This is a great Pokemon game with some missteps and, of course, performance issues. I'm past the point of judging main series Pokemon games by how much they cater to their true audience (Actual Children). So new features like the Gym Tests, which are grueling for any adult who values their time, don't really factor into my review here. The Let's Go feature is nifty but clunky. I had trouble getting it to work on the first try. For traversal to be such a big part of the game and somehow feel worse than it did in Legends: Arceus was a big disappointment. We are presented with what is technically an open world and encouraged to tackle it in any direction we choose, but with a lack of level scaling this just didn't feel feasible. I found myself runnning into trainers with Pokemon dozens of levels below or above mine. In many ways, the game just didn't feel finished.

That said, Pokemon Scarlet does two things better than any Pokemon game in years (maybe ever): Writing and Pokemon designs. The dialogue between characters was genuinely funny at times. Certain story moments carried more tonal gravity or suspense than I've come to expect from this series. Every other Pokemon I discovered seemed to become a new favorite of mine.

Despite sorely needing a coat of polish, this style of main series Pokemon game is a move in the right direction.