Support NeoGAF

[Draugoth]

---

Game Title: Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

Platforms:

• Nintendo Switch (Nov 18, 2022)

Trailers:

• Seek Your Treasure! | Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet
• Competitive Play Trailer | Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet
• World Overview | Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet

Developer: GAME FREAK

Publisher: Nintendo

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 77 average - 64% recommended - 24 reviews

Metacritic (Scarlet) - 78 average - 35 reviews

Metacritic (Violet) - 78 average - 35 reviews

Previous Pokémon review scores

---

Game	Aggregated Score
Pokémon X/Y	86 (OpenCritic)
Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire	82 (OpenCritic)
Pokémon Sun/Moon	87 (OpenCritic)
Pokémon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon	83 (OpenCritic)
Pokémon Let's Go	81 (OpenCritic)
Pokémon Sword/Shield	80 (OpenCritic)
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl	75 (OpenCritic)
Pokémon Legends: Arceus	84 (OpenCritic)

---

Critic Reviews


Digital Trends - Giovanni Colantonio - 3.5 / 5

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's open-world pivot is exactly what the series needed, though poor tech holds back its true potential.

---

Eurogamer - Lottie Lynn - No Recommendation

An interesting reworking of the traditional Pokémon gameplay for an open-world setting brought low by its lifeless environments and graphics

---

GameSpot - Jacob Dekker - 8 / 10

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet's open-world approach reinvigorates the long-running series.

---

GamesRadar+ - Joel Franey - 3 / 5

"The open world inherently changes so much for the series that it needed a total ground-up rethink of the mechanics"

---

Geeks & Com - Anthony Gravel - French - 8.5 / 10

Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet bring some interesting new innovations such as a complete open world and a fun new Let’s Go! mechanic that speeds up fighting. The fact that you can now tale multiple paths really helps to diversify gameplay and the narrative behind is the best the series has to offer. Unfortunately, some technical issues such as texture problems and Pokémons that load too slowly in the open world will irritate players.

---

Glitched Africa - Marco Cocomello - 9 / 10

Some ideas might not work and there are some obvious visual issues to overcome but there’s never been a grander, more exciting Pokemon adventure.

---

God is a Geek - Adam Cook - 7.5 / 10

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are great games mired by a host of technical issues.

---

Guardian - Tom Regan - 3 / 5

Technical problems and an evident lack of development time take the shine off this ambitious new outing for the world-conquering critters

---

IGN - Rebekah Valentine - Unscored

[Review in progress] There really isn’t a moment in these games where I’d say Pokémon Scarlet and Violet run well.

---

Inverse - Jess Reyes - 7 / 10

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet give you more choices than ever before. In exchange, it expects you to adapt to its half-baked open world and mostly optional new features. These latest games aren’t the great leap forward from Pokémon Legends: Arceus that fans were hoping for, but it is a small step.

---

Metro GameCentral - David Jenkins - 8 / 10

A significant advancement on Pokémon Sword and Shield and while it's not hard to see how it could be improved further this is the most ambitious and entertaining Pokémon has been in a long while.

---

Nintendo Life - Alana Hagues - 7 / 10

It's a smaller step than many may have hoped for, especially considering what Pokémon Legends: Arceus did, but it's definitely one in the right direction.

---

Polygon - Kenneth Shepard - Unscored

Despite my frustrations with its structure, mechanics, and the fact that it looks and runs like a middling GameCube game most of the time (there were several instances, even outside of the open-world areas, where character animations would drop to near stop-motion levels of movement), I still left Scarlet and Violet enamored by its character relationships and neatly tied-up themes of finding one’s own joy in the big, wild Pokémon world.

---

Press Start - Harry Kalogirou - 7.5 / 10

Whilst there's still stumbling missteps as Game Freak try to find their footing in the future of Pokémon, Scarlet and Violet is an endearing, and enjoyable attempt at a fundamentally different Pokémon experience. New ideas, some quality of life improvements, and some excellent new Pokémon designs make the trip to Paldea worthwhile.

---

Screen Rant - Cody Gravelle - 4.5 / 5

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet is engrossing at its best but clunky at its worst, offering an uneven but ultimately exceptional experience on Switch.

