This morning’s Pokemon Presents wrapped up with the thrilling announcement of Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet, coming to the Nintendo Switch later in 2022, and the immediate launch of the official website. While details of the games are still pending, the website proclaims loud and clear this will be the open world adventure we have been waiting for (well, at least me):
The Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet games, the newest chapters in the Pokémon series, are coming to Nintendo Switch later this year. With these new titles, the Pokémon series takes a new evolutionary step, allowing you to explore freely in a richly expressed open world.
Various towns blend seamlessly into the wilderness with no borders. You’ll be able to see the Pokémon of this region in the skies, in the seas, in the forests, on the streets—all over! You’ll be able to experience the true joy of the Pokémon series—battling against wild Pokémon in order to catch them—now in an open-world game that players of any age can enjoy.​
Game Setting
The new region remains unnamed but the trailer revealed buildings and town squares reminiscent of Spanish and Mediterranean influence.
The Continental placement is a nice change following Pokemon Sword and Shield‘s British Isles theme. It does make me wonder if Gen 10 will be in a stylized Japan. Zipping across a detailed Japanese landscape on bullet trains would be fun and a great way to celebrate ten generations.
Pokemon Models
Recent Pokemon games are not known for their high quality graphics. Scarlet and Violet’s environmental glimpses retain a strong resemblance to Pokemon Legends: Arceus, which is fine by me. The close ups of Pokemon we will encounter, however, reveal finer details on these denizens of an expanding world.
Player Housing?
My first thought upon seeing the idyllic scene below was, “player housing!” There’s nothing in the reveal to suggest this is the case, except it is good to have a primary base of operations when traversing an open world. The ability to customize the interior and exterior would time and quality to game play and an incentive to keep traveling and exploring.
The interior shots could be just to show the design but I am hoping it’s a preview of what we can build.
The Starters
We haven’t seen them in action, but the reveal and website introduced our new Gen 9 starters. My sons and I have a tradition of picking different starters, and so far, Fuecoco looks to be mine. Sweet.
Impression
Of course, you can’t gauge a game by its reveal, but if Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet is the sum of the preceding games’ best parts, Gen 9 could be a new classic in the series. We shall see this year.
How are you feeling? Excited or meh?