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. Ron3r
    Nov 20, 2022
    8
    The game is fun, if you like pokémon you will enjoy the gameplay. Feeling free to choose what to do is pleasant and encourage you to explore and have control of your story. The game needs a patch fixing some errors and improving the fps which decreses sometimes.
  2. Its7empest
    Nov 21, 2022
    8
    I don't know where all the complaints about bugs come from. Seems mostly fine to me, just a few minor bugs but I have had nothing but fun playing it.
  3. TheFoxK
    Nov 21, 2022
    10
    With Sword and Shield it was obvious they were experimenting, with Arceus it was obvious they learned a lot of lessons and implemented them, and it’s obvious they continue to do so. This is the best Pokémon game in history. It is unfortunate that the graphical issues cast a shadow over this great game.
  4. Rusty98
    Nov 21, 2022
    10
    Great game, i feel like it has the most story from a pokemon game by far. A large improvement from gen 8
  5. Ddydonphan
    Nov 21, 2022
    10
    Yes they will fix all in the next game, as always. For now this game is still awesome!
  6. Raikage46
    Nov 21, 2022
    9
    After seeing the first trailer at the beginning of the year I decided to not look at any more info, trailers or gameplay and I managed; I went into the game completely blind. I wasn't even fully sure if it's really open world but it is and it is amazing. Especially the landscapes at the beginning look beautiful. So much that I kept thinking "I can't believe this is really Pokémon".
    So far    After seeing the first trailer at the beginning of the year I decided to not look at any more info, trailers or gameplay and I managed; I went into the game completely blind. I wasn't even fully sure if it's really open world but it is and it is amazing. Especially the landscapes at the beginning look beautiful. So much that I kept thinking "I can't believe this is really Pokémon".
    So far I put around 26 hours into the game, so I think I already got a pretty good idea of what is good and what not so much:

    -the game stutters often times. It definitely has fps issues but considering this is Game Freak's first attempt at a full open world game and also considering that this is running on the Switch, which now uses over five year old hardware, I think that was pretty much to be expected. I'd fully get if people consider this a huge issue, but as someone who has never been used to 60+ fps in games, I can accept it.

    -anti aliasing. I don't know if the game has any. This is especially noticable in towns (on buildings). Again, this might be due to GF not yet knowing how to opimize properly + the Switch' old hardware. I don't really notice it much in the wild though.

    -lack of outfits. There are a LOT of gloves, shoes, hats, socks, backpacks, even phone cases BUT there are only four sets of shirt+pants combinations. And they are all school uniforms. I'm playing Scarlet, so I am "stuck" with orange pants... If we are already forced to wear a school uniform, I'd wish if we could at least change a little more about it... have differently colored jackets for example. Maybe also skirts.

    -the camera. this is an issue I only found in wild battles where you can move the camera freely (in others the camera moves normally like in Sw/Sh). It seems it is focused on a point between the two battling Pokémon, which in theory sounds ok and for most of the game actually also works really well but... if you have a rather big Pokémon or one that is flying, you might not even be able to see it at all. I keep finding myself trying to adjust the camera to somehow get both Pokémon onto the screen, with mixed results. I think depending on the position/size of the battling Pokémon the camera should be zoomed out a bit. Or they should just let us zoom on our own (like how it's done in Xenoblade for example).

    +open world. I'm not that much of a fan of open worlds anymore, but Pokémon is definitely the type of game where it seems like a good idea. Being able to just go anywhere, seeing towns in the distance... it's wonderful.

    +buddies. we can let one of our Pokébuddies run around with us. They even pick up items for us. Definitely a feature I'd like to see in all future games!

    +customization. We can change our clothes, hair, hair color, eye shape, eyebrows, mouth. The hair even uses physics and it looks really good. Again, I wish we'd have more top+pant combinations but I can imagine we might get Something more in the future per dlc.

    +your own path. Once you are done with the beginning of the game, you are pretty much being told that you can now go and do whatever you want. It reminds me a bit of BOTW. The game does however give you three paths you can follow: you can challenge the gyms, help this guy to find special herbs (which is helpful and probably necessary if you want to explore the whole map) or help this one secret npc to crush Team Star. You can do the gyms and the other things in any order you want. So you have lots of freedom and can decide on your own how your journey is supposed to go.

