Pokemon Scarlet
Made by? Game Freak
Release date? November 18, 2022
Where to play? The Nintendo eShop, any place that sells Switch games, or traversing the 7 seas

Rating: 8.5/10

Story - 5/5
The story for Scarlet left me interested all the way through. The premise of being a student at an academy was so unique for a mainline game. I loved the story revolving around Team Star, it made them stand out as a "villain" team. I also really loved all the lore surrounding Area Zero and Professor Sada, that was probably one of my top favorite parts of the story. The twist villain was great too, it's something we've never had in the franchise and was a breath of fresh air. The ending also made me a bit emotional, I think it ended off quite well.

The DLC's story was another of my top favorites. Both parts of it had me hooked. I love how we got to go to other regions besides Paldea and experience whole new stories. Kieran and Carmine's stories really stuck out to me, and I loved how they continued on into The Indigo Disk. Out of the two DLCs, The Teal Mask was my favorite. I really liked learning the history of Ogerpon and The Loyal Three. The ending to the DLC also made me emotional, and I think ended off this entire game on a great note.

Characters - 5/5
The character's in this game were just wonderful, I ended up loving them all. First, the main cast. Nemona was a great rival, I loved her energy a lot. Arven stuck out to me a lot, I loved how tragic his character was. Penny was a pretty cool character too, I loved her whole story with Team Star. I also really loved seeing the dynamic between the three of them at the end of the game.

The Team Star members also really stood out to me. I really loved all their stories, and their character designs were great. Out of all of them Ortega and Eri had to be my favorites.

The gym leaders also really stuck out to me, they all had really fun personalities and great designs. Grusha and Ryme have to be my top favorites. I also really liked the Elite Four members, their dynamics together were really fun to watch. Rika was my favorite out of all of them, I love her design and personality so much.

The DLC also had some really great characters. Like I mentioned earlier in the Story section, Kieran and Carmine really stuck out to me. They've become some of my top favorite characters in Pokémon in general. They were so well written to me, and their story was so emotional. I also really love their designs, they stick out a lot.

Mechanics - 5/5
The addition of new mechanics has been a breath of fresh air for the Pokémon franchise. Koraidon has been the biggest highlight. The ability to get around very quickly, swim, climb, and fly have really added to the whole open world aspect of this game.

Terastallization has been an interesting new addition to battles and has given them a nice challenge. This goes for Tera Raid battles too, which are also a great challenge and a great way to get EXP and items.

Customization is pretty good in this game. I will say, the shirt and pants being limited to only a select few options (with some new additions thanks to the DLC) is a bit disappointing. Though, since we are a student of an academy, it makes sense they want you to wear the school outfit. There is a large option of other accessories to choose from though. There is also a lot of options for hair and facial features as well.

Another big highlight is the sandwich making. There are so many sandwiches you can create, all giving different benefits. The food options across Paldea are also a nice addition, also giving their own benefits.

Graphics - 2.5/5
Graphically, this game is kind of all over the place? It's one of the weaker points of the game. In some places it'll look nice and in others it won't. I think the textures on the Pokémon look nice, I really love the details of fur, scales, etc. The towns also look really nicely designed as well. So do the inside of buildings. Where the game suffers most is environments and lighting/shading.

The environments look okay, but a lot of them feel empty? Even Area Zero, as hyped as it was, design wise fell kind of flat. Also some of the textures will look very low resolution in areas. The lighting and shading will also sometimes look off on places or characters sometimes.

The DLC kind of fixed some of these issues. I do remember thinking the environments in Kitakami looked a lot better designed and less empty. I know the lighting and reflection for the crystals in the Area Zero Underdepths also looked better than the normal Area Zero.

Soundtrack - 5/5
This game's soundtrack has been wonderful on the ears. I really love the instruments they use, the Spanish influence is great. The whole OST just flows so nicely together when listened to back to back.

"Pokémon Center", "Professor Sada/Turo", "Levincia", "Tera Raid Battle", and "The Pokémon League Interview" really stood out to me a lot in this game's OST.

My number one favorite track out of Scarlet's OST has to be "Area Zero". It captured the atmosphere and excitement finally entering Area Zero so perfectly. It gave me chills first hearing it and it still gives me chills now. I wasn't even surprised finding out Toby Fox composed it, no wonder it sounds like a masterpiece. "Battle! (Area Zero Pokémon)" I wanna mention too here since it's also extremely good.

The DLC also has a really great soundtrack too. "Crystal Pool", "Battle! (BB League Elite Four)", and "Area Zero Underdepths" stood out to me. "The Land of Kitakami" has to be my top favorite, it's so beautiful.

Performance - 2.5/5
While it was still playable and I was able to get through the entire game just fine, it definetely has performance issues. Lag is the biggest one, you will encounter lag on a regular basis. There is no way around this, certain areas will make it spike more but it'll still happen even in areas with less objects.

I have had this game crash on me a few times before as well. This seems to happen if I notice it's lagging more than usual and I don't reboot the game. Glitches are also common. It's also programmed in a way where Pokémon don't spawn in until you're really close to them so it does break the immersion a lot. Its also common to see them T-posing or bugging out while moving.

Final thoughts

Overall, Pokémon Scarlet and The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC has been a great experience. Despite its flaws, I am still giving this game a very high rating. For every con it had, it had 5 more pros to lift it back up. It's very fun, its got a great story and characters, and an amazing soundtrack. The new Pokémon have been really cool, and the game actually provided quite the challenge, especially in the DLC.