Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are just around the corner, and just with every generation that came before the new Paldea region is rich with new features and elements that will drive you through your new journey across uncharted territory. Here are five features we should be excited for!
1. The Open World
For the first time ever, Scarlet and Violet will feature a fully open world to explore from the beginning, and to match this new style features three distinct stories to follow as you adventure across the land of Paldea. An evolution on the style of world we saw in Pokemon Legends Arceus, this time there will be no loading zones between areas and up to 4 players will be able to adventure the world together, catching Pokemon, completing challenges and camping together as you experience the new sites as a team. To accommodate this, the new legendary Pokemon are both powerful monsters and rideable mounts that will aide you in climbing cliffs, gliding down jumps and soaring across the water.
2. Paldean Forms
Introduced in Sun and Moon, regional forms are now a series staple and grant new life to older Pokemon that can result in new evolutions or a new way to bring new types and mix up the Pokémon’s relevance to the competitive meta. The only one we’ve seen so far is Wooper but the excitement of seeing an old favourite in a new way unexpectedly roaming the world is a feeling I cannot wait to feel!
3. Titan Pokemon
Not a lot is know presently about the incorporation of Titan Pokemon beyond their involvement in one of the overarching stories, but from what we can tell they appear to be a new twist on the Totem or Alpha Pokemon fights from the previous games which hopefully means they prove a worthy challenge. I hope they are just as interesting as we expect them to be and not a fleeting memory of a side story.
4. The Terastel Phenomenon
What could easily be thrown away as this generations “gimmick” comes in the form of Terastel, a temporary transformation that either grants a boost to the type of the Pokemon changes types entirely into its Terastel type. This allows a new approach to battling, you can change Scizor from being at the mercy of Fire types into a fire type itself and wreak havoc onto your foes with an uncertainty or which Pokemon will randomly change into a different type and change the flow of battle. The different combinations are currently unclear but this is sure to shake up the competitive scene in a new and unique way.
5. Tera Raid Battles
Whilst raid battles are not new to the series, they were arguably the feature that gave Sword and Shield its lasting legacy with its raid events each month. Raid battles are an opportunity to fight a strong (sometimes unique) Pokemon with a group of 4 to get an opportunity for rewards and to catch the Pokemon in question. At present, the extent of this is known to be unique Tera types but presumably there is the potential to have events for specific combinations and/or shiny Pokemon.
Scarlet and Violet are looking to be the most ambitious titles yet, taking the best from the last few outings and combining them into a fresh experience – and with how much we don’t know yet, the dive into the new generation is looking mysterious and exciting! What features are you looking forward to the most? Let us know!
Video game completionist and 3D platformer connoisseur, Riley is a fan of the whimsical frenzy of bright and colourful characters that blessed us in the late 90's. Their favourite game's are Spyro, Persona 5 and Super Mario Sunshine.
