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. Basstyle1
    Nov 19, 2022
    2
    To everyone giving this 5 stars, please stop snorting the copium. The FDA couldn’t keep up with this much drug intake as the Pokémon fans inhale. This game looks like it came out on a PS2. It consistently frame rates, running barely 20 FPS and it’ll stutter when it dips in frames. All the hub worlds are barren as hell. Whenever you see buildings, it’s a 50/50 if Gamefreak spent the actualTo everyone giving this 5 stars, please stop snorting the copium. The FDA couldn’t keep up with this much drug intake as the Pokémon fans inhale. This game looks like it came out on a PS2. It consistently frame rates, running barely 20 FPS and it’ll stutter when it dips in frames. All the hub worlds are barren as hell. Whenever you see buildings, it’s a 50/50 if Gamefreak spent the actual time to develop an interior or not. This is the same copy and paste game and I’ll be honest, games like Let’s Go Eevee had more heart and soul. Not even to mention the potential corrupted save file that has been happening to some players where your saves are gone. Save your money and buy better games like Bayonetta 3 or Xenoblade Chronicles 3. I’d rather just emulate this on my PC… Expand
  2. Pen_Island
    Nov 19, 2022
    0
    Remember how bad the performance for Sun/Moon double battle with electric terrain and rain active were? Now imagine that, but it's the entire game, almost all the time.
  3. Mae_bu
    Nov 19, 2022
    2
    ゲームフリークの怠惰の塊
    うちの子どもが泣きました
    レベルデザイン、デバッグ、テストプレイ、エフェクト、服、当たり判定、操作感、テンポ感、果てはゲーム性を考えるのすらサボっています。 どれもこれもちゃんとユーザー目線に立てばありえないことばかりです。これがあの天下のポケモン様なんですか？ 大人ならまだしも、子どもは少ないこづかいを何ヶ月も貯めて買うんですよ？ もうゲームフリークのゲームを買うことはないでしょう    ゲームフリークの怠惰の塊
    うちの子どもが泣きました

    レベルデザイン、デバッグ、テストプレイ、エフェクト、服、当たり判定、操作感、テンポ感、果てはゲーム性を考えるのすらサボっています。
    どれもこれもちゃんとユーザー目線に立てばありえないことばかりです。これがあの天下のポケモン様なんですか？

    大人ならまだしも、子どもは少ないこづかいを何ヶ月も貯めて買うんですよ？
    もうゲームフリークのゲームを買うことはないでしょう
  4. Lostinho
    Nov 19, 2022
    0
    It's unbelievable how they had the courage to put this game to sell and let people play it. It looks like it isn't finish yet. THERE'S BUG EVERYWHERE. The framerate always UNDER 20 FPS, the graphics are ridiculous, that's why we can't understand how the framerate are so low. The perfomance is so bad that DESTROY the joy of playing it. They must give a patch to fix it or we have to fightIt's unbelievable how they had the courage to put this game to sell and let people play it. It looks like it isn't finish yet. THERE'S BUG EVERYWHERE. The framerate always UNDER 20 FPS, the graphics are ridiculous, that's why we can't understand how the framerate are so low. The perfomance is so bad that DESTROY the joy of playing it. They must give a patch to fix it or we have to fight for them to give the option to give our money back, it's too expensivo for a terrible game like this. This is a joke.… Expand
  5. MrSalami
    Nov 19, 2022
    0
    One of the worst games i've seen in a long time, the bases and ideas are ok, but the game is completemy broken and unfinished, filled with bugs and glitches
    The worst part are the people defending the game, when it's trash
  6. Cypranex
    Nov 19, 2022
    0
    Pokemon Scarlet/Violet are really bad. Loads of bugs, laggy, missing features.
  7. DevilMan17
    Nov 19, 2022
    1
    Rendimiento: 0
    El juego va a 2 fps e incluso llega a cerrarse solo. Los Pokémon te aparecen en la cara sin ningún tipo de criterio (el espacio personal no existe). Las texturas son de la PS1 o inferior. Para entrar en combate o salir necesitas 10.
    (20 en total). Todo esto sin entrar en los errores de atravesar el suelo, muñecos con extremidades deformes, Pokémon terrestres despegando    Rendimiento: 0
    El juego va a 2 fps e incluso llega a cerrarse solo. Los Pokémon te aparecen en la cara sin ningún tipo de criterio (el espacio personal no existe). Las texturas son de la PS1 o inferior. Para entrar en combate o salir necesitas 10.
    (20 en total).