    +design. most of the region is very sunny, bright and colorful. This, the decorations you can see at different places, the town designs and even the music all have a distinct Spanish feel to them and it feels good.

    +scale. actually being able to walk through properly scaled towns is incredible. Something I always wanted in a Pokémon game. With the first big town I thought "no way we can walk through the whole town" but man was I wrong. It's really huge. I remember my dissapointment in Sw/Sh' final town (the one with the Ferris Wheel)...

    +sandwich propaganda. This game fuels my desire to make a really good sandwhich... You can buy LOTS of ingredients, make sandwhiches according to recipes or go freestyle. Different sandwiches give different buffs (like increasing your catch rate or the chance to encounter shinies)

    Personally I'm enjoying the game a LOT, I can't stop playing. It's being pulled down mostly by technical limitations but if you can live with that and if you love Pokémon, I'm sure you'll love these games too.

    I have more good things to say but I reached the character limit... :,D    … Expand
  7. Alffheim
    Nov 21, 2022
    10
    Gran juego creo que renovar la saga es su mejor virtud, por otro lado creo que el odio de las personas están evitando que el juego pueda alcanzar su potencial eso y sus comentarios de que quieren su rembolso
  8. Brenduke
    Nov 21, 2022
    9
    Performance & graphics issues aside, this is the most fun pokemon has ever been. If you are a pokemon fan and can look past the occasional graphical issue you will fall in love with paldea
  9. Nmaster14
    Nov 21, 2022
    10
    So so funny when you play with friends and it is very addictive.
    The story is interesting and have a lot of things to do in the game and the world is so extensive
  10. LuigiCuau
    Nov 21, 2022
    8
    PUDO SER EL MEJOR DE TODOS LOS TIEMPOS.

    Desde PKM Sun and Moon no tenía tanto hype por un juego de PKM, y bien la espera valió mucho la pena pero a que precio? No se puede negar el bajo rendimiento, pero llevo 35 horas de juego y de momento no me han salido los famosos bugs que están en internet, que, casualmente son los mismo 3, el único bug que he visto es el de la pokeball que se    PUDO SER EL MEJOR DE TODOS LOS TIEMPOS.

    Desde PKM Sun and Moon no tenía tanto hype por un juego de PKM, y bien la espera valió mucho la pena pero a que precio? No se puede negar el bajo rendimiento, pero llevo 35 horas de juego y de momento no me han salido los famosos bugs que están en internet, que, casualmente son los mismo 3, el único bug que he visto es el de la pokeball que se queda en el aire cuando intentas capturar uno, pero nada que afecte el juego, mucho menos la partida, por tal motivo no me quejo de los bugs y el bajo rendimiento no hace que mi partida sea injugable, mucho menos los gráficos pues desde los trailers nos mostraron los gráficos del juego.

    El juego lo estoy disfrutando como niño, si bien las cosas malas que tanto se hablan estuvieran bien (poping, rendimiento, sombras y bugs) el juego sin duda sería de 9.5, y la única razón por la que no le doy un 10 es por temas más importantes para mi dentro del juego que de lo que se queja la gente pues reitero, a mi no me han salido.

    LO MALO: en PKM Sword me atyrebo a decir que tiene la mejor customisación de todos los juegos de PKM con la mejor ropa, peinados y más con los que se inluyen en el DLC, por desgracia esta horrible hacer tu personaje en Scarlet, peinados horribles y estás limitado a 4 malditos uniformes, desconozco si te puedes quitar el uniforme terminando el juego, pero de momento no se puede y es molesto pues en Sword puedo decir que el personaje que es un avatar de tí, pude hacer el avatar que se parece más a mi y aquí simplemente no siento esa conexión con el personaje, otro punto negativo es el mapa para ver la localización de un PKM, el nuevo menú es más tedioso, teníamos muchos avances en Arceus y aquí regresamos 2 pasos atrás, espero se corrija y se mejore para futuros juegos.

    Urge que se tenga una junta con The Pokemon Company, Game Freak y Nintendo y que se quede en no sacar un juego por año pues las consecuencias aquí están, si el juego le hubieran dado 8 meses más, no dudo que el juego hubiera salido bien en cuanto al tema de rendimiento y bugs, aún así el juego es de los mejores, tiene tantas cosas que hacer, un grand OST, los temas de la ciudad de la líder de tipo eléctrico o de tipo agua son temas épicos, los PKM ya respetan sus tamaños, los personajes por fin tienen más carisma y son de tu agrado en general y los nuevos PKM puedo darles en general un 8 de 10 en diseños, las ciudades son increíbles y los lugares, una enorme diferencia con Arceus y sobre todo con Sword, puedo decir que Paldea es la mejor región de todas.

