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. Freesca
    Nov 25, 2022
    3
    This is just bad.
    Bugs and glitches are the tip of the iceberg (or the bottom of the avalugg)
    Presented as a free open world but actually there's no scaling at all, even badges have the classic predetermined order. The world building is inexistent: cities are cosmic void, world terraformed by a 5 years old kid, even Pokémons are placed here and there with dice with near zero ambient    This is just bad.
    Bugs and glitches are the tip of the iceberg (or the bottom of the avalugg)
    Presented as a free open world but actually there's no scaling at all, even badges have the classic predetermined order.
    The world building is inexistent: cities are cosmic void, world terraformed by a 5 years old kid, even Pokémons are placed here and there with dice with near zero ambient interactions.
    Nobody wants a complex realistic graphic for Pokémon, just a good one; there are some exceptions (like the grass) but the overall is disgusting.
    The Pokémon formula keep working well but these games add nothing to that.
    Game freak plz stap    … Expand
  2. FreakyPhantom
    Nov 25, 2022
    3
    Fun, but a buggy unfinished mess of a game, do better Gamefreak/Nintendo. I dont understand how a company so large can put out such an unfinished product?
  3. Luchojujuy
    Nov 25, 2022
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Juego incompleto. Se nota demasiado el apuro de Game Freak por sacar anualmente un juego. Cada vez le pone menos cariño a sus productos. Y avergüenza que el fandom sea tan conformista y permita estás basuras llenas de Bugs.… Expand
  4. OverlordEclipse
    Nov 25, 2022
    3
    The game has multiple graphic glitches, including a decent amount of fairly common ones, lags all the time, the character movement is janky sometimes, the game is overall unpolished. Id say the thing i hate most is the legendary as it looks like its upposed to be a bike, they accentuate the aspects of it to make it look like a bike, and they have him walk around on all fours. If they wereThe game has multiple graphic glitches, including a decent amount of fairly common ones, lags all the time, the character movement is janky sometimes, the game is overall unpolished. Id say the thing i hate most is the legendary as it looks like its upposed to be a bike, they accentuate the aspects of it to make it look like a bike, and they have him walk around on all fours. If they were gonna make him walk they shouldnt have accentuated the tires because they just look bad.… Expand
  5. Noth413
    Nov 25, 2022
    3
    So, Scarlet and violet have some major issues, the obvious one being the glitches galore that has been shown off every where on YouTube, twitter, and Instagram. It’s understandable since this game wasn’t ready to be launched and should have taken a couple more months or even all the way to next November. This would have given it enough time to fix and develop the game further than it isSo, Scarlet and violet have some major issues, the obvious one being the glitches galore that has been shown off every where on YouTube, twitter, and Instagram. It’s understandable since this game wasn’t ready to be launched and should have taken a couple more months or even all the way to next November. This would have given it enough time to fix and develop the game further than it is now but game-freak decided not to do that and it really really shows. Examples in the games are: will shut down randomly, characters will spaz out, Pokémon and people will pop in/out or glitch out, walk through battles and lose their bodies sometimes, you’ll fall out of bounds easily and that’s just some of them. Multiplayer is worse and will more likely have these things happen to the players. However, those aren’t the only issues. Graphics are not great either, low textures, low frame rates even in close distant, slow movement, and lighting/shadow pop in/out effect the gameplay. Customization is also limited, you may be able to do a lot with the face, hair, color, and certain parts of clothing but you can not change your uniform or it’s color. You only get 4 options for each season spring, summer, fall, and winter, you can not change these colors only orange if you pick scarlet and purple if you picked violet. The outfits are horrible looking and not being able to have more options or change tops and bottoms really takes you out of the game since you can’t really feel like you when restricted to these 4 outfits. Pokémon are no better, I’m sorry if I’m comparing to arceus but Pokémon don’t interact like they do in that game. In that game Pokémon would run away if you were not carful, don’t mind you around, and can be aggressive if you get to close or spot you, not to mention the way they interact with other Pokémon, people and the world around them. Scarlet and violet doesn’t make their Pokémon feel like that, they just pop in and out or in groups due to the low graphics they have been given and it’s not the system it’s game-freak let’s make that clear. They don’t intact much or show much characteristics that makes them feel like they belong. The lands are pretty barren with not much to do, the same with the towns since you can’t even go inside any bodies house which seems to be a trend now. No type of side missions or spooky lore to make the town feel alive which is just sad really. Over all this game needed more time to fix its bugs, glitches, frame rate, world interaction, online multiplayer, Pokémon interaction, graphical aspect, more expression with clothing, better towns/lands and a more thought out plan when allowing the freedom of the player roaming the world they build/created. If that means we would have to wait till next fall 2023 then I’d rather wait because it just feels rushed and a money grabbing game rather than a game I would enjoy for years to come like the gens 1 through 6. Hopefully they will fix some of these issues but it is too late for the others I have mentioned.… Expand
  6. ogslim
    Nov 26, 2022
    3
    Probably one if not the most downgraded and incomplete game of the franchise. Its a shame selling this game thinking its ok to have a frame ratio so low, many glitches and a empty overworld with random Pokemon not even interacting with themselves and just walking in plastic enviroments with terrible textures and plastic water. The story is not that great, maybe the characters are okay butProbably one if not the most downgraded and incomplete game of the franchise. Its a shame selling this game thinking its ok to have a frame ratio so low, many glitches and a empty overworld with random Pokemon not even interacting with themselves and just walking in plastic enviroments with terrible textures and plastic water. The story is not that great, maybe the characters are okay but its always the same plot since the first games so i can't even tell if its good or not. Definetly a disappointment even for the price.… Expand
  7. foutflames
    Nov 26, 2022
    3
    The main story for this game is one of the best in the series. It was incredibly fun and was certainly better than Sword and Shield's main story. The bugs at this point, a week after release, with no response from GF or Nintendo on the matter is unacceptable. The game runs terribly. The post game content is feature draught. One of the worst Pokemon post-games I have ever experienced.The main story for this game is one of the best in the series. It was incredibly fun and was certainly better than Sword and Shield's main story. The bugs at this point, a week after release, with no response from GF or Nintendo on the matter is unacceptable. The game runs terribly. The post game content is feature draught. One of the worst Pokemon post-games I have ever experienced. GameFreak released an unfinished product and I feel mistreated as a Pokemon fan. 3rd party developers of Pokemon titles have confirmed that GameFreak is no longer creating the best of the best for it's fans anymore.… Expand
  8. Porkus
    Nov 27, 2022
    3
    L'idée de faire un open world était bonne mais ... c'est tout en fait ça s'arrête là.

