Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Reviews
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is a step in the right direction. Game Freak successfully reimagines the formula in an open-world format and improves on its previous experiments with this design. The ability to tackle any gym is refreshing and the three distinct story paths give more reason to explore. Unfortunately, the number of performance issues cannot be overlooked and these hinder what could have been a highlight of the series.
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet is engrossing at its best but clunky at its worst, offering an uneven but ultimately exceptional experience on Switch.
I understand the hate that Pokémon Violet is getting. Frame rate issues, glitches, and design choices that make little sense are everywhere. Making characters less customizable is unforgivable. Developers saying their game is open-world when there are level caps is redundant. But I'm still having more fun than I've ever had in a Pokémon title. Violet takes the Pokémon formula and twists it into what I hope becomes the new normal in many ways. Three stories to play through and a UI that feels easier to use than ever before deliver elements Pokémon fans have long been looking for. Violet gave me the same emotional high that I got from the original game, which isn't easy to do. I love being able to take on gym leaders, knock out giant oversized Pokémon, or break into someone's hideout all in the same game. The heart of Pokémon is still here, still beating, even if the outside is full of fatty nonsense at times.
With routine patches and dedicated bug fixes, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet could end up being a transcendent moment in franchise history. The ambition of its branching paths, the size of its open world, and the selection of different Pokemon available are all massive, signaling that Game Freak and The Pokemon Company wanted this to be a flagship moment for the series. Unfortunately, all of that ambition is marred by the technical trials left in its wake, creating some truly infuriating moments during a game where I should be adventuring with a smile on my face. The foundation of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is strong, but there are too many technical shortcomings in the experience to truly call it great.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet make a strong case for the continued development of open-world Pokémon games, but its frankly unacceptable number of technical issues put a damper on the entire experience.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet just have some kind of glimmer that still makes it worthwhile enough to overlook the shortcomings.
As good as it is bad, Pokemon Violet & Scarlet doesn't do anything lightly. For the first time in the series, we experience a pure freedom. Paldea is very huge, Pokemon are numerous and it has never been so exciting to complete your Pokédex. However, the technical aspects are a pure disaster. Instead of being a Nintendo Switch must-have, this 9G starts is just a hyper addictive okay game.
Review in French | Read full review
It’s astonishing how a game as clearly unpolished as this could be allowed onto the market, especially once you consider that it’s representing a media franchise that’s made approximately 92 billion dollars to date. (The easy answer is that this is yet another example of a major release being rushed out to meet an approaching holiday deadline, where quality greatly suffers in the name of convenience, but that’s a story for another time.) If players choose to squint their eyes and push on through—and, hopefully, don’t clip into the ground or encounter any game-breaking glitches that will force them to restart their save file—then that old Pokémon charm might still be an adequate reason to give Pokémon Violet a pass. But before the franchise can ever truly hope to redefine itself in the future, Game Freak desperately needs to iron out the issues that are currently holding Pokémon back by at least two console generations.
Summing up the new Pokémon game always means triggering a conflict between heart and head.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The open world sparks a sense of adventure and the typical Poké collecting fever, but also has playful but hardly any exciting ideas.
Review in German | Read full review
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet are very worth it. This is a fantastic end to a great year on the Nintendo Switch, and I can't wait to see how Game Freak and The Pokémon Company take what worked here and expand on it in the future.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet's high points are among the series's best, but its lows, spanning across both bugs and design choices, are too egregious to ignore.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet try to take the franchise in a new direction, but can feel empty and hollow as a result. The open world has bright spots, especially multiplayer, however a lack of care in its design leads to a game that's haphazard and lifeless.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is an imaginative reinvention of the iconic Pokemon adventure, with a heart wrenching story and a real sense of soul, which is let down by sloppy mechanics, half-fulfilled ideas and disappointingly common cut corners.
Beneath all the jank and technical disaster, there's a Pokemon game that deserved better.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are an ambitious take and while the open world and density of the Pokemon world are nailed the story feels like a background element and performance issues are constant
From visual shortcomings to a smattering of bugs, these games shouldn't be as good as they are. Whether I was on the road or at a family gathering over a holiday weekend, I couldn't put them down once I started playing thanks to Scarlet and Violet's charming storylines, incredible monster designs, sonically rich soundtrack and enthralling battles. I haven't had as much fun with a new Pokémon game in years, possibly even a decade, even if its launch sets a concerning precedent for the series going forward.
In terms of gameplay and variety, Pokemon Scarlet/Violet is something this series has needed for years. I had lots of fun, despite some of its glaring technical issues.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are hardly perfect games, far from it, in fact. But when you look past the visual setbacks and glitches, you'll find an expansive experience that begs to be explored in full. It doesn't do everything right, but it further sets up a future that fans will be excited for once they refine it more.