    En conclusión, Pokémon da muchos pasos con grandes ideas, primer mundo abierto y mejoras, pero los problemas técnicos le están afectado mucho, tiene todo el dinero para contratar a la gente correcta y que corrigan esos errores que esperemos se puedan hacer en parches.    … Expand
  11. Blackbelt2018
    Nov 21, 2022
    10
    Definitely needs work but by all means doesn’t deserve a 0. Game freak should start listening to their audience and do better. I’m only giving this score to balance out all the zeroes. It’s still a fun game but it has a ton of technical problems that need to be fixed. Graphics are complete crap and it blows my mind that we’ve actually gone back in time to the N64 days with this game. If IDefinitely needs work but by all means doesn’t deserve a 0. Game freak should start listening to their audience and do better. I’m only giving this score to balance out all the zeroes. It’s still a fun game but it has a ton of technical problems that need to be fixed. Graphics are complete crap and it blows my mind that we’ve actually gone back in time to the N64 days with this game. If I had to give it an actual score, I’d give it a 6.5, maybe a 7. But if it continues in this direction, I will sadly have to say goodbye to the franchise and just remember it for what it once was.… Expand
  12. Jennyjewels
    Nov 21, 2022
    9
    Pretty good and refreshing for a pokemon game. Open world and multiple storylines makes this game pretty fresh. While you're not looking for a new pokemon to catch you can fight a giant beast, take out a enemy camp or make a sandwich! This game does have its downsides the frame rate is lacking and the graphics are behind but at its core it is a fun new take on pokemon much improved uponPretty good and refreshing for a pokemon game. Open world and multiple storylines makes this game pretty fresh. While you're not looking for a new pokemon to catch you can fight a giant beast, take out a enemy camp or make a sandwich! This game does have its downsides the frame rate is lacking and the graphics are behind but at its core it is a fun new take on pokemon much improved upon since pokemon legends.… Expand
  13. AlexSantoss
    Nov 22, 2022
    9
    There are some performance issues, yes! But the game itself is a really good entry into the Pokemon series, I’d even say the best, even with the few performance issues. Should it be fixed? YEA! But what we have now is nowhere near as bad as everyone is making it out to be! Even the professional gamers here on Metacritic have give these games quite a good score. Many of the people hereThere are some performance issues, yes! But the game itself is a really good entry into the Pokemon series, I’d even say the best, even with the few performance issues. Should it be fixed? YEA! But what we have now is nowhere near as bad as everyone is making it out to be! Even the professional gamers here on Metacritic have give these games quite a good score. Many of the people here giving these a bad score have played a few minutes up to 2 hours, read other bad comments or watched reviews on Youtube without playing the game. Play through the whole game and you’ll enjoy it even with some technical issues. It’s definitely a must buy and play!… Expand
  14. thihaaungkyaw
    Nov 19, 2022
    10
    Even though it has performance issues, everything else is a step up from previous entries in the series.
  15. GabroDwitt
    Nov 20, 2022
    9
    Besides the laggy interface I'm really enjoying the game so far. I haven't experience any bugs or glitches.
  16. Pixx01
    Nov 20, 2022
    8
    Technically many issues, but still a lot of fun nonetheless. My experience, even with some of the visual and performance issues, is better than the last 2 gens together so that's a W for me. Still wished GameFreak could get the time to develop a finished game, but the hate is a bit too strong in my opinion.
  17. PoCra
    Nov 21, 2022
    8
    I have a few hours in the game now and have to say that the game is really fun so far. I can't understand a lot of the bad reviews with 0 points. I'm not talking about the bad reviews in general, but you can tell a lot of them are just complaining because everyone is, or because Pokémon is the biggest media franchise in the world. But many forget that most of the money was made not fromI have a few hours in the game now and have to say that the game is really fun so far. I can't understand a lot of the bad reviews with 0 points. I'm not talking about the bad reviews in general, but you can tell a lot of them are just complaining because everyone is, or because Pokémon is the biggest media franchise in the world. But many forget that most of the money was made not from the games, but from merchandising. Merchandise accounts for more than three times as much of the revenue as the video games. The graphics aren't the prettiest of all the games, but I still think they're pretty good, even if there are muddy textures more often. The game's biggest problem in terms of graphics is that everything farther away is rendered, but everything close by looks pretty good for a Pokémon game. Compared to Legends Arceus, this is a step-up. Performance is more of a complaint. The FPS fluctuates almost all the time. The game really has problems maintaining the 30fps. Personally, though, this hasn't really bothered me so far. Except in the classroom, which was really sad. Because even though the students were all in the foreground, and you could see them well, they moved at 5 fps. But I can overlook that as long as the game is fun, and it is, and it's nice that Gamefreak is doing something new.… Expand