    Techniquement c'est une catastrophe entre les bugs graphiques, les freezes et la camera pendant les combats qui est aux fraises. Graphiquement on est sur un jeu de PS3, et encore pour avoir refait Tales Of Grace récemment le rendu est meilleur que ce qu'on a là, que ce soit au niveau des personnages    L'idée de faire un open world était bonne mais ... c'est tout en fait ça s'arrête là.

    Techniquement c'est une catastrophe entre les bugs graphiques, les freezes et la camera pendant les combats qui est aux fraises.

    Graphiquement on est sur un jeu de PS3, et encore pour avoir refait Tales Of Grace récemment le rendu est meilleur que ce qu'on a là, que ce soit au niveau des personnages ou des décors.

    L'open world est vide, t'as quasiment aucune quête, les 3/4 des maisons tu peux pas rentrer dedans, tu peux pas grimper partout et parfois tu vois un chemin sur la map qui en fait est bloqué par une colline donc tu refais tout le tour.

    Le scenario et l'écriture des perso j'ai envie d'hurler, même si ça a jamais été fantastique la on passe de la Team Rocket et autres avec des mafieux qui se servent des Pokemon pour dominer le monde à des mecs qui sèchent l'école et se font bully par le proviseur déguisé avec une vielle perruque. Ils ont complètement mongolisés la licence, que ce soit les jeux ou la série c'est ignoble ce qu'ils ont fait.

