible products and holding a series dear to many hostage to terrible development. The amateurish is display here is staggering, and it saddens me to see a good game squashed by terrible decisions. Expand
  11. Nov 30, 2022
    6
    The game is very good.
    The stories, new Pokémon and the overall idea of the game is very fun, but the performance issues are a major problem.
    Constant drops in FPS, graphic bugs and even the game crashing...
    The Pokémon Company has an incredible huge amount of money and other resources, this kind of problems should never happen on a game of the moat profitable IP in the videogame industry...
  12. Nov 30, 2022
    5
    The worst Pokémon title on Nintendo Switch.
    The map is empty while the open-world is a bag full of bug, pop-up effect and elements moving at 5fps.
    There’s no level-scaling and the most of the story is so ripetitive and boring…wtf r’u thinking about while developing this game GF!?
  13. Dec 6, 2022
    6
    The grafic are the lowest of all the franchise and technical really need a patch. Its feel like unfinish game. But story and the pokemon are probably the best i see before gen5
  14. Nov 28, 2022
    5
    I honestly was excited to try the open world pokemon formula they are going for. But I just cannot stand for this. Game freak has time and time again disappointed with their lackluster releases but this is just an outrage. An honestly good game idea is bogged down by just the most horrible performance I've experienced in a game so far in my life. The frame rate is horrible, the cameraI honestly was excited to try the open world pokemon formula they are going for. But I just cannot stand for this. Game freak has time and time again disappointed with their lackluster releases but this is just an outrage. An honestly good game idea is bogged down by just the most horrible performance I've experienced in a game so far in my life. The frame rate is horrible, the camera works like absolute crap and the bugs are way too frequent to be ignored. This game is incredibly fun but it just makes me sad how broken it is and how little Game Freak cares Expand
  15. Nov 19, 2022
    5
    Nintendo needs to give the Pokémon franchise to a developer that knows how to develop for the switch. Game freak can’t cut it. Maybe they need more time to make these games. But releasing these games at this state is basically the same as cyberpunk releasing the way it was. So many bugs. Should be $30 instead of $60 until they find a way to optimize the game properly.
  16. Nov 19, 2022
    7
    Es pokemon no se puede esperar milagros fue un buen intento con bastante mejoras QOL pero a este ritmo la saga seguirá cometiendo los mismos errores una y otra y otra vez indefinidamente...poco más que decir
  17. Nov 21, 2022
    7
    Wow. What a step back after Arceus. Let's get this out of the way: it is the same old Pokemon, with its addictive loop. But you know that Game Freak is filled with programmers that genuinely struggle to convert these titles to 3-D. This shows this lack of experience in spade. By giving in a more complete 'environment', performance issues, graphical mishaps are prevalent. This is thisWow. What a step back after Arceus. Let's get this out of the way: it is the same old Pokemon, with its addictive loop. But you know that Game Freak is filled with programmers that genuinely struggle to convert these titles to 3-D. This shows this lack of experience in spade. By giving in a more complete 'environment', performance issues, graphical mishaps are prevalent. This is this year's Cyberpunk in term of lack of polish. Too bad as the initial gameplay loop is still as addictive as ever. Expand
  18. Nov 22, 2022
    6
    The good: Ost pretty neat, being able to shape your MC however you like regardless of gender is nice, Non-League stories being pretty neat, Nemona kicks ass.
    The bad: Performance is trash, why taking out set mode? Why isn't there a toggle off for exp share, why only four outfits? Why only school outfits?
    GameFreak, stop being stubborn and ask Monolith to show you how it's done.
    The good: Ost pretty neat, being able to shape your MC however you like regardless of gender is nice, Non-League stories being pretty neat, Nemona kicks ass.
    The bad: Performance is trash, why taking out set mode? Why isn't there a toggle off for exp share, why only four outfits? Why only school outfits?
    GameFreak, stop being stubborn and ask Monolith to show you how it's done.

