Pokemon Legends: Arceus was a big surprise for Pokemon fans everywhere. The Pokemon Diamond and Pearl remakes had been expected for a long time, but a Game Freak-developed spinoff was not on any fans' minds. After Pokemon Sword and Shield experimented with Wild Areas, Pokemon Legends took another step towards an open world. While the game didn’t use a truly open format, it had done away with the normal route structure completely, and spread play out between several giant maps. Between positive reception and the clear momentum carried on between Game Freaks projects, it was only a matter of time before a fully open world Pokemon game surfaced.
That time came a lot sooner than many people expected. In the 2022 Pokemon Day Direct, Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet were revealed as the 9th generation of Pokemon games. Right away, Game Freak made it clear that these are intended to be traditional open-world titles, with no boundaries between towns and fields. This is easily the biggest scope for a Pokemon game ever, with Legends paling in comparison. After a recent history of disappointments and awkward successes, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have the chance to be the best-received mainline Pokemon entries in years. However, Game Freak needs to be aware of what Pokemon Legends' semi-open world did well and poorly while making this important next step.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Should Lean Into Legends' Immersion
The main appeal of an open-world Pokemon game is the chance to interact with Pokemon in their natural habitat. Trainers can catch a glimpse at the day-to-day lives of Pokemon, and see roughly where they would live. Pokemon Legends: Arceus had some success here, though it was limited in doing so. The size of environments and the different conditions and terrain found within did fill in the gaps for where Pokemon would actually lurk. Unfortunately, this often just resulted in them wandering around in the open for no apparent reason. It would take an inordinate amount of time and money to make animations showing the most common activities for all of these creatures, but at least the player can walk around them and experience what being near a Pokemon is like.
For that reason, it's not realistic to expect Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, or any Pokemon game that intends to keep the series’ massive roster around, to show exactly what a Pokemon's life is like. That can be left to the anime, New Pokemon Snap, and other supplementary material. However, it's important for these games to sell the idea of living in a fleshed-out world to make it feel bigger. To that end, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet may want to include some interactions between Pokemon and their surroundings. Simple things like certain Pokemon always showing up in groups or sticking to very specific corners and fighting certain other species on sight can go a long way towards immersing the player.
The Open World of Scarlet and Violet Must Impress
Building off of that, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet need to employ more environmental diversity than Pokemon Legends. Pokemon Legends' semi-open world was a reasonable choice for ensuring that every area was distinct with its own pool of Pokemon, but there ended up being a lot of repetitive scenery within these locales. The Obsidian Fieldlands is particularly guilty of this, with most of the region feeling built from the same few assets. The different Pokemon spawns serve as a better way of indicating which area is which than the design of the areas themselves. There certainly doesn't need to be as many side activities in the environment or opportunities for environmental storytelling as Breath of the Wild, considering that catching Pokemon is the focus, but a bit more for players to observe and engage with would be appreciated.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet look like they are making an effort to fix this. The amount of environmental diversity seen in the reveal trailer was very large, with a lot of landmarks scattered everywhere. Pokemon Legends was no stranger to landmarks, introducing its own alongside ones already found in Diamond and Pearl, but it often didn't feel like enough. Environments had a tendency to feel drab and empty, with the Pokemon wandering through them not being enough to fill them up. A region designed to show the enormous diversity in environments that support similar diversity in Pokemon would be more appealing. It would also better demonstrate the interplay of humans and Pokemon, which Scarlet and Violet are already doing by placing some Pokemon directly in towns.
Pokemon Legends’ Travel Options Should Be Kept
There is one detail that Pokemon Legends: Arceus got very right, and that is how the player moves through its world. Even though the different regions of Hisui are not connected, there is still more than enough room for players to employ Ride Pokemon and scour every inch of the play space. Wyrdeer alone provides a thrilling speed boost, and the rest open up new opportunities entirely. The ability to swim through water, climb most walls, and especially fly through the air can make otherwise unmemorable areas exciting despite themselves. The feeling of spotting an Alpha Pokemon in the distance that could be useful on the player's team and flying across a ravine to get it is a new experience for Pokemon, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet should try to maintain it.
A truly open world presents many more opportunities for this kind of unbroken movement. Players can fly anywhere, with a handy fast travel service available to take them to checkpoints and towns. Multiple islands could be found off the coast of the region, and special Pokemon could be flying through the sky. Special Pokemon could be found just about anywhere, with the abilities of Ride Pokemon or field moves needed to reach them. Exploring an open world needs to be exciting, and both what's in the world and how the player interacts with it are important. Hopefully, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will take these lessons to heart and build an open world that sets the standard for future Pokemon games.
Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet will be released for the Nintendo Switch in late 2022.