    On voit que Gamefreak en a plus rien à foutre, ils se disent que peu importe ce qu'ils sortent tant que c'est écrit Pokemon dessus les gens vont acheter. Ils veulent pas mettre les moyens pour faire un jeu correct, là ils ont vendus un open world de 2010 avec un scenario écrit par un enfant de 5 ans, c'est juste honteux.    … Expand
  9. MisterMarcus117
    Nov 28, 2022
    3
    This game is basically what Pokémon would look like if Game Freak copied The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but with less content and more bugs and glitches. The design of the new Pokémon is, once again, hilarious and bad and I am not sure how the graphics could actually get worse from Sword/Shield, but they did. There are a lot of inconsistencies as well, like when you enter aThis game is basically what Pokémon would look like if Game Freak copied The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but with less content and more bugs and glitches. The design of the new Pokémon is, once again, hilarious and bad and I am not sure how the graphics could actually get worse from Sword/Shield, but they did. There are a lot of inconsistencies as well, like when you enter a cutscene from a certain direction, but once the cutscene starts, your character enters it from another direction.
    However the worst part about this game is that there is no level curve. It's an open world game after all and when you beat the gym leaders in a certain order, you might expect that trainers in other areas will adjust to your level - but they don't. So at one point you may end up fighting PKMN-trainers with level 16 pokémon, while your pokémon are already past level 30. Just because you didn't chose the path the game intended for you - all while the game tells you at the same time, that you can chose any path however you want.

    In all seriousness: Don't buy this game now. It's full of bugs and glitches and 60€/$ is way too much to ask for this experience. Wait until the next SALE in a few months, when it's patched, and then make your own opinion on this piece of crap.    … Expand
  10. Luky1996
    Nov 30, 2022
    3
    Un buon finale e una decente narrazione non riescono a salvare il gioco. Ambientazioni anonime e cattivo bilanciamento. L'open world promesso è inesistente, sei costretto a esplorare alla fine del gioco per non rovinarti l'esperienza con l'overleveling. Il fatto che le main battle non abbiano livelli scalari vincola l'esplorazione. Le 3 storie non si possono affrontareliberamente in quantoUn buon finale e una decente narrazione non riescono a salvare il gioco. Ambientazioni anonime e cattivo bilanciamento. L'open world promesso è inesistente, sei costretto a esplorare alla fine del gioco per non rovinarti l'esperienza con l'overleveling. Il fatto che le main battle non abbiano livelli scalari vincola l'esplorazione. Le 3 storie non si possono affrontareliberamente in quanto i Pokémon non obbedirebbero e koraidon non otterrebbe powerup necessari ad esplorare. Prestazioni orribili… Expand
  11. dicuzip
    Nov 30, 2022
    3
    The game is extremely buggy, terribly optimized, and graphically horrible for a game released in 2022. Everything, from the exploration, terraforming, and level scaling, is a big step back compared to the Legend Arceus Experience. Everything but the narration and the characters' characterization: the part of the game related to the school, the professors, and the lore of Paldea isThe game is extremely buggy, terribly optimized, and graphically horrible for a game released in 2022. Everything, from the exploration, terraforming, and level scaling, is a big step back compared to the Legend Arceus Experience. Everything but the narration and the characters' characterization: the part of the game related to the school, the professors, and the lore of Paldea is well-written and far better than what has been done in Sword/Shield.
    With Pokemon Scarlet, Gamefreak has reached the bottom.
    Hope to see a well-made pokemon game in the future, a pokemon game made with love for pokemon fans and not a money machine.    … Expand
  12. Altidor
    Nov 30, 2022
    3
    A game poor and not finished, full of bug and glitch. Not playable in 2022 and false open world. Nice story, but everything else is embarrassing.
  13. FlareZ
    Nov 30, 2022
    3
    The gameplay got a slight improvement compared to Sword and Shield which is awesome right?
    But it came at the price of a lot of cut content a empty open world : The citys have almost no building to enter and are very forgetable , the open world is empty that means no dungeons, no side quest, no structures that are interesting it only has the raid points, items and the Pokemon spawns    The gameplay got a slight improvement compared to Sword and Shield which is awesome right?
    But it came at the price of a lot of cut content a empty open world : The citys have almost no building to enter and are very forgetable , the open world is empty that means no dungeons, no side quest, no structures that are interesting it only has the raid points, items and the Pokemon spawns

    The performance is pathetic compared to the previous game Legend Arceus with frame dips below 10 , the render distance is a mess , tons of animations at 2 fps , bugs , glitches , crashes you name it the game prob has it

    Graphic is even worse the AA is somehow negative or something , light is flickering everywhere , textures are cut of and pixelated af the only good thing are the Pokemon models those are pretty clean

    post game is cut pretty short but what do we expect after what Masuda said about the missing battle area on ORAS ?

