Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Reviews

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet is ranked in the 44th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
4.5 / 5.0
Dec 31, 2023

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet along with their DLC’s are such an amazing and wonderful action packed experience that it’s easy to ignore the performance issues that most players would complain about.

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7 / 10
Dec 14, 2023

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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6 / 10
Jan 25, 2023

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet dares to venture into open world exploration, a decision with a lot of potential and which by itself is praiseworthy. However the game's difficulty balance - or lack thereof - causes unexpected problems on what is supposed to be a free world and ends up recreating an informal hierarchy of choices. Pokémon fans have many things to enjoy here, and co-op gameplay is one of the game's best assets, but the overall performance and technical issues end up creating frustrating moments for everyone. If Scarlet and Violet make use of good ideas, they needed more work before getting released

Review in Portuguese | Read full review

Drew Leachman
Top Critic
6.5 / 10.0
Jan 20, 2023

That’s where I stand with Scarlet and Violet. It’s got the trappings of a great Pokémon game, but I think this is most certainly a learning experience for both the players and the developers. Hopefully, the next generation will improve on both the pacing and the technical issues found here. In the meantime, players can get a lot of enjoyment out of this outing, just remember, even though this is a choose your own adventure style game, it doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want when you want.

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8 / 10.0
Jan 13, 2023

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet represent multiple steps in the right direction with equal trips and falls. Whilst it implements some fantastic gameplay mechanics and provides one of the best narratives in years, it needed more time and polish. It’s a must-play with a patch on the way, so let’s hope Game Freak gets some development help next time.

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Jan 12, 2023

Before picking up Pokemon Violet, I had heard a lot of negative comments and the bad press seemed to be piling up. I don’t think this is the best Pokemon title I have played, however, it still offers that Pokemon experience that we all know and love.

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6 / 10.0
Dec 30, 2022

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet takes the familiar trappings of the mainline series and overextends them while supporting its structure and foundation with duct tape and silly putty. Scarlet and Violet promises to add more to the core Pokémon formula, but all it truly adds is more square footage. It’s a game that invites unflattering comparisons to other open-world video games, current and past, and even ones from Nintendo itself.

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Dec 21, 2022

"...if you don’t mind what often looks like stop motion animation, painful jaggies, and just weird polygonal issues, you’ll find a Pokémon game that’s generationally unrivaled, which is a big statement in its own right."

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70 / 100
Dec 20, 2022

I am very sorry to give such a mid-table score to games that I have enjoyed so much like Pokémon Scarlet and Purple, but not even all the good things they have manage to make it possible for me to give them a higher rating when it comes to giving a final grade. , and it is absolutely unacceptable that they come out like this. It doesn't have to be God of War Ragnarok visually, but at least there aren't so many technical problems that distract you from the game itself. If you are able to overlook these aspects, add 20 points to them.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

7 / 10.0
Dec 18, 2022

Scarlet & Violet bring alluring open-world gameplay and a slew of colorful new monsters to the fold, but quirks and spotty performance keep it from being the Titan it could've been.

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Unscored
Dec 16, 2022

Pokémon Scarlet is a weird game. Game Freak introduced some welcome changes to the core gameplay and also took a mechanic or two of the acclaimed Legends: Arceus. Unfortunately the graphics and performance of the game leaves a lot to be desired even for fans of the franchise.

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Recommended
Dec 15, 2022

There is no denying how Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are ambitious games, with Game Freak clearly attempting to reinvent the Pokémon formula with new features and fresh ideas. Although the studio certainly succeeds in some aspects, such as the open world design, new Pokémon, and multiple intertwining storylines; they certainly fail in others, such as the technical performance, graphical fidelity, and subpar sound design. As such, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are enjoyable games for newcomers and Pokémon fans alike, featuring a lot of potential and equal amounts of disappointment.

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Rudy Lavaux
Top Critic
6 / 10
Dec 15, 2022

Pokémon Scarlet is as fun as the franchise has always been, no one can deny that. The new Pokémon creatures are endearing and the series still manages to create new and fun ways to get the player invested in their Pokémon training and catching sessions. As with Pokémon Legends Arceus before it, however, this is all marred by a level of technical mastery that is downright inexcusable. Not only is the game still not quite up to the level of something like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, released over five years ago on the same system, but it is, at least at time of writing, riddled with visual glitches and performance issues. It looks downright unfinished at times. This is simply intolerable. Therefore, it is impossible to give this a better score in good conscience as a point has to be made once and for all that things need to change going forward.

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Recommended
Dec 14, 2022

Far from perfect, Game Freak’s latest title finally delivers a proper, console-sized Pokemon experience.

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Dec 13, 2022

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are big and ambitious and bold, but it's hard not to imagine what they could have been if they’d just been given a little more time to cook.

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8 / 10.0
Dec 13, 2022

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.

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70%
Dec 12, 2022

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet is simply a frustrating release, despite its many positive aspects. It's stuffed to brim with ambition, but it looks like Game Freak should start from scratch in the next major release and completely redo their engine.

Review in Slovak | Read full review

Dec 12, 2022

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet evovles the franchise in exciting ways, but brings along some undesireable traits.

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5 / 10.0
Dec 12, 2022

Pokemon Scarlet/Violet has delivered the large open-world Pokemon experience we have always wanted but not at the quality level we would expect from a Pokemon game or Nintendo in general. Sloppy textures, countless bugs and a frame rate that rarely runs above the 20s show how rushed and unfinished this game is. The franchise has a ways to go before it catches up with modern gaming standards. Pokemon Scarlet/Violet may have been the best-selling Pokemon game of all time but this is in no way a suggestion that it is the best quality.

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8.5 / 10.0
Dec 12, 2022

Pok'mon Scarlet is perhaps the pinnacle of team's effort to put the game to open-world frenzy and push series further. Three main lines are changing way of your progress, offer plenty of options but keep the main promise: to wander and catch them all.

Review in Slovak | Read full review