Short and bad trilogy of stories with the illusion of freedom and flexibility, without including a leveling system, all tangled around an awkward "school curriculum" with a limited Pokedex, uninspired legendary (and just regular) Pokemon, the new battle style "terrastilization" that changes types and adds a chandelier to your Pokemon's head. Rough character designs, painfully long cuts, and unstable gameplay make for another partial attempt at full payment.

The aesthetics and overall map design leave much to be desired, especially regarding cave systems and dungeons that were the series' mainstay with many routes that cannot be differentiated. What is even more inexplicable is how monotonous and boring they have made everything look and feel. The inability to come up with anything that inspired the Pokemon company to choose to hire a Digimon designer to turn the legendary Pokemon into a bicycle.

If you are interested in this franchise, I have bad news, it is not interested in you.

Since the games that made this series great have long gone, it is now just a typical annual addition to the other 2 games released for the series in the past 16-24 months. Arceus made us realize how amazing this type of game could be.

Overall, I believe that if you are going to buy a switch for Pokemon games, buy the remake of Mystery Dungeon. If you are looking for a mainline game, it is better to get a Nintendo 3DS XL and enjoy the classic DS gen 4 and 5, as well as the gen 6-8 3DS versions and of course the Ruby and Sapphire remakes for all fans of the third generation.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were nothing but a huge disappointment and missed the opportunity to create something truly unique, but instead failed to make something fun again and again

I started the game around New Year's, so I've been playing for about 3 weeks.
In general, I've been playing Pokémon games since I was 14 years old (I'm 33, so you can understand). Being an old player, I wasn't so sure if I would like the gameplay, in fact, I would say the opposite: I was sure it would be a waste of money and that I wouldn't like the game at all because I was used to the old stories where you progress from city to city, battle gyms, collect badges, and end up at the Pokémon League.
It was something completely new for me, a new story, new elements within the story (you'll see what they are, I don't want to spoil), that I didn't expect but impressed me. Also, a new unknown region, Paldea, which I had heard, maybe you too, resembles the Iberian Peninsula. As a Spanish speaker (I know the language), I understood that this is indeed true when I started playing the game. (You'll understand what I mean when you play, whether you know the language or not, it's obvious). When I started getting used to the game, because I haven't played Arceus or Sword/Shield, meaning in a similar style to Violet, I liked it a lot. Especially the exploration phase, which has impressed me as I progress, and many times I don't want to put down the controller. And it has enough open world elements so that I don't get bored catching Pokémon. I haven't finished it yet, but I really enjoy going from place to place as the method of transportation is very entertaining.
However, I give it 4 stars because besides these positives, I noticed that the game has quite a few glitches, and it's noticeable when playing on a TV. In handheld mode, though, it's less noticeable. I hope I helped a little. Enjoy!

I got it after such a long absence from the world of Pokemon. The graphics are very good, the story now gives a freedom that really helps things. The world looks huge and unfortunately this leaves gaps because they didn't fill it adequately, and in many places you simply have the same Pokemon. Of course, the same thing happened in the first cassettes and they just filled them with the same things over and over again, you didn't notice it so much because it was 2D and gamers had different requirements back then. And I noticed that it gets stuck a lot in areas with many NPCs, but I assumed they pushed the console to its limits, maybe they will fix it later. I would have liked them to bring the catching style of Arceus here because it really accelerated things, but obviously they prefer the delay caused by a battle to catch it. Yes, it's strange that after so many years they are still hesitant about voice acting and their cutscenes, I really wish I could bypass them because they simply consume my time. I would really like to be able to trade online with a friend without having to pay a subscription (come on, Nintendo) or having to meet in person.. Other than that, I enjoy it and I recommend it to others.

If you respect yourself and your wallet, do not buy this abomination.

Once again, the giant companies behind Pokemon have let down their entire fanbase and delivered a half-finished game that should have been delayed for at least 6 months.

The game is currently running terribly, with dozens of bugs and glitches, and can barely reach 25fps. Furthermore, from a technical standpoint, it is 20 years behind. Games from the Gamecube and PS2 are far more visually appealing. The textures are terrible, and in 2022, there is not a trace of voice acting. The environments are completely empty and boring. The Pokemon simply exist in the space and walk around, with absolutely no interaction between them or with the player. The cutscenes are lifeless, without any direction or production value. Even without the technical issues, the game would still be visually poor. It is the ugliest exclusive game for Nintendo and the Switch.

In terms of gameplay, things are lukewarm. The open-world aspect is interesting and will appeal to many people. You can progress through the story in any way you want. You can tackle the 8 gyms in any order you prefer and generally complete the three main plots in any sequence. However, the environments are so empty that you quickly get bored of the sense of exploration that the game tries to evoke.

The battles have regressed by 5 steps. Whatever improvements were made in Legends Arceus have been thrown out the window. To catch a Pokemon, you have to engage in battle and lower its health; you can't catch them without being seen like in Arceus. The player no longer moves during battles, and the Pokemon's moves that make contact with the opponent now happen from a distance. Additionally, there is a significant delay every time a battle starts. The "Set battle style" option has been removed, further limiting the player's choices to adjust the difficulty, and the EXP share is permanently activated once again. Difficulty options do not exist, of course.

Do not give them your money because they don't deserve it. The Pokemon Company insists on annual releases, and it seems that GameFreak cannot meet the schedule. In the past 12 months alone, we had 3(!) major Pokemon games (Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, Legends Arceus, Scarlet & Violet). Games of this scale require 3 or 4 years to be developed. Every time, they take one step forward and five steps back. However, these games make astronomical sales, so they don't care. It's a shame to see the Pokemon name in such a miserable state and to witness the people in charge not being held accountable. Truly heartbreaking.