There’s only one mainline Pokemon game in the entire series that I’ve not finished (aside from the current run through of Pokemon Scarlet). Pokemon Black…
Every other generation, I’ve been right there on day one. I love Pokemon, I always have, ever since fondly getting my hands on Pokemon Blue for my Game Boy back in the day.
The series has taken great strides since the launch of the Nintendo Switch. Pokemon Sword and Shield was very much a look to the future, but Pokemon Scarlet borders on that game we always dreamed of back in the day: a full 3D, open-world Pokemon experience.
In terms of how much we’ve played. We’re sat at 20 hours, all gyms done, all Titans done and one Team Star base left. There are follow-ons. Elite four, as you would expect, plus some story elements to follow-up.
So yeah, it feels like we’ve seen most of what Pokemon Scarlet has to offer. But will do a “final thoughts” piece once we’re done.
Paldea: Open World
The headline act for Pokemon Scarlet is, of course, the fact that it’s fully open-world.
Think Breath of the Wild. Fully 3D, roaming hills and valleys, distinct biomes, towns, and points of interest.
This is the bit we always wanted as kids. I’d suggest that we lower our expectations a touch, though. Breath of the Wild this isn’t.
Perhaps it needed more time in development? Maybe the engine it’s built on isn’t quite as efficient as the Zelda one? I don’t know why it’s so rough around the edges, but I’ll be honest, I like it. It’s big, open, and explorable. You can still kind of veg-out and enjoy the world, and get out of your head a bit.
It’s clunky, but charming in its own way. Not as smooth as you’d expect, and whilst it’s easy to blame the Switch hardware specs, we’ve seen bigger and better-looking games in years past.
Plus, despite now playing much better on the Switch 2, it still leaves a lot to be desired.
Still, it works, and it’s a significant effort to bring the main series into the present.
Breaking the Mould
The open-world structure completely redefines how you spend your time in Paldea.
Instead of a single, predictable track, the game splits your progression into different pillars:
Gyms
The definitive Pokemon experience. Pokemon Scarlet leaves it up to you to wander off on your own and take them on in whatever order you like. Note that there is definitely a recommended order in Pokemon Scarlet, though. You can hit some brick walls if you go to the later gyms too early.
Giving you that flexibility makes you feel like a person actually living in this world, being the Pokemon Master isn’t the only way of life here.
Team Star
Like Galactic, Rocket, and all the others, we have a new team of bad guys. This time, though, it’s more interesting.
Storming their bases across the world and taking the trouble right to their front door is really satisfying (even if fighting literal custom trucks with your monsters is a little odd).
The narrative and academy storyline that ties these into your core story is nice. I don’t really care about the hows and whys, but it’s better than no context or effort. Pokemon Scarlet is at least trying.
Path of Legends
Across Paldea, there are “Titans”. Massively overgrown Pokemon causing trouble.
Defeating them helps you unlock new traversal abilities for your legendary mount, which opens up the map even more.
None of them have been particularly tough in Pokemon Scarlet, but I found myself over-levelled at a certain point, so that probably helped.
Auto-Battles & Swarovski Pokemon
A few other modern changes really stand out.
Running around in the open world means you can finally let your Pokemon free.
With the Auto-Battle mechanic, they can go out and battle wild Pokemon by themselves as you walk around. It’s a massive quality-of-life upgrade that gains you XP and puts a stop to all those classic, tedious random encounters you used to get in the tall grass. This is actually required for a some particular evolutions, too, which is new.
Then there is Terrastallizing, this generation’s replacement for Mega-Evolutions and Gigantamaxing. It coats your Pokemon in crystal, enhancing their power and potentially changing their type.
To look at, they’re fine, I guess? Like Swarovski crystal versions of your Pokemon. In practice, it feels a little bit “for the sake of it,” and I’ll admit I keep forgetting to use it entirely during casual play. But I can absolutely see how the mixed-type potential turns things completely on their head for competitive battling.
Not quite the Mega-Evolutions in terms of how cool it is, but it’s something, I suppose.
Overall
It’s been a solid start to Pokemon Scarlet. 3D open-world performance hurdles aside, there’s so much new to tackle and learn here.
Hats off for the effort; while Game Freak didn’t quite deliver the flawless dream experience just yet, this still feels like a wonderfully fresh take on a formula I’ve loved for decades. Perhaps Wind and Waves will be where we see Pokemon finally fully realised?