    If i would go on about the negatives i would prob lose my mind now so ill leave it at that which is enought to not recommend this mess    … Expand
  14. Garlond
    Dec 2, 2022
    3
    Bad pokemon designs, a lot of bugs, my 3 points are all for the OS that is pretty good in most times.

    A lot of effort in the scenario creation in the first route but a lack of it in the rest. In comparison with Legends: Arceus, this was a lot better than Scarlet / Violet. The best Pokémon design I think is the legendary ones in the cover, but in other platforms it will be considered    Bad pokemon designs, a lot of bugs, my 3 points are all for the OS that is pretty good in most times.

    A lot of effort in the scenario creation in the first route but a lack of it in the rest.

    In comparison with Legends: Arceus, this was a lot better than Scarlet / Violet.

    The best Pokémon design I think is the legendary ones in the cover, but in other platforms it will be considered "clickbait", so good job selling smoke.    … Expand
  15. REOSpeedwagon
    Dec 3, 2022
    3
    An too simple and banal narrative in an empty open world but full of technical problems
  16. Litchee
    Dec 6, 2022
    3
    I cannot in good faith give this game a higher score, simply because its glaring flaws feel like a slap in the face of millions of dedicated fans. The game is ugly, outdated, clunky, glitchy, unfinished and overpriced. I still love Pokémon, but am finding it harder and harder to justify it.
  17. Alexander135
    Dec 7, 2022
    3
    Pokemon Scarlett is a game that seems to have been made by passionate programmers/artists/designers, but rushed and released unfinished. You will buy it because it's Pokemon, but the product is of overall low quality. The open world is beautiful, the battles are enjoyable, the gym leaders interesting, the story multifaceted and engaging. All of this is tarnished by poor performance.

    There    Pokemon Scarlett is a game that seems to have been made by passionate programmers/artists/designers, but rushed and released unfinished. You will buy it because it's Pokemon, but the product is of overall low quality. The open world is beautiful, the battles are enjoyable, the gym leaders interesting, the story multifaceted and engaging. All of this is tarnished by poor performance.

    There is a plethora of bugs. I'll break down the bugs into three categories below.

    Unavoidable & understandable: there are many times where the game slows down. For the minor instances these are understandable as many Switch titles have difficulty maintaining an ideal frame rate due to limited hardware. Additionally, distant characters will appear at varying levels of choppiness. Say you are next to a character, they move smoothly, you move 15 steps away and they are moving at 12fps, you move even further and now they are moving at 3fps. These are annoying and feel unpolished, but I could understand these being necessary to establish a smooth frame rate.

    Immersion breaking: there are several scenes, notably in school, where the obvious choppiness of the characters moving at only a few frames per second, distracts and detracts from the immersion of the game and diminishes the gameplay experience. If this was an intentional feature, they should have used pre-rendered videos rather than a live display. Here you are learning about math and these robotic children around you keep jittering around. Another issue is the at times extreme slowdowns. I've had the game freeze for several seconds, I've moved at far less than half of normal speed for 5-10 seconds, I've had cutscenes display improperly due to not rendering correctly. These are unacceptable and we are owed them being fixed.

    Game breaking: I've had several instances where loading screens never load. I enter a city, I'm looking at a blank loading screen, a minute goes by, then five, then ten. I have to close the game and relaunch it to play it. Additionally, seemingly at random times, the game will crash. This can be: mid battle, when running around, when entering a new area. It doesn't happen often, but I've never had a Switch game experience crashes like this. Something is not right.

    The story is pretty good overall, but poorly executed. Early on in the game you are given three main paths to pursue. All of them are necessary overall to advance, but you can do them in different orders. There is Team Star to pursue and beat to take down their bases, There is the option to pursue the Titans (which unlocks new areas to travel to), and lastly there are the gym leaders.