---

Shacknews - Donovan Erskine - 7 / 10

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are ambitious new entries in the franchise that are held back by abysmal performance issues.

---

TheSixthAxis - Jason Coles - 7 / 10

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet feel like the awkward second evolution of one of its starters. It's growing into something resplendent, it's showing signs of an exciting second type, but it's got that weird vibe of a 20-something that hasn't quite figured out who they actually are. Add that weirdly stretched feeling to the constant technical oddities and you've got a game that's undoubtedly good fun, but it's still not even it's final form. I can't wait to see what Pokemon becomes, but it's not quite there yet.

---

Unboxholics - Στράτος Χατζηνικολάου - Greek - Worth your time

Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet bring some innovative ideas to the series and freshen it up slightly, with new features that are certainly worthwhile. It's Nintendo's classic and successful formula, with the ninth generation being extremely interesting, with brand new Pokémon, new missions and ideas that are sure to "ring a bell" for hardcore gamers. Is this the next step that Game Freak has been waiting for? The answer is...sort of.

---

VG247 - Alex Donaldson - 4 / 5

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet is more than the sum of its parts. Those parts include the woeful performance and optimization problems, which are a real drag – but much of the rest of the title soars so high that it does go a long way to make one ignore them, after a fashion.

---

XGN.nl - Luuc ten Velde - Dutch - 7.5 / 10

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet takes the next step for the franchise thanks to the lush open world. Even the new Terastallizing mechanic is great fun, although it is kinda a reskin of an earlier mechanic. Amazing music and some smart design choises make it a game you can't miss. At least, that is what we would've said if the performance wasn't as bad as it is.

 

[Jack Videogames]

Wow, lower than SwSh. Wasn't expecting that after Arceus.

 

[Interface23]

Time For Switch 2: Electric Boogaloo

 

[Skifi28]

Perhaps the novelty of 3d pokemon is finally wearing off for reviewers.

 

[Cao Cao]

I am playing it for a few days now and I have fun but HOLY FUK the graphics are DISGUSTING!
Must be one of the ugliest 3D games I have ever played. I think even Arceus looked better.
The framerate is horrible.

 

[Fake]

Pokemon name alone will make sell, GF don't even need to try anymore.


One day the Xenoblade devs will take pkmn franchise and make a decent game.

 

[demonstr8]

Reviews worse then even SwSh, god damn it must be bad because that game was overrated reviews wise - I’m actually pretty disappointed in that score I was somewhat excited for this entry.

 

[It's all in the wrist]

I hope this game gets raked over the coals.

 

[Bragr]

It's getting hurt by its performance, looks like a Gameboy game and it's struggling to run properly.

Yes, the Switch is old, but this is more of a Game Freak issue, they should be able to produce something considerably better than this.

This is what a new Pokemon game should look like in this day and age:

 

[Saber]

I saw this person playing this game on handheld mode, and this game runs veeery poorly(with naked eyes you can see the game strugglying hard). Its strange seeing someone playing with this performance.

 

[Roufianos]

Damn, I'll still try it out but least hyped I've ever been for a Pokemon game. Still baffled why this strips back all the improvements Arceus made.

 

[Gambit2483]

I seriously hope Nintendo has the sense to put stronger hardware on the market next year, instead of hindering current gen games for another 16 months with 10 year old mobile tech.

They clearly need better when current games are struggling to hit 1080p (with a stable 30fps) in 2022.

 

[hemo memo]

I seriously hope Nintendo has the sense to put stronger hardware on the market next year, instead of hindering current gen games for another 16 months with 10 year old mobile tech.

They clearly need better when current games are struggling to hit 1080p (with a stable 30fps) in 2022.

Are they going to bother patching the games though or they will hit the restart button with the new hardware?

 

[Jinzo Prime]

Damn, I'll still try it out but least hyped I've ever been for a Pokemon game. Still baffled why this strips back all the improvements Arceus made.

Different director. Ohmori directed Pokemon games have all sucked.