    GameFreak has been relying on Pokemon's success to handwave their own issues. You only need to look at Little Town Hero to know just how far the Pokemon name is carrying them through their own dare I say incompetence. As it is, despite this being their fourth switch game, they are still going at game development as if they were on the 3DS. And there is no excusing that. Stubbornly refusing to change their model, to expand from the small familial studio, refusing to try and learn how 3D development is supposed to work and refusing to ask help from people that know what they're doing is killing Pokemon. Not on a sales way unfortunately but quality wise. While I'm hoping the reviews will be the kick in the butt GameFreak needs, I'm not holding my breath.
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  19. Nov 20, 2022
    7
    This game, gameplay wise, blows every other 3D pokemon game out of the water, and is currently the best Pokemon game on the Switch. No longer is the game a linear snoozefest that interrupts the player every 2 seconds for some exposition dump about a poorly written story. After the tutorial you can actually go anywhere you want and focus on collecting pokemon and building your team. Sadly,This game, gameplay wise, blows every other 3D pokemon game out of the water, and is currently the best Pokemon game on the Switch. No longer is the game a linear snoozefest that interrupts the player every 2 seconds for some exposition dump about a poorly written story. After the tutorial you can actually go anywhere you want and focus on collecting pokemon and building your team. Sadly, it's obvious this game should have had at least 1 year more development time. This is by far the most unpolished Pokemon game I've ever played. The camera often clips through the game world, the game looks bad and the performance is poor. If the performance problems weren't there I would easily give this game an 8. Expand
  20. Nov 20, 2022
    7
    The game itself is very good, but the only criticism is its terrible and horrible FPS fluency, Game Freak should solve this as soon as possible, and assured that the game will have a better review
  21. Nov 21, 2022
    6
    I just finished the game and this is my little review from best to worse:

    Story: 9/10 I liked how the plot was developed and how it ends. Characters were also amazing with a lot of personality. Best storytelling since Gen 5. Soundtrack/OST 9/10 This is very subjective so I just going to say that I really liked it. Open World & Design: 7/10 Real open world is such a big
    I just finished the game and this is my little review from best to worse:

    Story: 9/10
    I liked how the plot was developed and how it ends. Characters were also amazing with a lot of personality. Best storytelling since Gen 5.

    Soundtrack/OST 9/10
    This is very subjective so I just going to say that I really liked it.

    Open World & Design: 7/10
    Real open world is such a big improvement from Arceus. Better interaction from pokemon in the different areas. Better design of environment. Pokemon design are good enough for me. It's a shame that gym leaders/dominants/bosses doesn't level up with you and this issue is very critical to me as a good/bad design to an RPG.

    Mechanics & Difficulty: 6/10
    Not much to say here. I just think tera did it better than dinamax but not that outstanding. Raids are better in this game. To be honest, difficulty I think it was just ok. But it's a shame some good mechanics from arceus were gone and there's no set mode.

    Gameplay and Performance: 0/10
    Sorry but all the good things this game did with everything above was destroyed by this. I mean, visual bugs, low fps rate, slow gameplay, data leak problem, bad models and textures, glitches everywhere... Everything about this is just horrible, this game needed another year... It's a big shame that this happens when we finally got a very good plot and cool innovations. Because, even with these things the game feels incomplete and unplayable for moments.

    Final score: 6/10 Average
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  22. Nov 23, 2022
    5
    The story is front and center the entire game. The new Pokémon are very likable. The performance of the entire game is very bad! Framerate drops everywhere, especially during some of the gym tests. There are game crashing bugs in the game. Hopefully Pokémon Home Intergration saves it. Textures look ugly. Pokémon just walk around, none of the behavoir in Pokedex entries are actually presented.
  23. Nov 24, 2022
    5
    The story is interesting, the new pokemon kind of cool and i like the new characters the story introduces. But thats it for the good stuff.

    The technical point of the game is really terrible. It lags, animations get choppy when you are further away, the textures for the ground cant even hold up to Pokemon Arceus. If you look at a comparision you might even think that another developer
    The story is interesting, the new pokemon kind of cool and i like the new characters the story introduces. But thats it for the good stuff.

    The technical point of the game is really terrible. It lags, animations get choppy when you are further away, the textures for the ground cant even hold up to Pokemon Arceus. If you look at a comparision you might even think that another developer team did the new game, since its just really blank in contrast to Arceus. The fluid transition from running in the open world to a battle we had in Pokemon Arceus is just gone, which takes the flow out of the game.

    I really love the story and want to keep going, but currently the game doesnt pull me in like Pokemon Arceus did, since the whole game just seems way to bland.
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  24. Nov 24, 2022
    5
    Very fun

    Cons: - FPS drops that are many, located & unacceptable, - Bugs that are unacceptable, - Frequent crashes in exploration, - Combat Camera never shows some of my biggest pokemon, Combat Camera is very limited & cannot show you the entire combat in most situations, - One of my pokemon makes the camera go under the ground 100% of the time. - POkemon Center "where should I
    Very fun

    Cons:
    - FPS drops that are many, located & unacceptable,
    - Bugs that are unacceptable,
    - Frequent crashes in exploration,
    - Combat Camera never shows some of my biggest pokemon, Combat Camera is very limited & cannot show you the entire combat in most situations,
    - One of my pokemon makes the camera go under the ground 100% of the time.
    - POkemon Center "where should I go?" feature sent me several times straight to an ugly death, like I am LVL 20 with 2 badges & they send me dying in the desert facing LVL 50+ bosses...

