Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Reviews
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s rough quality is unacceptable. I hope that Game Freak and Nintendo will work quickly to patch the performance after all this ruckus, but even if it somehow ends up running smoothly enough to not be headache-inducing, I doubt I will ever revisit this game.
Overall, Pokémon Crimson/Purple captivated me despite its many bugs and performance issues. The gameplay and its mechanics are simply successful in my eyes. I can overlook the many stutters and glitches. Only with the breeding, which is a central part of the game series for me, I haven't really warmed up yet. Although it's faster to get a good number of eggs and hatch them, you have to prepare the Pokémon you want to breed, which takes up an unnecessary amount of time and resources. Before, I could simply swap out the "target monster" to boost stats. Now, no eggs appear in the basket unless the Pokémon has been previously nurtured and leveled. Whether this is a bug I can't say, but I was still surprised. You can tell that the developer wanted to make an effort to tell the stories as nicely as possible and has also included many dialogues and events. However, some passages repeat themselves so often or always run identically, so that at some point you just click and hope that it will finally continue. It is also a pity that especially the top four were much too easy. In the first run, these are fixed in level, so you can "overlevel" them super easy. This also applies to the tournaments in the "post-game". All in all, the game still has many construction sites and shows once again that Nintendo urgently needs a new hardware generation to be able to display better graphics. If the in-house or flagship titles like Pokémon or Bayonetta look so bad, Nintendo should have noticed that. It also didn't matter whether a Switch or Switch OLED was used. Still, despite its negative criticisms, the game is the right approach to pick up fans like me. It's a lot of fun and has finally kept me glued to the Switch for a longer period of time, well beyond the test phase. Rarely in the past have I accumulated so many hours of play (60+) in such a short time.
Review in German | Read full review
While it is hard to figure out a balanced path in its open world, it will also bring hours and hours of fun to those who want to fully explore it. Despite adding some fresh ideas, the story isn’t memorable, but the great variety of Pokémon, the art, and the turn-based battle system will surely please fans and newcomers alike.
Although Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have some, if not all, noticeable issues, it still manages to offer one of the best Pokémon experiences to date. Its deviation from its traditional roots has made the game even more enjoyable, offering a plethora of gameplay and a good amount of content. Both veteran and fresh fans of the game will love this game and it should be recommended to anyone who wants to try Scarlet and Violet.
Although Pokemon Scarlet / Violet is at an unacceptable level in terms of technical performance, it is the most innovative game among the mainstream pokemon games with its new features and enjoyable open world and it is definitely a lot of fun to play.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet leave us with the big question: "Why did everything go so wrong?"
Review in Greek | Read full review
Despite being the title with the most content and the one that I enjoyed the most in the entire series, unfortunately Pokémon Scarlet/Violet will always be remembered for its release full of bugs and with an unacceptable technical sloppiness for a game of such an important franchise. Without a doubt, it is a step forward in the series and the sense of discovery and fascination with a new world is something I haven't felt in years. I have no doubt that the foundation laid here will be the standard in future titles. However, as fun as it is, during gameplay you are constantly reminded that this game lacks care and was released earlier than it should have been.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
An interesting concept constrained by an unbreakable release date. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet was not a ready-to-launch game.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The frame rate is constantly dropping, the visuals are abysmal, and there is no excuse for the unfinished state of the game. But underneath the hood are the best characters the franchise has ever had, an adventure you can tackle your own way, and the best mainline Pokemon game in decades.
Whether it’s the new designs, the legendary Pokémon bikes, the new changes to the combat system, the Team Star and Titan Pokémon elements, or the multiplayer, there is a surprising amount of things to love about the new Pokémon games despite their technical flaws. That’s where the game’s biggest problems are: technical issues and downgrades from the previous Switch entries. The core of the game is still just as fun as ever. The game earns a 6/10 due to being a solid entry in the Pokémon series riddled with technical issues.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will, undoubtedly, be the most talked-about, and divisive, titles in the series for several years now. The havoc, in technical terms, wrought by Game freak cannot be ignored, and the history of "transitional chapters" can no longer stand as a solid bulwark of defense against the developers.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet offer a unique and incredibly engaging experience that the series has desperately needed since its transition to 3D back in 2013. Unfortunately, it has also been released in an incredibly unoptimised state which sours the whole experience.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are so, so close to reinventing the Pokémon series in a brilliant way. They’re just held back by unacceptable bugs and performance issues that simply shouldn’t be happening this frequently in such a monolithic and profitable franchise. I hope Game Freak is able to implement some much-needed patches, as there’s a remarkable diamond in this copious rough.
Pokémon Scarlet doesn't have the level of polish one would expect, yet still offers another fantastic evolution of a franchise that continues to give fans new ways to catch them all.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is the revolution the franchise needs. Years of work has built up to this moment with an open world, flexibility in questing, and an interesting collection of monsters to gather and fight with. Multiplayer possibilities, with a renewed focus on matchups and fresh ways to fight ensure the foundations and cores of the series are as strong and intact as ever. But as well nuanced as it all is, performance, exploration restrictions and some aesthetic issues hold the game back from its full potential.
Scarlet and Violet would probably go down as two of the best games in the series if not for these [performance] issues. Instead, all anyone will likely remember are the viral glitch montages that have swept across social media. And that’s regrettable because at their core is an imperfect yet charming and highly enjoyable adventure.
Many games have launched in nowhere near as bad a state as Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and have been rightly lambasted for it, Pokemon should be no different.
A game that you can see every experimental feature shown in spin-offs after 8th gen. While neat story and adventure with Pokémon in Paldea region are fun as always, too much lag and bugs are beyond inconvenience. Sometimes they actually keep players away from all the joy.
Review in Korean | Read full review
I love the open world design, but hate its visuals. I love the inclusion of multiple routes and storylines, but despised the brand new gym battles. I loved the new pokémon designs, but didn’t care that much about its new gameplay gimmick, as usual. It was released before it was ready, before the hype caused by Legends: Arceus could calm down a bit. That being said, it’s Pokémon: it will still sell, it will still be really fun for those into the franchise’s gameplay loop, and Game Freak will surely release a new generation in a few years without caring about fan feedback, as usual.
Pokémon Scarlet/Violet is a potential 10/10 game, trapped behind severe issues. I personally had some of the most fun I’ve had with any game all year, but there’s a lot to criticize and it certainly shouldn’t have been released in the state it was. It does bring up a conflict in terms of scoring and not everyone will agree, but I feel recommending it is still fair due to all the positives and the sheer amount of fun I had with it – if not at such a high rating