 

[PhoenixTank]

I seriously hope Nintendo has the sense to put stronger hardware on the market next year, instead of hindering current gen games for another 16 months with 10 year old mobile tech.

They clearly need better when current games are struggling to hit 1080p (with a stable 30fps) in 2022.

A lot of this is on gamefreak, I fear. Xenoblade 3 and this are miles apart visually (including performance) and seem like a fair comparison for complexity.

 

[Umbasaborne]

I seriously hope Nintendo has the sense to put stronger hardware on the market next year, instead of hindering current gen games for another 16 months with 10 year old mobile tech.

They clearly need better when current games are struggling to hit 1080p (with a stable 30fps) in 2022.

Yep, the performance and visuals in some of these titles are reaching a point of unacceptability. Pokemon is like the biggest brand in the world, literally no reason the games should look and run this way. I wish reviewers would really call them out for the technical aspects, but unfortunatley nintendo gets a pass for most things in this industry that other companies would get dog piled for. Seriously, a nintendo game could launch looking like an n64 game and the hard core fans would be like “LoOks FiNe tO mE!” While reviewers continue to be too afraid to score it below a 7.

 

[Fbh]

Wow the tech is so bad even reviewers (who were mostly fine with Sword/Shield having the production values of a Ps2 game) are pushing back. Not that it's going to make a difference as this is going to sell gangbusters.

Said it in another thread but I got to play a bit of this the other day and was pleasantly surprised. The graphics are horrible, it has performance issues, it's easy as fuck and I'm sure the story is as bad as always but it still felt like a significant step towards making it that open world game I've wanted for a long time. Environments are bigger, Pokemon are roaming around, fights now seamlessly take place on the world instead of a separate combat arena and the structure seems overall less linear. There's a blueprint for something good here, it's just a shame they'll never get the budget to accomplish it.

I am playing it for a few days now and I have fun but HOLY FUK the graphics are DISGUSTING!
Must be one of the ugliest 3D games I have ever played. I think even Arceus looked better.
The framerate is horrible.

It's ok-ish in handheld mode.
But on the TV?

 

[Portugeezer]

Pretty low for Pokemon... Still, I'll get it.

 

[Tg89]

Gamefreak is such an embarrassing dev.

 

[Saber]

I seriously hope Nintendo has the sense to put stronger hardware on the market next year, instead of hindering current gen games for another 16 months with 10 year old mobile tech.

I don't think its the hardware fault this time.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

One day the Xenoblade devs will get xenoblade chronicles x out for the Switch..

Your post had an error, weirdly. Dont worry, I fixed it

 

[Bragr]

I seriously hope Nintendo has the sense to put stronger hardware on the market next year, instead of hindering current gen games for another 16 months with 10 year old mobile tech.

They clearly need better when current games are struggling to hit 1080p (with a stable 30fps) in 2022.

Yes, it's too old, but this is a Game Freak issue, it's possible to deliver OK-looking stuff on the Switch with some ingenuity and good art.

Game Freak is the Nintendo version of Team Sonic. They don't follow industry standards.

They aren't a first-party Nintendo studio either, so Nintendo can't pressure them to step their game up. I can promise you that Nintendo is frustrated with those guys.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Pokémon has too much of the same

 

[hemo memo]

Maybe before Xenoblade 3 this would have been excused but I mean X3 is even more complex than this and looks great. So yeah I agree with the opinion that this is not much of a Switch problem as much of a Gamefreak problem.

Most if not all review mentioned performance issues front and center which is something they ignore most of the time but it must be so sever that it hindered the experience for them to mention.

I will play it when it unlocks and try for myself.

 

[Kacho]

I seriously hope Nintendo has the sense to put stronger hardware on the market next year, instead of hindering current gen games for another 16 months with 10 year old mobile tech.

They clearly need better when current games are struggling to hit 1080p (with a stable 30fps) in 2022.

Nintendo does need better hardware but that's not the issue here. Gamefreak is just light years behind with their tech. They need to hire some baka gaijin western devs to help them on the technical side. Either that or go back to sprites because this shit looks putrid.

 

[mcjmetroid]

Very lukewarm reviews.....

 

[Whitecrow]

If only people stopped giving them money...