  18. IzukiKami
    Nov 20, 2022
    10
    I never expected the game to run like a dream. At least the story is the best the series has ever had. I have beat the game and haven't run into a character I don't like. Seriously, play the game and you'll understand how good it is. All of these negative reviews dragging such a good game down are a shame since it just shows that these people played for maybe an hour or two and decided toI never expected the game to run like a dream. At least the story is the best the series has ever had. I have beat the game and haven't run into a character I don't like. Seriously, play the game and you'll understand how good it is. All of these negative reviews dragging such a good game down are a shame since it just shows that these people played for maybe an hour or two and decided to review bomb the game. Are there glitches? sometimes. do they break the game? I haven't run into one yet. are the graphics that bad? No. the game looks great, but people have seen so many passion projects and fan animations that they've decided that anything less is bad. Arven's story? Relatable and heartwarming. Penny's? wonderful! Nemona as a rival? The best in the series hands down. this game is a marked improvement on the series.… Expand
  19. WesthePretzel
    Nov 20, 2022
    10
    This game is being unfairly review bombed. It is by far one of the most fun experiences I have had with a Pokémon game in a long time. They made lots of quality of life improvements, they’ve broken the mold in so many areas, the freedom to explore is wonderful, the amount of things to do besides just gym battles is a welcome addition. Honestly a really fun game. It’s a shame it’s gettingThis game is being unfairly review bombed. It is by far one of the most fun experiences I have had with a Pokémon game in a long time. They made lots of quality of life improvements, they’ve broken the mold in so many areas, the freedom to explore is wonderful, the amount of things to do besides just gym battles is a welcome addition. Honestly a really fun game. It’s a shame it’s getting such bad reviews because this will only push Gamefreak to make games like past Pokémon games and they will never try to innovate again.… Expand
  20. Pymloll
    Nov 21, 2022
    10
    Extremely fun. Probably the most fun an open world game or a pokemon game will ever be. The open world is awesome, there is always more to explore to find new pokemon, items or secret areas. The new pokemon are awesome, every design looks great, even though not every new design is prefect. The stories are fun but pretty bare bones. But the fact that there are three of them helps the gameExtremely fun. Probably the most fun an open world game or a pokemon game will ever be. The open world is awesome, there is always more to explore to find new pokemon, items or secret areas. The new pokemon are awesome, every design looks great, even though not every new design is prefect. The stories are fun but pretty bare bones. But the fact that there are three of them helps the game feel more diverse from time to time, and thre is always the option to just not do story things and have fun exploring the vast world. There ars framerate issues but the game is so fun you're probably not even going to notice them. I could talk about why this game is incredible even more, but I think I've said enough. I'll only add that the Coop mode is the best single thing ever in a pokemon game. If you want to review the game, you HAVE to at least try it with some close friends, it basically makes the game twice as good.… Expand
  21. VioletEvergan
    Nov 20, 2022
    10
    As someone who has played it, everything said about it is a complete exaggeration, the technical side really isn't that bad.
    Other than that, as an RPG it's brilliant and as an open world Pokémon it's the best it's ever seen, the wide variety of playable creatures is incredible, and the fighting is more than entertaining.
  22. KazuraCollins
    Nov 21, 2022
    8
    Es un juegazo, y es molesto que la gente solo le ponga mala calificación por que, está de moda odiarlo, y por quedarse en lo más superficial de gráficos o aspectos técnicos que, si bien son molestos y notorios, se pueden ignorar para disfrutar uno de los mejores Pokémon de los últimos años.
  23. Ignacius12
    Nov 21, 2022
    10
    No se merece un 10 ni de lejos, pero tampoco un 0 y así nivelo la nota general
  24. Ordep29
    Nov 21, 2022
    8
    Me gustó, es totalmente diferente a juegos anteriores, el mundo abierto te da demasiado juego sin necesidad de hacer gym u otros objetivos que te pone el juego aún que tiene unos fallos de fps y calidad
  25. CatExus
    Nov 21, 2022
    8
    Es un juego muy disfrutable, tiene algunos bugs , pero en mi experiencia personal no he tenido que liadiar con ningun bug
  26. BILILIUJR
    Nov 21, 2022
    9
    Jogo muito bom,a franquia segue tentando adicionar inovacoes a cada game sem tirar a essencia do classico,so falta dar uma melhorada no mundo aberto mas aos poucos chegaremos la, vale a pe'a investir uma graana nele, horas de diversao pra completar 100%
  27. 7Vatey
    Nov 21, 2022
    9
    There are plenty of people bashing these games for their performance and technical issues, but most of the reviews here are just blatantly unfair. While the games aren't quite as pretty as Breath of the Wild or Monster Hunter Rise, the visuals and performance aren't nearly as bad as people are making them out to be. Now let's move on to the actual gameplay.