    One area that the game lacks is direction. It seems like they wanted the game to be open and more free than previous Pokemon games, which is great, but they also have linear elements to the story which prevent this. Example: early in the game you are presented with two options: travel West and earn gym badges, or travel East and pursue Titans. This is misleading though. Both directions contain both titans and gym leaders of undisclosed difficulty. I chose to go West, and encountered higher level gym leaders. I got a few gym badges, then came back to head East only to encounter a gym leader with Pokemon nearly 20 levels under me. In no way was it suggested that I should start with the Eastern gyms. While it's great that you have some freedom in the order that you battle the gym leaders, the lack of direction provides an unnecessary hurdle. If the intention was to have a game where you wander wherever you please and battle whatever gym you came across, then the gym leaders should have dynamic levels. Say that the first gym will have Pokemon lvls (10, 10, 11, 12), the second gym has Pokemon lvls (14, 14, 16, 16), this should be the levels of the Pokemon no matter who you fight. If your second gym is the Ghost leader, or the Fighting leader, or Normal leader, all of their Pokemon would be the difficulty that a second badge should be. If they wanted the game to be open but varying in difficulty depending on where you go and when, they should have given clues as to what path leads where. I do like the game overall, but it was delivered in a very poor condition to consumers. It's a game where I feel in six months it will have many issues ironed out, but I disapprove of the business model of "release a broken title and hopefully fix it later".

    If you are not in a hurry to get this title, I suggest you wait until they iron out the bugs so that you can have a nice gameplay experience.    … Expand
  18. daffy1998
    Dec 11, 2022
    3
    Honestly, I’ve played the series since the beginning, and this is the worst game. It has a lot if good ideas, but it’s all done so terribly, and the performance issues are severe and ruin fundamental aspects of the game at times. This in addition to the continued cuts from previous games (like the national dex), makes these feel like major cash grab games. I came in wanting to like it, butHonestly, I’ve played the series since the beginning, and this is the worst game. It has a lot if good ideas, but it’s all done so terribly, and the performance issues are severe and ruin fundamental aspects of the game at times. This in addition to the continued cuts from previous games (like the national dex), makes these feel like major cash grab games. I came in wanting to like it, but they’re very poor games.… Expand
  19. attahan
    Jan 8, 2023
    3
    The game doesn’t look better then a DS game and quite laggy, also shadow textures are trembling. I was unable to stand the game and probably wait for upcoming updates.
  20. Cayalle
    Apr 2, 2023
    3
    First, the amount charged in my country is a joke, totally out of line with our reality (Brazil). Second, the tera is a terrible mechanic, totally empty and that ends with the existing typing of the pokemons, because if we use the tera as a defense we can literally ruin any strategy of another player, just see how the world was strange to follow. I believe that the tera itself is aFirst, the amount charged in my country is a joke, totally out of line with our reality (Brazil). Second, the tera is a terrible mechanic, totally empty and that ends with the existing typing of the pokemons, because if we use the tera as a defense we can literally ruin any strategy of another player, just see how the world was strange to follow. I believe that the tera itself is a mechanic that needs to be forgotten quickly so that pokemon goes back to what it was. Tera raid also has several problems with bugs and a real obligation to make the pokemon X mode so that you can win the tera raid, which leads us to the question... After all, the game is for fun or to play for a fixed mode to be able to win a super augmented fight that doesn't reflect the tera raid pokemon?! There are many things to complain about, but I believe the game is one of the worst pokemon games.… Expand
  21. ABigFatAirAtom
    Apr 3, 2023
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. (im comparing this as both scarlet AND violet)
    These games suck compared to other Pokemon titles
    I get it they're good, but still suck
    They have the second worst performance of the entire franchise (second to BDSP).
    Cassoroya lake, tagtree thicket, North Province Area 2 (bamboo area). Nuff said
    Their shiny hunting is entirely outclassed by PLA and the let's go titles.
    Breeding is at its worst, the fact that you have to wait then get eggs makes it extremely daunting if you want to get shines from masuda method (eg. the starters, 7 star raid bosses, hissuian zorua).
    There are two loading screens just to open the game.
    The starters are bad (except skeledirge)
    In order to shiny hunt with even half decent odds of masuda method charmless without eggs is clear 60 in an outbreak (already 20 mins prep time) then spend several hours grinding for herba mystica then have the shiny charm, practically in order to hunt with good odds you need 2:30:00 of prep time
    compared to PLA with about 1 minute prep time if you're unlucky.
    They cut lapras, Togekiss, Metagross and Minior but kept in alomamola, luvdisc and lumineon
    You can never get into online Tera raids
    Grinding takes forever