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Perhaps the novelty of 3d pokemon is finally wearing off for reviewers.

I hope this game gets raked over the coals.

Huh? The scores aren’t great and the tech issues are being clearly called out, but the reviewers’ comments mostly agree that the game is solid and a new direction for the series. It’s ironically going to be the most interesting Pokemon game of the decade, but also the one with the worst Metascore.

 

[Rykan]

I like how everyone thought that lets go Pikachu and let's go Eevee were just a small taste of what's to come, but they are actually still the best looking Pokemon games. Wild.

 

[splattered]

My kids have been constantly bugging me to get these for them lately... wow not looking so hot

 

[justiceiro]

Can't say I didn't expect, but man, pokemon could be as great as zelda or mario, but this insistence on pushing two mainline games every year is putting it below sport games even.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Time For Switch 2: Electric Boogaloo

Still a better name than Wii U

 

[ToTTenTranz]

To all the people complaining about the Switch's hardware this is what 20 year-old Super Mario Sunshine looked like on the Gamecube:

And this is Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii, 15 years ago:

Don't get me wrong, I do agree that Nintendo needs to release a Switch successor with decent hardware specs as soon as last week, but there is something clearly very wrong with these devs who can't match the graphics fidelity of a modern 3-person indie team using Unity.

 

[V1LÆM]

game freak are half assed lazy fuckers. Pokemon deserves better.

It's getting hurt by its performance, looks like a Gameboy game and it's struggling to run properly.

Yes, the Switch is old, but this is more of a Game Freak issue, they should be able to produce something considerably better than this.

This is what a new Pokemon game should look like in this day and age:

no thanks. that shit looks awful.

 

[Gambit2483]

Just to be clear, yes, I think this is both a hardware and Gamefreak issue. Iirc Monolithsoft (Xenoblade Chronicles) did assist them with the game to some extent.

 

[Sleepwalker]

Lol gamefreak never changes. Consistently one of the worst studios out there.

Funnily enough competitive pokemon is super fleshed out and complex in comparison. Gotta believe it was a fluke.

 

[levyjl1988]

Wow, Nintendo Life is ripping this game on the technical performance, camera problems, pop-in, frame rate issues, etc.


I knew GameFreak is lazy, but holy shit, this game feels like a rushed product.

Also performance discussed by GameXplain:


GameFreak shit the bed.

 

[tmlDan]

The switch is chugging in most cases, yes, there are exception with some first party games but even Pokemon Unite menu's are chugging and its a mobile game.

They need a new switch and it can't be more expensive than what they're selling this old hardware at.

Sadly, stupid people still buy it and the games so they have no incentive to upgrade their system.

This is also on gamefreak and the Pokémon brand, how can you have so much money and release such shit products - its so disappointing loving Pokémon and getting shit like this.

 

[chromhound]

Lowest pokemon scores i have seen

 

[Kacho]

Lowest pokemon scores i have seen

Hopefully it compels Gamefreak to do some soul searching because they're devaluing the Pokemon brand at this point

 

[jaysius]

Honest scores for a Nintendo first party game... This is amazing, looks like the checks aren't big enough even for this one.

 

[Gambit2483]

To all the people complaining about the Switch's hardware this is what 20 year-old Super Mario Sunshine looked like on the Gamecube:

And this is Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii, 15 years ago:

Don't get me wrong, I do agree that Nintendo needs to release a Switch successor with decent hardware specs as soon as last week, but there is something clearly very wrong with these devs who can't match the graphics fidelity of a modern 3-person indie team using Unity.

Agreed, optimization and artstyle will always win the day..but keep in mind, these were sandbox style games with very contained levels and nowhere near the draw distances, number of polys/objects being rendered at any given time. It would be more applicable to compare similar genres from different eras instead.

 

[anthony2690]

I am playing it for a few days now and I have fun but HOLY FUK the graphics are DISGUSTING!
Must be one of the ugliest 3D games I have ever played. I think even Arceus looked better.
The framerate is horrible.

Oooft, Arceus was absolutely hideous, so I'm really surprised to hear this looks worst.

