The reviews for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the two new role-playing video games released on 18 November 2022 as a part of the popular Pokemon franchise, are now out with respectable scores from critics. What more or less appear similar, the two parts of the game series do have some distinct and exclusive Pokemons each.
The Pokemon franchise is one of the oldest gaming series and its popularity has only increased with every new release. The response of the gaming community after the release of the game, however, has been mixed with some praise and some criticism. Let’s first get to everything we know about the game then look at the critics’ comments on the newly released games for a better understanding of the gaming community’s response.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet – Everything We Know
Developed by Game Freak and published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were first announced early this year (February 2022). These two parts are the first instalments of the Pokémon video game series ninth generation.
The game series continues with its basic premise of collecting as many wild animals as possible, either through trading or catching. The game sports an open world scenario where both urban surroundings and wilderness are at play. Players will have three progression routes such as Victory Road, Path of Legends, and Starfall Street with different storylines. Gamers will also be introduced to Terastal, a new phenomenon that transforms the Pokemon into a gem-like look.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Review Roundup
Jake Dekker, a Reviewer from Gamespot had more positive things to say about the newly released games. His score of 8 out of 10 gave the game a much needed boost on the review scores. In his review, Dekker mentioned, “While undercooked presentation and visual issues hold the games back, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are still the best mainline Pokemon games in years. They build off Pokemon Legends: Arceus’s open-ended design in some thoughtful and surprising ways, and retain that same level of depth that the mainline series is known for.”
Reviewer, Kenneth Shepard from Polygon, on the other hand, wasn’t that positive in their response to the game. Shepard said, “I do leave Scarlet and Violet with a lot of excitement for the future, but even still: It’s a strange phenomenon to watch a series enter a new generation while still grappling with its identity as a whole.”
He further added, “Pokémon Legends: Arceus, for all of its strengths, was a piece of sand in the microchip of Pokémon’s near-annual machine. But it showed so much promise in its fluid exploration, intuitive capturing, and unified systems. To see Scarlet and Violet fall behind, 10 months later, is more than a little disappointing.”
IGN’s Reviewer, Rebekah Valentine scored the two parts of the game a not-so-encouraging 6 out of 10. In her comments, she said, “I truly believe that the bold new ideas of Scarlet and Violet are fantastic, if unrefined – a belief I also held about Pokémon Legends: Arceus. But in both cases, so many of the pillars holding up those shining concepts – visual quality, open-world details, customization, and technical soundness – are seemingly unfinished or actively crumbling. It is completely impossible to play Scarlet and Violet and not notice at least some of its performance issues.”