    Pro:
    - The game writing is of higher quality than the average of the series & is enjoyable,
    - The difficulty is challenging & engaging
    - Content is engaging, even if open world lacks a bit of variety.
    - Game Narrative & Game Design structures are good.
    - Online features are stable & smooth
    - Playing in coop is solid & stable
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  25. Dec 3, 2022
    7
    I really appreciate the effort to try to continue to shake up the Pokémon formula for the better, but even with the performance issues aside (which I did not find to be that bad), the execution was a little underwhelming. To address the performance complaints that everyone has with the game - the issues are there, but they literally do not impact the game by any means. I did experienceI really appreciate the effort to try to continue to shake up the Pokémon formula for the better, but even with the performance issues aside (which I did not find to be that bad), the execution was a little underwhelming. To address the performance complaints that everyone has with the game - the issues are there, but they literally do not impact the game by any means. I did experience some slowdown, I did experience a few bugs, but they weren’t bad enough to break the game or even hinder the experience. If you’re playing Pokémon for a next gen experience that performs at 60fps, then you are really losing touch with what the core attraction of Pokémon really is. I didn’t find the performance and glitches to be any issue at all.

    However, the game itself feels like a step in the right direction with a very poorly executed concept. Open world Pokémon is exactly what everyone dreamed of since the Gameboy days. I just found the world to be incredibly uninspiring and hollow. I started off really excited to explore the map, but as I continued on I realized that the exploration just felt a little aimless. I appreciate that the game gives you many overarching objectives - completing the Pokédex, collecting all the gym badges, battling Team Star, and battling the titans gives some variety to the overall objective. But exploring uninspiring terrains just to find waves of the same Pokémon over and over somehow made the game feel linear in an open world. After awhile I found myself just going straight for objectives, not even caring about exploring. Which is a shame, because even Arceus felt like it had more push for exploration. It’s still a great game that offers tons of content. I just felt like the effort to move to open world was a bit weak, so it kind of took away from the existing magic formula that made the series great to take it in a direction that wasn’t fully fleshed out. After Arceus, it’s a step in the right direction, I just wish we didn’t have to wait another generation (or more) for the direction to be fully realized into what it’s capable of being.
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  26. Dec 31, 2022
    6
    A good twist on the classic Pokémon games however feels rushed and runs poorly. If you're a Pokémon fan I recommend if not maybe choose sword or shield over this as it overall has less problems with game performance if you do not mind this like me go ahead you can pick it just a fair warning as it is very buggy.
  27. Nov 21, 2022
    6
    Tolles Spiel mit viel guten Ansätzen.
    Ich habe spass daran das Spiel zu spielen.
    Jedoch für ein Spiel im Jahr 2022 hat gamefreak richtig viel falsch gemacht.
    Technusch ist es das schlechteste Pokemonspiel das ich gespielt habe. Durch all die Fehler wird das Spielerlebnis leider etwas geschwächt.
    Auch könnte die Open World liebevoller gestaltet sein.
  28. Nov 22, 2022
    5
    Nunca he esperado una buena historia de pokémon (me encantaria que la tuviera), sin embargo esta vez si se pasaron, los diseños de los pokemon son horribles, los iniciales están mas o menos, pero nunca había experimentado un rendimiento tan horrible en un juego de pokémon, ya ni Leyendas Arceus presentó tantos problemas y a mi parecer está mejor desarrollado y las texturas son mejores queNunca he esperado una buena historia de pokémon (me encantaria que la tuviera), sin embargo esta vez si se pasaron, los diseños de los pokemon son horribles, los iniciales están mas o menos, pero nunca había experimentado un rendimiento tan horrible en un juego de pokémon, ya ni Leyendas Arceus presentó tantos problemas y a mi parecer está mejor desarrollado y las texturas son mejores que en Scarlet / Violet. GAME FREAK, PONTE A TRABAJAR. Expand
  29. Nov 24, 2022
    5
    The game has so much potential to be great but it fails in term of performance and bugs. This cant be accapted from a multi bliion franchise. I hope they will fix this issue
  30. Nov 25, 2022
    5
    While being one of the most entertaining Pokémon games in the last years, its performance is heavily underwhelming. It slows down, crashes far too many times, connectivity issues... Even the PC suffers from lag. How can you get the PC perform even worse than the PC in GBA games? For Heaven's sake.
Metascore
72

Mixed or average reviews - based on 118 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 56 out of 118
  2. 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. 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.
  3. 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.