Shoutouts to the 3fps flying Garados!

I think Game Freak should maybe consider taking their time with the next Pokémon game.

They literally churned out three games this year, that look and run like poo and will probably sell more than 99% off other games this year.

I guess that is the issue though, it will sell like hot cakes regardless.

 

[SCB3]

Damn I was looking forward to this as I liked SwSh and Arceus a lot, but yea I watched a couple of reviews and gameplay and it’s running like shit, at least BDSP looked decent compared to this

 

[Spaceman292]

Looks like shit, runs like shit, but it's a Pokemon game. Same as all the others.

 

[Comandr]

Welp time to weigh in.

Let’s get this out of the way first. The game runs like shit. Low resolution, frame rate, tons of pop in.

Putting that aside, it does feel kind of amazing they got this game to run on the switch at all. There can be a LOT of characters on screen at a given time, and cutscenes feature high quality models and even ambient occlusion. That was a real shock for me.

With performance out of the way; the game is great. The intro is a little hand holdy for about an hour, and then you are left completely alone to do whatever the hell you want. No one forcing you to go a specific route, do any given thing. The only direction the game’s narrative gives you is “do what makes you happy.” And it’s wonderful.

This game can be quite difficult. The strongest non legendary wild Pokémon I’ve found was level 75. Unless you pick a team or 6 and focus entirely on them, there will be quite large jumps in difficulty and you will black out and scurry back to the Pokémon center. With so many Pokémon to catch all over the place, and easy access to the box, I found my team to be a revolving door that required a decent bit of grinding to stay powerful enough for the next challenge.

There are a lot of great quality of life changes. Trainers no longer force you to battle. You can turn off new move notices and just make your Pokémon “remember” any move it would have available at that given level. If you choose to leave move notices on, simply pressing cancel twice dismisses the message, rather than cancel and confirm. It’s a small thing but it streamlines the process that was otherwise somewhat tedious. Learn this? No. Are you suuuurre? Ugh yes I’m sure. Gone.

There are plenty of new monster designs that are genuinely really good. Some of them are whatever but a lot of them are the best the series has seen in a long time. Feels like a return to gen 1-2 design principles of less is more.

And the music?! It’s fantastic. Wild battle themes change depending on the area you’re in, and team star has some genuine bangers. Stopped on my turn to listen more than once at just how good the track was. Can honestly say it’s the first Pokémon game I would ever purchase a soundtrack for.

TL;DR: The graphics suck. A bad developer is asking too much of this ancient hardware. That aside, the designs, world, music, quality of life changes, and sense of freedom are amazing. The most fun I’ve had playing a Pokémon game in years, and reinvigorated my interest in the series.

 

[spons]

I have never been more excited for a game that looks this terrible. Day fucking 1.

 

[Fbh]

Agreed, optimization and artstyle will always win the day..but keep in mind, these were sandbox style games with very contained levels and nowhere near the draw distances, number of polys/objects being rendered at any given time. It would be more applicable to compare similar genres from different eras instead.

This AC black flag, an almost 10 years old game running in portable mode on a Switch Lite:


It's also a big seamless open world and it pretty much looks a generation or two ahead of anything Gamefreak has made. And while yeah it's a very big and popular franchise, it's nowhere near as big or successful as Pokemon and it's just a port instead of something could be built from the ground up for the Switch.

 

[Celcius]

I wish there was a demo for this. I’ve never played a Pokémon game but this looks like it could be interesting. I want to see digital foundry do a video on this…

 

[Gambit2483]

This AC black flag, an almost 10 years old game running in portable mode on a Switch Lite:


It's also a big seamless open world and it pretty much looks a generation or two ahead of anything Gamefreak has made. And while yeah it's a very big and popular franchise, it's nowhere near as big or successful as Pokemon and it's just a port instead of something could be built from the ground up for the Switch.

AC: Black Flag's (honestly) closest direct comparison would be it's open sea (and forts), which is just that, 80% open sea.

All of the actual landmarks that you do the majority of ground gameplay in are contained open areas that load/stream in. It may be "openworld", but not in the same vein as BOTW/Pokemon Scarlett Violet