Pokemon Scarlet & Violet
Games review
As of Jul 16, 2026, Pokemon Scarlet & Violet is rated 71/100 on OpenCritic (143 critic reviews).
Is Pokemon Scarlet & Violet worth it in 2026?
A 71/100 from 143 critics tells you exactly what this is: a game that wasn't finished before it shipped. The open-world direction is the most widely praised element across reviews, and the new mechanics genuinely reinvigorate a franchise that needed it, but six separate critics flagged performance as a deal-breaker, five called the environments lifeless and hollow rather than merely ugly, and four described the game outright as rushed and unfinished. That last charge isn't a technical caveat, it means you are paying full price for a game that feels like a beta, with frame drops, visual glitches, and a world that looks and plays like something that needed another year in development. The character work and three-storyline structure land for many players, but the fun is conditional: you must be willing to absorb serious, sustained technical failure on hardware the game was built for.
Pokémon fans who prioritize the series' creature-collecting and story structure over visual polish or stable performance, and who can tolerate an ambitious open-world redesign that is clearly unfinished.
The performance problems are not minor quirks, multiple reviewers describe them as actively ruining the experience, and the open world has been called lifeless and hollow, not just rough around the edges.
ReviewPond's conclusion, drawn only from the verified scores and review themes below. Not a paid or editorial opinion.
Pros
- open-world direction6
see reviews +-
- The open-world gameplay of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is a brilliant direction for the future of the franchise, but this promising shift is sabotaged by the numerous ways in which...
- An interesting reworking of the traditional Pokémon gameplay for an open-world setting brought low by its lifeless environments and graphics
- Despite technical shortcomings and some filler content, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are chock-full of meaningful additions to one of gaming’s most popular franchises. At worst, thes...
- new gameplay mechanics4
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- Despite technical shortcomings and some filler content, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are chock-full of meaningful additions to one of gaming’s most popular franchises. At worst, thes...
- Pokémon Scarlet and Violet adds a number of changes to the classic Pokémon formula, and most of them pay off, particularly the auto-battles, vast open world, and the three distinct...
- Ultimately, these games were the result of Game Freak and Nintendo taking a risk and giving the fans something they've been begging for over a long while. It tries to mix Legends:...
- fun and enjoyable overall4
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- Pokemon Scarlet & Violet is more than the sum of its parts. Those parts include the woeful performance and optimization problems, which are a real drag, but much of the rest of th...
- While Pokémon Scarlet and Violet may not be a perfect experience, it's still an absolute delight in almost every way.
- Pokémon Scarlet and Violet adds a number of changes to the classic Pokémon formula, and most of them pay off, particularly the auto-battles, vast open world, and the three distinct...
- character relationships and story3
see reviews +-
- Despite my frustrations with its structure, mechanics, and the fact that it looks and runs like a middling GameCube game most of the time (there were several instances, even outsid...
- Pokemon Scarlet and Violet take the long-awaited step into a fully open-world, but one poorly implemented and marred by frustration. A compelling story and characters are a saving...
- Ultimately, these games were the result of Game Freak and Nintendo taking a risk and giving the fans something they've been begging for over a long while. It tries to mix Legends:...
- reinvigorates the series3
see reviews +-
- Despite technical shortcomings and some filler content, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are chock-full of meaningful additions to one of gaming’s most popular franchises. At worst, thes...
- Pokemon Scarlet & Violet's open-world approach reinvigorates the long-running series.
- It's a smaller step than many may have hoped for, especially considering what Pokémon Legends: Arceus did, but it's definitely one in the right direction.
Cons
- poor performance and optimization6
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- Unfortunately, the performance is so abruptly bad that it completely ruins, to an infuriating extent, what otherwise could have been the best Pokemon game to date.
- Despite my frustrations with its structure, mechanics, and the fact that it looks and runs like a middling GameCube game most of the time (there were several instances, even outsid...
- I know, I know, I’ve had my fun mocking the visual glitches and performance issues in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. But I really hope that the performance issues don’t ultimately def...
- lifeless environments and graphics5
see reviews +-
- An interesting reworking of the traditional Pokémon gameplay for an open-world setting brought low by its lifeless environments and graphics
- I know, I know, I’ve had my fun mocking the visual glitches and performance issues in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. But I really hope that the performance issues don’t ultimately def...
- Pokemon Scarlet & Violet is more than the sum of its parts. Those parts include the woeful performance and optimization problems, which are a real drag, but much of the rest of th...
- unfinished and rushed4
see reviews +-
- The open-world gameplay of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is a brilliant direction for the future of the franchise, but this promising shift is sabotaged by the numerous ways in which...
- I know, I know, I’ve had my fun mocking the visual glitches and performance issues in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. But I really hope that the performance issues don’t ultimately def...
- Scarlet and Violet offer some great new ideas for the Pokémon franchise, ruined by a world that seems very rushed and unfinished.
Themes and quotes are drawn from 20 sampled reviews with text; the scores above reflect all 143 ratings. Counts are how many of the sampled reviews mention each point.