    But there definitely are some great positives
    The story is immaculate and touching, arven made me cry.
    The graphics, despite the low framerate are the best in the series thus far.
    Iron Bundle is adorable and in my top ten favorite pokemon.
    The incredibly large pokedex (despite the cuts and dumb choices)
    The sheer amount of content
    The School teaching is incredible and the fact that jahq or whatever is name is teaches you about shinies

    I feel like the cons unfortunatly outweigh the pros
    3/10
    (PLA 10/10 tho def get that instead)    … Expand
  22. Swirbl
    Jul 16, 2023
    3
    You already know how people think about this game, and I'm just here to approve it. It's poorly made and so on. Please rethink it if you are planning to buy the DLC and buy yourself something useful instead... The final battle was neat, though.
  23. kthonik
    Jul 26, 2023
    3
    The performance of this game is appalling. It's almost as if Nintendo knows anything with the Pokemon name is going to be a hit, so they don't even try. Definitely 2 steps backward from sw/sh
  24. Ramoscello
    Aug 16, 2023
    3
    Bad graphics, bad animation, no voice acting, lags, bad story, repetitive, bad open world, bad quest, the only decent part of this game is the lore, the rest is terrible
  25. Captiosus
    Nov 21, 2022
    2
    It is not an exaggeration when I say I haven't played a game THIS buggy since release day Cyberpunk 2077. That's how bad the bugs, glitches, and performance is of this game. Within the first 20 minutes of starting my game I had NPCs T-posing and A-posing, textures vanishing, Pokemon getting put behind textures, repeat frame drops down to slideshow level, and fell through the world once.It is not an exaggeration when I say I haven't played a game THIS buggy since release day Cyberpunk 2077. That's how bad the bugs, glitches, and performance is of this game. Within the first 20 minutes of starting my game I had NPCs T-posing and A-posing, textures vanishing, Pokemon getting put behind textures, repeat frame drops down to slideshow level, and fell through the world once. It's never gotten bettter. These same bugs have repeated any time I play the game.

    I'm tired of people trying to justify giving the game high scores due to the gameplay loop. The gameplay loop in Cyberpunk 2077 was decent too -- didn't stop the game from being dragged over the coals for being a broken, borderline unplayable, mess of a game. Just like this one. Being Pokemon or being a Nintendo property shouldn't give them a pass. In fact, it should hold them to HIGHER scrutiny.

    This game is broken.
    No amount of occasionally "fun" gameplay will change that fact.
    Don't buy it until it's fixed.    … Expand
  26. Mrimaginary
    Feb 21, 2023
    2
    Most games deal in either/or. Either you can have great graphics, or you can have a huge world. Either you can have full voice acting, or you can have lots of dialogue, or a compromise with some Voice acting. On the other hand, modern Pokémon is: Neither.

    You have a technically broken game. The first truly open map is nice, but its still basic, lacking interesting exploration or    Most games deal in either/or. Either you can have great graphics, or you can have a huge world. Either you can have full voice acting, or you can have lots of dialogue, or a compromise with some Voice acting. On the other hand, modern Pokémon is: Neither.

    You have a technically broken game. The first truly open map is nice, but its still basic, lacking interesting exploration or atmosphere. Visually this looks like roblox, a free online game. You have couple of flat textures copy pasted on surfaces as if by an amateur. When you walk into major cities, like the the electric gym, it's like you are looking at the concept notes of a place. It would be cool, if it was actually finished. As it is, the flat textures look ugly everywhere, there are hardly any interiors and barely any foot traffic. Whatever NPCs that walk around look like broken automatons because of the framerate. How do you immerse the player in a bustling, high tech city setting when the visual details, frame rate utterly fail to create that atmosphere? The only thing that comes through and works well is the music. Compare this to other games, like the hubs in Splatoon that also try to convey a busting urban area - It's embarrassing by comparison. They even took away the extensive wardrobe customization

    In order to offer meager modernization in the form of 3d, open worlds, Pokemon has regressed beyond belief in almost every other regard. The flow in Legends Arceus, where battles were seamless and wouldn't chug along with each notification "X was paralysed!" Stopping everything one by one is abandoned, and again now Pokemon is excruciatingly slow, slower than before because of the performance. How do you offer such a technically basic world, lacking features, and also have it look this bad and ALSO not even run well?