    These are by far the most    There are plenty of people bashing these games for their performance and technical issues, but most of the reviews here are just blatantly unfair. While the games aren't quite as pretty as Breath of the Wild or Monster Hunter Rise, the visuals and performance aren't nearly as bad as people are making them out to be. Now let's move on to the actual gameplay.

    These are by far the most engaging and in-depth Pokemon games since Black and White. There isn't a lot of hand-holding, and you are free to go where you choose after the tutorial, which only took me about an hour the first time around.

    The world is quite big, with a huge variety of Pokemon early on. There are always a lot of different things to do. You can collect Pokemon, attend classes and do the school stuff, battle gyms, or chase down the titans or team star. You can also explore and battle trainers. The main story playthrough time is quite long compared to previous Pokemon games, and if you don't use any guides, there are definitely a lot of unique evolutions and challenges along the way that will be difficult to figure out.

    I honestly feel kind of bad for all the people who can't look past some minor technical issues because they are missing out on a fantastic addition to the Pokemon franchise. Also, Game Freak has already acknowledged that many of the issues are due to a memory leak, so there will likely be a patch that fixes the issues very soon.    … Expand
  28. AntonioGP
    Nov 21, 2022
    9
    The best pokemon game for the Nintendo switch for me. I have played more than 16 hours at the moment. Its an open world where you can easily lose, but theres a lot of places an pokemon to see. You can choose your own path and There's more than one way to follow the history. The only reason why I don't give it a 10 is because of the way the npcs walk in the distance. and smallThe best pokemon game for the Nintendo switch for me. I have played more than 16 hours at the moment. Its an open world where you can easily lose, but theres a lot of places an pokemon to see. You can choose your own path and There's more than one way to follow the history. The only reason why I don't give it a 10 is because of the way the npcs walk in the distance. and small frame drops that in my opinion are irrelevant. On Saturday I lost track of time playing it.… Expand
  29. Leonardo007
    Nov 21, 2022
    10
    It's very fun also technically is a trash in performance and graphics can be a lot better but I fan a pokémon this is why my rating
  30. shawn_wolf05
    Nov 20, 2022
    8
    Es un gran juego de la saga, muy disfrutable, un gran diseño de mapa, Pokémon muy variados y un mundo muy vivo, hermosas ciudades y personajes carismáticos. Pero, tiene un gran fallo y es la caída de FPS, bugs y glitches, fallos de rendimiento y las horribles texturas.
    Le pongo un 8 porque a pesar del apartado visual, es un juego muy disfrutable y completo con buena historia y hermoso    Es un gran juego de la saga, muy disfrutable, un gran diseño de mapa, Pokémon muy variados y un mundo muy vivo, hermosas ciudades y personajes carismáticos. Pero, tiene un gran fallo y es la caída de FPS, bugs y glitches, fallos de rendimiento y las horribles texturas.
    Le pongo un 8 porque a pesar del apartado visual, es un juego muy disfrutable y completo con buena historia y hermoso mundo
    Espero que la gente no sea tan hater del juego    … Expand
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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.
    Read full review
  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.
    Read full review
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