    Todo esto sin entrar en los errores de atravesar el suelo, muñecos con extremidades deformes, Pokémon terrestres despegando como cohetes a reacción y todo el largo ETC de errores que trae el juego recién salido del horno.

    Personajes: 0
    Tienen la misma personalidad que mi compañero de clase apodado el NPC. Son máquinas de hablar constantemente textos infinitos con 0 relevancia porque todos tienen ganas de engargarte SUS trabajos, tampoco te dejan negarte (comprensible por la historia pero que tampoco soy el de uber para estar dando vueltas de un lado a otro haciendo mandaos. 15h de juego y no recuerdo ni los nombres, de ahí su total irrelevancia.

    Texto: Mucho, más que una presentación de universidad.

    Es mega triste el juego, literalmente un 1 porque el 0 es demasiado.    … Expand
  8. Cafedo
    Nov 19, 2022
    0
    Horrible Performance. Lots of Bugs and Glitches.

    Amazing concept completely ruined by lack of optimization.
  9. FabioBenedito
    Nov 19, 2022
    0
    Sem qualidade técnica, péssima performance no console em questões gráficas e de desempenho.
    Inexistência da linguagem PT-BR.

    Um total descaso com a franquia e seus fãs.
  10. juanpi094
    Nov 19, 2022
    0
    un juego que podría ser perfectamente una alfa, Bugs, caídas de frames, sin texturas etc etc etc
  11. germaaan
    Nov 20, 2022
    3
    The game is a lot of fun to play, yes, but the technical side is such an aberration that I hope someone at The Pokémon Company has the dignity to think about professionalism and respect for their fans rather than just money (and by the way, that Nintendo gives them a slap on the wrist, because in the end, for the general public, it's their reputation that is tarnished).
  12. Dannyotw
    Nov 20, 2022
    0
    Game is poorly optimized this should be unjustifiable coming from such a prestigious company and developers have no excuse. I’m very unhappy with performance of the game, lack of audio improvements and the graphics are hardly a step in the right direction.
  13. JoelMiller9425
    Nov 20, 2022
    0
    gioco tecnicamente orribile....non so come si possa valutarlo 7.7 dalla critica...questo gioco meriterebbe 3.
    cali di frame rate ridicoli, texture dire brutto è un complimento, anche a livello di gameplay passi indietro rispetto ad arceus...
    evitate di spendere tutti quei soldi perchè in questo momento è una truffa.
  14. DrowsyKero
    Nov 20, 2022
    2
    This is the worst Pokémon generation to date. The issues lie in many parts of the game, from the visuals, terrible world design, slow chugging gamplay, awful battle animations especially when coming off of Pokémon legends Arceus which had amazing animations, terastallizing is just the worst gimmick so far, the team star raids are pathetic (you just spam “R” and let your Pokémon just autoThis is the worst Pokémon generation to date. The issues lie in many parts of the game, from the visuals, terrible world design, slow chugging gamplay, awful battle animations especially when coming off of Pokémon legends Arceus which had amazing animations, terastallizing is just the worst gimmick so far, the team star raids are pathetic (you just spam “R” and let your Pokémon just auto battle everything, at this point what’s even the point in playing), the story is probably the worst of the series in my opinion and finally, my god is this game broken, it should never have been released this year!… Expand
  15. Yepes12
    Nov 20, 2022
    2
    Pokémon did it again. They managed to sell their playerbase a game with very little to offer, in a really bad state talking about gameplay, graphics and full of bugs, yet the regular fan is pleased.
  16. HidekiZero1
    Nov 20, 2022
    0
    O jogo é uma bosta, os graficos são de plástico, tá mais bugado que Cynerpunk 2077, dos pokémons novos a maioria tem um desining de bosta, a porra do lendário é um HM Slave e não tem tradução pro Português
  17. govertguitar
    Nov 20, 2022
    0
    Do not play this game if you get headaches easily, the FPS is all over the places. NPC slow down to 4-5 fps when you look at them. The lightning is flashing white everywhere and the game is so unsharp that you get dizzy from it. The game is unplayable in this state. Unacceptable release.
  18. mmiller
    Nov 20, 2022
    1
    From the very start, this game is riddled with bugs, awful textures and animations, and absolutely embarrassing landscapes. I've seen student made games with more polish, so I expect far more from the most profitable franchise in the world. The fact that this was released 6 years after Breath of the Wild on the same hardware is so astounding that it's almost funny.
  19. spener
    Nov 21, 2022
    4
    It's almost amazing, which makes it terrible. Let me elaborate:

    The Good: - Open world is a nice idea, and it was really fun to explore and have the freedom to choose the order of gyms and paths. I ended up doing it slightly out of order and the challenge was very rewarding. - The characters (other kids) had pretty compelling arcs for the most part, and I actually liked them more than    It's almost amazing, which makes it terrible. Let me elaborate:

    The Good:
    - Open world is a nice idea, and it was really fun to explore and have the freedom to choose the order of gyms and paths. I ended up doing it slightly out of order and the challenge was very rewarding.
    - The characters (other kids) had pretty compelling arcs for the most part, and I actually liked them more than other recent rivals / characters. The final part of the story wraps up all the 3 individual paths nicely and it felt like you were living out a pokemon movie.
    - The pokemon models are to scale and more detailed, and I loved seeing them in the open world just vibing.

    Now, the Bad (there's a lot):
    - The textures, visuals are... atrocious. Not just for a game coming out in 2022, but for a game that exists after the year 2010. I don't know if they aren't loading or if that's geniunely what it looks like but it's distractingly bad. I'm not a stickler for fancy nice pretty graphics- plenty of my favorite games have serviceable looks. But many of the features you see in the world unironically look like the in games like GTA 5 where the map glitches out and buildings only render as muddy polygons- but in S/V, these are just the actual geometries and textures even up close. I would get it if this were an Alpha state of an Indie game on Steam, but this is pokemon.
    - The performance is similarly awful. Maybe this will be patched, but for a fully released game this is not acceptable. We seem games like BOTW, which came out on the switch in 2017, not only looking much better but running much smoother than this game. It's clear that this just isn't optimized. Hell, even the BOTW on the WiiU runs better than this. This is just framerate, too. A lot of the character animations when you're not standing right next to them run at literally 5fps. Microsoft powerpoint speeds.
    - Certain mechanics from Arceus didn't return, namely the catching one. I understand different teams from GameFreak worked on this but really missed that mechanic in this game, and would have probably enjoyed and gone out of my way to catch pokemon in this game.
    - The open world feels empty and incomplete. For every somewhat memorable design in the world, there's something that breaks immersion. A lot of the 'routes' or paths feel interchangeable in this game aside from maybe the first couple, and aside from trainer battles, there isn't really any standout locations in the world. Contrast this with past games where areas not only had their own character in design but also the locations/dungeons you associated with them- Lavender Town's Pokemon Tower, the Pokemon Mansion on Cinnibar Island, Sprout City's Sprout tower, the Abandoned Ship, the Old Chateau- just to name a few. It doesn't help that most towns have literally 0 building interiors besides their Gym. One of my favorite immersive parts of past games was getting region lore by talking to everyone in the town and seeing their homes.
    - This is more subjective, but the school stuff didn't really do it for me. I skipped most classes because the few I did were really boring- but also because even more so than the other games the dialogue (even when text speed is fast) takes an eternity. Nearly every transition shot between dialogue fades out and it just pads out a ton of time. Also, it kinda cheapened the champion route for me, as SPOILER you don't become Champion, you become 'Champion Rank', which is a small but meaningful difference. You don't go on the journey to become the very best, you're just... very good? Get an A+ ? Which leads me to my next critique:
    - The Elite Four / Champion. I actually liked the champion's design and the rooftop battle, but the events preceding and following it are less than ideal. Starting with the Elite Four: The Designs are really lame, and the personalities are similarly shallow. In the past, you can tell what kind of pokemon an E4 member might be using as its incorporated into their design and room design. But, gone are both the distinct bold designs and the rooms. Yes, all E4 members are fought in a clean boring sterile padded cell. This detracts even more from them feeling like this amazing final feat. More so, one of the Elite Four members is literally just a Gym Leader who is just being forced to also be an E4 member, and straight says something along the lines of 'Yeah I like my Gym type but I **** hate my E4 type but I gotta ig.' And then, after defeating the champion, no longer do you go into the a seperate room where you save your team and commemorate your accomplishment, its just a pat on the back. I mean... yeah it really is a downer.

    IN CONCLUSION:
    For everything nice S/V does with its open world and story ideas, it's undermined by its buggy technical performance, overall **** visuals, shallow settings, and extremely unrealized and boring school setting. Extremely disappointing.    … Expand
  20. Joxsund
    Nov 24, 2022
    0
    the world is extremely bland while dialogue and characters are written so poorly. each generation the pokemon games get so much worse.
  21. strom-z
    Nov 20, 2022
    0
    I wrote a lenghty review but because of metacritic being currently even crappier than Gamefreak I am one of the thousands of ppl getting a "404 not found" error for an unknown reason...