    I understand Gamefreak and Pokemon Company can make a lot of money regardless. The brand is strong. But for how long? And why are they comfortable with disrespecting their own brand so much? Pikachu is like Japan's mickey mouse. The highest grossing entertainment franchise, Pokemon is like a cultural institution and a form of soft power for Japan. Following on with the Disney comparison, which is globally deeply associated with American culture, you would never see a major Disney film with poor production. They might not be good films always, often formulaic. But across the animated work, star wars and marvel, the production will be professional and high quality. It goes to show how empty and nihilistic corporate Japan is, that they do not treat their own cultural treasure of Pokémon with the same grace. Eventually the brand will be weakened by this.

    The good: The open world structure is nice, the narrative is more fun than most previous entries too. They have refreshed how professors, legendries and more fit into the Pokemon world. It's far behind other games still - Even games aimed at all ages - But there is some more thoughtful worldbuilding than previous entries. The formula works well with an open world and the 3 non-linear mission paths. It would not be hard to make this game fun and acceptable, and it would not be especially expensive or time consuming. But the technical issues and sheer sloppiness are just so distracting, it continually impedes any immersion for me. Like I said, every area feels like concept notes, not even a Beta state of the game. It literally feels like a free online game, but its full retail instead. Every step forward in terms of modernization seems to be a new low for GameFreak and Pokemon.    … Expand
  27. Bastrion
    Nov 21, 2022
    2
    I enjoyed the main game and the experience is astounding, but your immersion is constantly broken by highly game breaking and front facing bugs and glitches that range from hilarious to full on terrifying body horror. They even go as far as to hard crash your Switch sometimes, causing actual damage to the console through overheating and damaging fatal error crashes.

    The game is an    I enjoyed the main game and the experience is astounding, but your immersion is constantly broken by highly game breaking and front facing bugs and glitches that range from hilarious to full on terrifying body horror. They even go as far as to hard crash your Switch sometimes, causing actual damage to the console through overheating and damaging fatal error crashes.

    The game is an AMAZING experience throughout, completely ruined by this unacceptable amount of bugs and game breaking QA failures. I would revisit this review if they communicated on patches and fixes, but I fear much like the tradition with Game Freak, it's a pump and dump one and done.    … Expand
  28. Visaith
    Nov 19, 2022
    2
    Amazing game thats completely broken, stay away. You can tell that under the obviously unfinished game, theres...something.
  29. qualquerum
    Nov 30, 2022
    2
    Certainly the biggest downgrade in pokémon history. It's unacceptable for GameFreak to release a limited game like this after Legends: Arceus. Basically they removed all the cool content that Arceus had and went back to the same generic old stuff. Not to mention the game is insanely slow, I feel like going to sleep every time I enter a battle. In short, GameFreak should be ashamed forCertainly the biggest downgrade in pokémon history. It's unacceptable for GameFreak to release a limited game like this after Legends: Arceus. Basically they removed all the cool content that Arceus had and went back to the same generic old stuff. Not to mention the game is insanely slow, I feel like going to sleep every time I enter a battle. In short, GameFreak should be ashamed for releasing a game like this after Arceus… Expand
  30. Crysawn
    Nov 21, 2022
    2
    Can't even join tera raids online, took me 30 minutes to join a single tera raid online. For a game that is part of the biggest franchise in the world this is horrible quality.

    If the glitches/lag/problems were not a problem i'd give this a solid 8/10. However, due to those, I am sadly going to have to give it a 2/10. I am a programmer and how they got this approved through QA and    Can't even join tera raids online, took me 30 minutes to join a single tera raid online. For a game that is part of the biggest franchise in the world this is horrible quality.

    If the glitches/lag/problems were not a problem i'd give this a solid 8/10. However, due to those, I am sadly going to have to give it a 2/10. I am a programmer and how they got this approved through QA and slated for release is beyond me, if my team did this they'd be reprimanded.    … 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.
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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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