One of the latest Pokemon Scarlet and Violet reveals was the announcement that the game would allow players to explore three distinct storylines as they journey across Paldea. This follows the confirmation that, for the first time in Pokemon's history, the new games would be fully open-world and not force the player to follow a linear path. While two of these plot lines have potentially been confirmed, thanks to an academic "treasure hunt" and the traditional gym battles, its third remains unclear, with some fans theorizing it could be connected to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's new Terastal Phenomenon gimmick.
Regardless of what this third storyline actually is, the idea that Game Freak will be giving players a variety of stories to explore is a novel one, as previous Pokemon games players have always followed wherever Game Freak led them. With a non-linear game, however, these stories will need to be told in such a way that they won't need to rely upon one another for completion, meaning Pokemon Scarlet and Violet could be the first game with multiple endings.
Traditional Pokemon Endings
Since most mainline Pokemon games follow a similar storyline that sees the player venture across a new region, defeating gym leaders and collecting badges until they finally overcome an Elite Four, they all end in familiar ways. Though their other storylines might follow a specific villain team or unique Pokemon such as legendaries or Ultra Beasts, these usually don't signify the "end" of the game. The moment that the player becomes the Pokemon Champion is often treated as the official "end" of the game, letting the credits roll as the player basks in their victory.
Following this, players can typically rejoin their game and revisit past gyms or participate in a battle tournament as an extension to the game. Despite providing an additional challenge for players, Pokemon's postgame tends not to add much to the original plot. Extra content historically used to be provided through special events that coincided with new movies or the anime, while Game Freak's latest post-release expansion efforts have generally come as new Pokemon DLC expansion passes.
Multiple Storylines Means Multiple Endings
With confirmation that Scarlet and Violet will be non-linear through a variety of storylines for players to explore, this means that the games will have various stages of completion. Consequently, while some players might complete the gym battles first, others could finish the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet treasure hunt instead. Though it remains to be seen how Game Freak will mark the completion of these storylines, it should at least have some kind of impact on the game. For example, becoming the Pokemon Champion could unlock new dialogue from trainers who battle the player acknowledging them as such.
Multiple endings could also help establish a new paradigm for Pokemon's postgame. In order to access additional content, players could be encouraged to complete all three storylines before they are granted access to more of the game. This could range from superficial changes such as extra cosmetic items for Pokemon trainers to more substantial features such as harder trainer battles. Once all three endings are achieved, this could even open up a potential "true" ending for the games, incentivizing players to fully complete the games beyond for instance just completing the Pokedex.
While this could bring the Pokemon series in line with current modern games that use branching paths and multiple endings, it would be down to Game Freak as to how far it will innovate with Scarlet and Violet. Much has already been promised in the way of shaking the series up, and though three storylines for Scarlet and Violet could promise multiple endings, it may be a step too far at the moment. Still, it's something the series should consider moving forwards.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are set to release on November 18, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.