    But anyways - this is not a 0/10 game, more like a 6/10 game, but even though I don't like reviewbombing, this is one of those cases where my anger towards Gamefreak/Pokémon Company (I don't know who's    I wrote a lenghty review but because of metacritic being currently even crappier than Gamefreak I am one of the thousands of ppl getting a "404 not found" error for an unknown reason...

    But anyways - this is not a 0/10 game, more like a 6/10 game, but even though I don't like reviewbombing, this is one of those cases where my anger towards Gamefreak/Pokémon Company (I don't know who's the bigger culprit and frankly I don't care) has reached its limit.

    You guys had one chance after you delivered a rushed-as-hell, mediocre Sword/Shield. You then actually delivered your first good pokégame on Switch in Legends: Arceus. But then you announced ANOTHER game for the SAME year - and of course you blew it again! This game SCREAMS "should be released late 2023"!! A rushed, unfinished, buggy, slow mess with a thousand cut corners. There's a good, perhaps great game underneath, but it is by FAR the worst performing pokémon game ever released, it is rushed as hell, returns to many mistakes Legends: Arceus already repaired, has tons of cut corners just like Sword/Shield (slow as hell battles again, RIDICULOUSLY empty cities...)

    It's just too much at this point, there honestly needs to be some kind of a revolution when it comes to these pokémon games.

    Also: it is NOT acceptable for a game like Pokémon in 2022 to not have difficulty options AND voice acting.    … Expand
  22. Waxupex
    Nov 20, 2022
    3
    Un juego de 2022 no puede salir en estas condiciones ya es demasiado que nintendo permita un juego en este estado
  23. nopantscarl
    Nov 20, 2022
    0
    One the wrost games i have ever played. I could go on endlessly on bugs and how horribly the graphic are. The music is awful and the game performance just unplayable.
  24. HokageSamaBR
    Nov 20, 2022
    0
    Pokemon has to stop releasing every year. Otherwise poorly made games will keep coming. Full of bugs, horrible performance and I hope they fix it. If this continues, I will be forced to sue Nintendo for delivering a poorly made product.
  25. MisterMartins
    Nov 20, 2022
    2
    It is a glitch fest. Frame rate is awful.
    Stop releasing unfinished games!!
    The worst Pokemon game ever made.
    Shame on you Game Freak. Can't support you from now on.
  26. OctaneNitro
    Nov 20, 2022
    0
    Unfortunately, more of the same mediocrity that has been bogging down the franchise for years.
    Taking even a cursory at glance at any other major Nintendo franchise, or even a majority of AAA franchises period, the shortcomings and limitations of Pokémon become impossible to ignore.
    Violet and Scarlet may move some aspects of the franchise forward, namely in the open-world environments    Unfortunately, more of the same mediocrity that has been bogging down the franchise for years.
    Taking even a cursory at glance at any other major Nintendo franchise, or even a majority of AAA franchises period, the shortcomings and limitations of Pokémon become impossible to ignore.

    Violet and Scarlet may move some aspects of the franchise forward, namely in the open-world environments and less linearity, but still suffer from a chronic lack of ambition, scope, and polish.

    Ever since the franchise's transition into 3D with XY in 2013, Gamefreak have been open about their desire to remove features, difficulty and complexity from the franchise, in an attempt to appeal to the "kids of today". Unfortunately, coupled with an increasingly brutal yearly release schedule, this has led most modern Pokémon games feeling barebones, empty, and at times, unfinished.

    TL:DR - The abysmal performance and presentation of these games alone would be enough for me to not recommend them, but the added context of how little Gamefreak are utilising the Switch, how much better far smaller franchises consistently are, and the rapid rate between releases, just make the situation so, so much worse.

    In 2022, Pokémon has far more in common with franchises like FIFA, Call Of Duty, and Assassins Creed, than other premium Nintendo franchises like Mario, Zelda, and Kirby.    … Expand
  27. Deank1006
    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.
  28. Kasra-Hakimi
    Nov 23, 2022
    0
    It's not even a complete game in my opinion, they just added some new pokemon and a motorcycle pokemon and then released the game with many technical issues
  29. Den_ra
    Nov 21, 2022
    2
    This game is one big buggy mess. I can't believe this is from one of the biggest, most successful, and richest franchises in the world. Skip this game and play some Front Mission.
  30. Jesusddiaz
    Nov 20, 2022
    0
    god damn those glitches, i spent 300000cop (a quarter of a wage) for this, holy ****
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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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