Pokémon Scarlet Review

Pokémon Scarlet

Release: November 18, 2022
Publisher: Nintnedo
Developer: The Pokemon Company
Genre: Adventure, Co-op, Family, Genres, Role-playing, Switch Reviews, Turn-Based
PEGI: E
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Previously, we covered Pokémon Scarlet via a review-in-progress. Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 are available now. Its time now to give a final verdict on Pokémon Scarlet. Is this another great entry in the Pokémon series or is it a misstep in the franchise? Perhaps the answer is somewhere in between? Lets find out in our review of Pokémon Scarlet for the Nintendo Switch!

Pokémon Scarlet is the first open game in the Pokémon franchise. The story is almost what you’d expect for a game in the franchise. The gyms are still a large part of the story, but you can also take on the Titan Pokémon quest or go after a certain group’s bases. You can also do all three! Of course the world is huge so just like Breath of the Wild, you can go off and just explore every nook and cranny.

Exploration in Pokémon Scarlet is amazing. I wouldn’t say this game is exactly Breath of the Pokémon but its pretty close. If Game Freak keeps going in this direction for the franchise, then the next game should be even closer to the Breath of the Wild experience. What is in Scarlet is great though. The combat, meanwhile, is still turn-based and those who love Pokémon’s usual battles will like this game’s battle system too. The gotta catch ‘em all feel is still alive and kicking. You’ll want to get all the Pokémon and use them in battle!

The single player is a ton of fun but perhaps the best part of Pokémon Scarlet is its online features. Link trade and surprise trade are back from Pokémon Sword and work really well. Raid battles are back too and they’re great. You can also fight in a coliseum against other players and you can join up with your friends in online co-op!

You need a code to play with other people though and you’ll have to share this with them out of the game. Its too bad you can’t just use your Switch friend list to play with other players or join up with random players. Even so, the online co-op is pretty good! Four players can link up in co-op and quest together or just roam around separately in the same world. Any of the players can start Terra Raid battles during co-op and other players can join them.

The online co-op isn’t perfect though. There is no voice chat or texting of any kind. So if you want to talk to your friends during co-op, you have to use another service like Facebook chat or skype. Hopefully the next game will at least add text chatting, though voice chat would certainly be easier and there shouldn’t be any major issues as long as you are playing with friends.

Overall, Pokémon Scarlet is a great game to play. Its not quite as good as Pokémon Sword, Acreus or Brilliant Diamond. And largely that’s because of its graphical limitations.

Pokémon Scarlet looks similar to Sword in many ways. The graphical style is very similar. There’s nothing at all wrong with that. Unfortunately though, Scarlet doesn’t run as good as Sword and Shield. The framerate slowdown, when it happens, is very noticeable and slows the gameplay down some. There are also graphical glitches here and there that are annoying. The slowdown nor the glitches are game breaking but the Switch should easily be able to handle this game. Hopefully the issues will get fixed in updates.

As for the game’s music and sound effects, they are good. Nothing out of the ordinary though. If you’ve liked the game’s music and sound in previous games, you’ll like it here. That said, its time for the Pokémon series to have voice acting. The cutscenes in this game have a lot of dialogue and the lack of voice acting is strange. Even with all its issues though, Pokémon Scarlet is still a great game.

Pokémon Scarlet isn’t a perfect game. It has more framerate issues and glitches than previous efforts on the Switch. That said, every Pokémon fan should get this game anyway because it has an amazing open world full of fun things to do. With a bit more polish, Scarlet could’ve been the best Pokémon game ever. As it is, Pokémon Scarlet is still a pretty great game on the Nintendo Switch!

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